sharing a phone line between two phones

[chaoliang]

I have one phone line but I need two telephones. How can I split the connection for these two phones? They don't need separate numbers and they don't need to accessable at the same time.

The true problem behind this: I need one cableless telephone. But the digital displays of these don't allow more than 18 digits to be dialed. For discount international phone calls I need more than 18 digits. So I still need one telephone without digital display. These two have to share one connection.

[UtwigMU]

I have one phone line but I need two telephones. How can I split the connection for these two phones? They don't need separate numbers and they don't need to accessable at the same time.

The true problem behind this: I need one cableless telephone. But the digital displays of these don't allow more than 18 digits to be dialed. For discount international phone calls I need more than 18 digits. So I still need one telephone without digital display. These two have to share one connection.

You basically just plug the two in same outlet. You may need to purchase wall outlet that can support several phones (1 3 prong plug and 2 RJ jacks) or use a splitter.

This generally means only one phone can be used at a time and other phone can be used to eavesdrop or "conference".

[cjolley]

They don't even have to be on the same outlet.
We have three phones with six outlets scattered all over the house.
They just wire up in parrallel.

How to: http://www.lanshack.com/wire_phone_jack.asp

Or if the phones will be in the same room then just get
one of these: http://www.cablesforless.com/browsep...e-adapter.html

[az]

chuck, I think phone lines in the US are installed differently than in germany. I recall reading something on why just hooking up yet another phone here doesn't work like it does in the US.

Chaoliang, what kind of phone do you have? Maybe a new cordless phone would be the easiest option? Or maybe you can dial longer numbers if you hit the "call" button first and dial after that, like in the good old days? I can't really believe that you can't dial longer numbers. Also, when you have a phone with "Tonwahl (MFV)" (all phones today, basically. I don't even know if "Impulswahl" is still supported by Telekom), you can send dialling tones even after you've made the call (it will beep if you hit a number), so it is impossible that you can only dial a fixed number of cyphers - maybe the phone's "dial before you start the call" buffer only saves 18 digits, but that doesn't mean you can't enter the rest after that.

AZ

[cjolley]

chuck, I think phone lines in the US are installed differently than in germany. I recall reading something on why just hooking up yet another phone here doesn't work like it does in the US.

You know, I was just getting ready to edit my post because I started wondering about that.

[Kurt]

Watch out for ISDN lines, they carry 90V on them (in Europe). Analog is very easy and just runs in parallel.

They have more ISDN lines in Germany than everywhere else I know of...

[chaoliang]

Chaoliang, what kind of phone do you have? Maybe a new cordless phone would be the easiest option?

- My phone is a MFV one. It will be the best solution if I can get one cordless which allows more than 18 digits to be dialed.

Or maybe you can dial longer numbers if you hit the "call" button first and dial after that, like in the good old days? I can't really believe that you can't dial longer numbers.

- I didn't try this method, but I suppose most of the phones don't have this button any more. I bought one telephone with display from the German Telekom. Dialing more than 18 digits with that one didn't work. I replaced it with one without display, it works.

I just found a piece of information in a forum. It seems that some telephones do have this limitation. So it is possible to have one cordless without this problem.

Any recommandations of good cordless telephones?

[az]

If you need one that just works, has nearly no fancy features and is a little big, but very reliable, get a new Hagenuk HomeHandy Clou off ebay for cheap. I don't think you can find them in electronic stores anymore. Ours is ~10 years old

My friends and parents have had a lot of problems with Siemens Gigasets (and Siemens OEM phones, like Telekom Sinus and some (?) Panasonic).

AZ

[chaoliang]

Yes, also my GF's mobile phone from Siemens sucks. Retired only after half a year's usage.

[az]

Exactly. They are market leader, and they do have nice features, but their reliability sucks.

Doesn't you GF's phone still have warranty on it? If not, and you don't need it anymore, you could send it to me and I could try to fix it

AZ

[KvHagedorn]

Why can't they just keep things simple? I do this sort of thing all the time here. I recently wired up a 7000 sq ft house with phones in every room INCLUDING the lavatories, plus phone lines to satellite TV locations, computers, and fax machines. There are 36 cat5e wires in the media box going to different locations in the house. Each of these carries 4 separate available lines. I had to use a commercial 110 punchdown block for these people. It was ridiculous. The phone company said it wouldn't work without some special commercial trunk line in, but it worked just fine.

[Kurt]

Exactly. They are market leader, and they do have nice features, but their reliability sucks.

Doesn't you GF's phone still have warranty on it? If not, and you don't need it anymore, you could send it to me and I could try to fix it

AZ

Didn't they "just" get out of the GSM business?

[az]

No, they're trying to make their GSM branch profitable still, though they explicitly say closing down or selling is still an option. They've just announced that they want to reduce costs by a three-digit million EUR number. But their cordless (DECT) phones have nothing to do with their GSM branch (a mistake IMHO, and there have been thoughts of merging these two, or rather of relocating DECT phone development to the GSM branch).

AZ

[Technoid]

- I didn't try this method, but I suppose most of the phones don't have this button any more. I bought one telephone with display from the German Telekom. Dialing more than 18 digits with that one didn't work. I replaced it with one without display, it works.

do you mean that there actually are phones that dont alow you to "lift the reciever" and dial a number?? (or listen to the dial tone)

[cjolley]

do you mean that there actually are phones that dont alow you to "lift the reciever" and dial a number?? (or listen to the dial tone)

This phone's for you: http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/Por...ble-rotary.htm