Resolved. 2-line phone. AT&T 993. MJ as line 2

[tony]

Hi,
I bought an AT&T 993 2-line phone. The idea is the POTS plugged in line 1 and the MJ in line 2. Here's the results of the different permutations with the POTS and MJ lines plugged into the 2 jacks on the phone:

a) POTS in line 1, MJ in line 2: POTS works, MJ won't raise a dial tone.

b) POTS in line 2, MJ in line 1: both phones work fine. Both get a dial tone and both dial out just fine.

My ideal is MJ in line 2. The AT&T 993 has a data port which is on line 2 and I plan to run a line to a cordless phone to extend the MJ elsewhere in the house.

Question, why does MJ only raise a dial tone only if it's plugged into line 1 and doesn't raise a dialtone if plugged into line 2 on the phone?

I guess if set up (b) is the only way, I can split the line coming out of the MJ, but hey, there's that data port to use.

thanks.

[HolmanGT]

Hi,
I bought an AT&T 993 2-line phone. The idea is the POTS plugged in line 1 and the MJ in line 2. Here's the results of the different permutations with the POTS and MJ lines plugged into the 2 jacks on the phone:

a) POTS in line 1, MJ in line 2: POTS works, MJ won't raise a dial tone.

b) POTS in line 2, MJ in line 1: both phones work fine. Both get a dial tone and both dial out just fine.

My ideal is MJ in line 2. The AT&T 993 has a data port which is on line 2 and I plan to run a line to a cordless phone to extend the MJ elsewhere in the house.

Question, why does MJ only raise a dial tone only if it's plugged into line 1 and doesn't raise a dialtone if plugged into line 2 on the phone?

I guess if set up (b) is the only way, I can split the line coming out of the MJ, but hey, there's that data port to use.

thanks.

First make sure your cable from the MJ to the phone is a four wire cable. A lot of cables are only two wires the Red & Green in the middle of the connector (line one only). This is most likely your problem and you should try a four wire cable before trying any of the suggestions below.

Is there a switch on your two line phone to select which wire pair the phone uses on line two. Generally the Red & Green are line one and yellow & Black are line two. You may have to open the phone and change the way line two is wired. You want the two wires in the phone that are yellow and black to connect to the two wires on the MJ side that are Red & Green.

You should research this on the WEB so that you know what polarity is used on the Red & Green and what polarity is used on the Yellow & Black. The objective it to connect the Yellow & Black positive lead to the Red & Green positive terminal (and likewise for the negative terminal). Typically with modern equipment the polarity is not important, but there is some equipment that wants the polarity to match what is spelled out in the phone line specifications.

[tony]

Hi,
Thanks for the great info. I'll try a different wire. Now that you mention that a 4-wire telephone wire can carry two phone lines, the manual does talk about using plug #1 (where I have the MJ now) if the phone system has 2 lines coming out of one jack. I think you've hit it. Either a new wire will do it or I just have to crimp on a new connector but switching the wires around a bit.

thanks!
-Tony

[HolmanGT]

Hi,
Thanks for the great info. I'll try a different wire. Now that you mention that a 4-wire telephone wire can carry two phone lines, the manual does talk about using plug #1 (where I have the MJ now) if the phone system has 2 lines coming out of one jack. I think you've hit it. Either a new wire will do it or I just have to crimp on a new connector but switching the wires around a bit.

thanks!
-Tony

You will have to do the wire switching to pick up the MagicJack which only has two wires (look in the end of the RJ-11 on the MJ) you will see that it only has contacts for "Line 1".

[tony]

Hi,
You're a genius. It's working perfectly now. On inspection the MJ has just the 2 middle contacts as does jack #2 on the phone. The clear wire supplied with the phone also has 2 working connectors. The correct setup is counter-intuitive. Reading the instructions (see below) I'm to use the 2 conductor wire on jack #1 and the 4 conductor wire on jack #2. Somehow the phone has the smarts to figure out that if jack #1 is only getting one line, then line 2 must be coming in on jack #2. When I switched around the wires that came with the AT&T 993 phone, and used the clear wire (2 conductor) on jack #1 and the black 4 conductor wire on jack #2 to the MJ, the setup worked beautifully as envisioned.

From the AT&T model 993 manual:
If there are two one-line wall jacks, use both telephone line cords. Insert one end of the clear telephone line cord into the jack labeled L1 or L1/L2 on the back of the telephone. Plug the other end into the modular wall jack for Line . Insert one end of the black telephone line cord into the jack on the back of the telephone labeled L2. Then, plug the other end into the modular wall jack for Line 2.

I'd recommend this corded phone to anyone looking for a 2 line setup. It's a decent quality phone with full-duplex speaker phone, can set line 1 or 2 to be the primary line. Has different rings for line 1 vs 2, separate message lights, separate incoming call counts, caller id, can conference lines 1 and 2. Cost was $62.99 Canadian at Office Depot. I have a cordless phone plugged into the data port of the phone, so have the flexibility of using the MJ elsewhere in the house. The new arrangement also let me get the cordless phone further away from the wireless router, the computer, and monitors. With less interference, the MJ call quality seems clearer and louder (could be my imagination though).

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HolmanGT]

tony,

Glad you got it going. There is only one thing worse than a new toy that doesn't work and that is a plan gone bad.