Magic Jack connect to House Wiring

brownchristian · Post by **brownchristian** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:19 pm

Can I backfeed my house wiring with my magic jack? I have tried it and it doesn't work.

It does work connected directly to a phone.

wease · Post by **wease** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:25 pm

Work great in my house.

brownchristian · Post by **brownchristian** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:32 pm

Wonder if the length of wire is a problem. Probably 20 feet.

redpepper · Post by **redpepper** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:46 pm

The magicJack USB dongle is really not electrically designed and engineered to handle doing that.

Cut your risks and headaches and get yourself a decent multi-handset cordless phone system to use throughout your house. If you use a WiFi router, check what frequency it uses and pick a cordless phone system that operates at a different frequency.

You should also use a telephone cord from the magicJack USB dongle to the cordless phone system base unit that is no longer than 6 feet.

kuhntech · Post by **kuhntech** » Thu Feb 25, 2010 2:43 pm

This might seem obvious, but did you make sure you disconnected the landline service providers line coming into your telephone junction box?

brownchristian · Post by **brownchristian** » Fri Feb 26, 2010 7:32 am

I got this to work yesterday. I currently have cable internet so my phone line is not used for internet usage but I am about to get DSL which means my phone line will be used. Will this interfere with the Magic Jack signal being fed thru the house wiring?

Nobody beats the Whiz! · Fri Feb 26, 2010 8:10 am

brownchristian wrote:I got this to work yesterday. I currently have cable internet so my phone line is not used for internet usage but I am about to get DSL which means my phone line will be used. Will this interfere with the Magic Jack signal being fed thru the house wiring?

Yes. It will take some (relatively) simple changes of wires.

DSL should enter the house and go to the modem on a cable pair separate from the rest of the house.

At its simplest, it would only require a change of wires at the outside terminal and a two line splitter at the jack near the modem/MJ. Two line splitters are usually the kind of splitter with three ports. (One port for pair one, second port for pair two, third port for both)

The DSL comes out of the jack (and splitter) on pair two, the MJ dial tone goes back in the jack (via the splitter) on pair one.

srvctek · Post by **srvctek** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 7:00 pm

works fine as long as there isnt too much resistance

mememe1234 · Post by **mememe1234** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:48 am

First of all, go outside and open the box where your dsl gets in. Make sure only dsl pairs connected with the cable from the provider.

Then you will need a spliter to separate line 1 and line 2. By default telephone cable running inside the house has two lines built in. It does not matter if your dsl is on line 1 or line 2, you just connect your dsl modem to whatever line that gives you solid dsl indicator light. The other line will be used to feed mj signal.

You may want to have another spliter which splits one line into two lines (has nothing to do with line 1 or 2, it just make a duplication of the same line). You then feed one to your phone right next to your pc or ata box and feed the other into the wall. You are good to go. Plug all your phones into the phone ports in your house and enjoy the phones you already have.

I had it worked many years ago at my 1st house with stand alone dsl and voip phone. Now at my second house, had the phone guy wired the dsl into cat5 cable and then back feed ata box to phone ports, as wi-fi works very well and had no use of cat5 cables inside the house.

Hope this helps. Not sure the name of those spliters, but if you go to radioshack and explain what you need or google it and then find a better place to buy. Radioshack used to charge much more than it worth, buy online may get you muck better deal if you are not in need urgently.

mememe1234 · Post by **mememe1234** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:49 pm

Found links for the two spliters

RJ-11 2-Port Phone Line Splitter
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.22009

RJ11 Phone Cable 1-to-2 Female-Female Spliter Coupler
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2671

Free shipping and total is $2.68, takes 5-7 business days to deliver.

nickp · Post by **nickp** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 11:19 pm

I had standard AT&T phone service. I purchased a powered USB hub and am running the MJ through it on my MAC. I then disconnected the AT&T line in the basement, on the punch block where it came in from the outside. All of my home phones ring including my DirecTV and Alarm system. I did the same thing at my brother's house and worked great.

I think the trick may be to run the MJ off a powered USB hub so there are not fluctuations in power to the dongle.

Good luck...