AboutSpencer Holcombe Expertise Hi, thanks for checking me out, I have several years in the telecom industry, working for Pacific Telephone,American Bell,AT&T,AT&T Communications,AT&T Information Systems, and Pacific Bell-SBC. I can answer most questions regarding Telephones,wiring,jacks,PBX, Local and Long Distance,Billing,Custom calling services, Customer Service,and Fraud. I can`t answer Cellular questions.
Expert: Spencer Holcombe Date: 7/29/2007 Subject: Trouble wiring jack for 2nd line
Question Hi there. I hope you can help me determine if we have some bad wires or have things wired incorrectly. We have recently had a 2nd line turned on in our new home(built 10 yrs ago), so I can work from home. We opted to do the inside wiring outselves to save the $90 tech fee(AT&T). Everywhere we read online said it was "easy". =( We have an office with one phone jack. We need both our DSL(which uses our main line) AND our business line(the new 2nd #) to come out of that same jack. Inside the jack, we found 3 gray cables(with 4 wires in each cable) in it.(Don't know why there's 3). Only one cable seems to be operating, though.(it's the only cable we can get any kind of dial tone through for our main line) We have the red/green wires AND the black/yellow wires(from the operating cable) attached in the jack. We're also using a 2 line splitter/adapter which provides 3 jacks(L1, L2, L1&2) I was told the DSL could be plugged into L1(main line) and our business phone could be plugged into L2(2nd line). L3 was only to be used if we had a phone with 2-line capability, which we don't. We can plug DSL into L1 and get service, but we are not getting a dial tone when we plug our phone into L2. I think it's also worth noting that when we first discovered no dial tone on this new line(last week), we found that there was no dial tone out at the NID, although the wires were hooked up. We had a repairman come out but we weren't home. But he apparently found a problem and changed or repaired wires. There IS a dial tone at the box now......but we can't get one inside! I HATE to ask for someone to come out to the house if this is an easy fix because we can't afford the fee. Is there anything you can think of that might be the reason for our problem?
Thank you so much, in advance.
Lisa
Answer Lisa,
It IS easy - IF you have a line tester.
Without one it's a little harder - trial and error.
It sounds like your dsl and pots (plain old telephone service) are working ok at the NID (network interface device) where the phone companies lines hook to yours,
but then you have problems going to the jacks.
I can't help you without seeing the set up you have (4 cables with 4 lines(wires) each WOW. you have a good start, red and green are normal for voice use, yellow and black were for ground and a spare sometimes used on old princess and trimlines for lights, and also for intercoms and speakers. Try checking the OTHER cables and lines starting with the green and red wires till you have dsl service where you want it. (dsl normally goes over the same pair as your voice service, you just need to use the filter that came with your dsl service and plug in your computer. You won't know by the dial tone weather you have dsl or not, so listening is only going to tell you that you have "service". If you plug in your filter and modem, and the modems dsl service light lights up you know you have dsl and can go from there. i hope this helps, if not, your best bet is to pay for a tech to come out. (your phone company (AT&T) will put it on your bill and if you request, will set up monthly payments.
Spencer
