When plug in 2nd line, 1st line stops working

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 21, 2006 Posts: 12

I have successfully set up the home wiring system for my primary line. However, as soon as I plug the 2nd line into the 2-line splitter, I lose the 1st line (and don't get the 2nd)! The 2nd line is used for a fax machine (and I was hoping to roll busy calls over to it, too). Any idea how I can use both lines and where the problem may be??

Posts: 1179 · Member of the Week Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 1179

msh2 wrote:

I have successfully set up the home wiring system for my primary line. However, as soon as I plug the 2nd line into the 2-line splitter, I lose the 1st line (and don't get the 2nd)! The 2nd line is used for a fax machine (and I was hoping to roll busy calls over to it, too). Any idea how I can use both lines and where the problem may be??

Your post is difficult to understand. When you get a 2nd line, you will need to plug the 2nd phone or fax into the 2nd port on your Vonage router. You should not be using a splitter of any kind unless you are trying to split the 2nd line between a fax and a regular phone. If that is the case, you will not want to use a 2 line splitter. You will want to use a single 1-line splitter that shares the 2nd line. 2 line splitters function in a very different way. Please post the exact setup so that we can help you decipher what is going on.

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

mundy5 wrote:

msh2 wrote:

I have successfully set up the home wiring system for my primary line. However, as soon as I plug the 2nd line into the 2-line splitter, I lose the 1st line (and don't get the 2nd)! The 2nd line is used for a fax machine (and I was hoping to roll busy calls over to it, too). Any idea how I can use both lines and where the problem may be??

Your post is difficult to understand. When you get a 2nd line, you will need to plug the 2nd phone or fax into the 2nd port on your Vonage router. You should not be using a splitter of any kind unless you are trying to split the 2nd line between a fax and a regular phone. If that is the case, you will not want to use a 2 line splitter. You will want to use a single 1-line splitter that shares the 2nd line. 2 line splitters function in a very different way. Please post the exact setup so that we can help you decipher what is going on.

If, on the other hand, you're trying to separate the two lines in your home wiring so that you can use one of them with port 1 on your Vonage adapter and the other with port 2 on your adapter, then you must use a two line splitter, not a simple splitter. As Mundy says, we need more detail.

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 21, 2006 Posts: 12

Sorry I wasn't clearer. We have two lines in our house, and there is one outlet near the place where the Vonage equipment is set up. So that we can use both lines, we have put a splitter into the home outlet, with three options: LIne 1, Line 2, and Line 1/2. WHen I put the Line 1 phone cord into the Vonage phone adapter and then into the LIne 1 slot in the splitter, it works just fine. However, when I then put the Line 2 cord into the Vonage adapter and then into the Line 2 slot in the splitter, both lines do not work. I get a clicking sound on the Line 1, and then (sometimes, after a long wait) I might get lines one and two. Usually I get nothing but the clicking sound. I hope that is clearer, and thank you for your help.
Martha

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

Thanks for the clarification. Are you certain that all landlines are disconnected from both line 1 and line 2 of the house wiring? They need to be, even if they are inactive.

What happens if you unplug the connection from Vonage 1 to house 1 and plug in just Vonage 2 to house 2? Does that work?

Please take a look at this thread: http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic16933.html . Which Vonage adapter are you using?

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 21, 2006 Posts: 12

As far as I can determine, the incoming lines are disconnected. It's a very old set-up, so it doesn't look like any of the pictures I've found on-line. When I unplug Vonage 1 and House 1 and plug in Vonage 2 to House 2, and then plug my phone into House Line 2, I get a dial tone on Line 2, but it is NOT really Line 2, it's Line 1.

I also tried all the combinations in the other e-mail you suggested, but I can't get Line 2 to work at all - AND when both are plugged into Vonage 1 and 2 to House 1 and 2, neither line works.

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

msh2 wrote:

As far as I can determine, the incoming lines are disconnected. It's a very old set-up, so it doesn't look like any of the pictures I've found on-line. When I unplug Vonage 1 and House 1 and plug in Vonage 2 to House 2, and then plug my phone into House Line 2, I get a dial tone on Line 2, but it is NOT really Line 2, it's Line 1.

I also tried all the combinations in the other e-mail you suggested, but I can't get Line 2 to work at all - AND when both are plugged into Vonage 1 and 2 to House 1 and 2, neither line works.

Which Vonage adapter are you using?

How are you checking for dial tone on house line 2? With a 2 line phone? Was anything plugged into the phone 1 port on the Vonage box when you discovered that what was intended to be house line 2 actually turned out to be Vonage 1?

When you tried the things I talked about in that other thread, did you use cords that only have one pair (two conductors) in them?

The problem here is that your two Vonage lines are getting shorted together when you plug them into both into the house wiring. We just need to figure out where it's happening.

If you simply run a fully wired phone cord (2 pairs, 4 conductors) from Vonage 1 to the house wiring jack without using the splitter, what happens? I have a sneaking hunch that doing that will make everything work. Also, if you have a two line phone, what happens if you plug it directly into Vonage 1 using a fully wired cord?

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 21, 2006 Posts: 12

Motorola VT2442 is the phone adaptor.

I just tried plugging the 2-Line phone into Vonage, with a 2-Line cord (4 conductors) with no splitter on the house line. When I plug the Vonage end into Line 1, I get Line 1, and when I plug it into Vonage 2, I get Line 2 - BUT I never get both Line 1 and Line 2. When I have Line 1, Line 2 is dead (and vice versa).

When I was following directions from the other thread, I was using the 2 conductor cords.

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

msh2 wrote:

Motorola VT2442 is the phone adaptor.

I just tried plugging the 2-Line phone into Vonage, with a 2-Line cord (4 conductors) with no splitter on the house line. When I plug the Vonage end into Line 1, I get Line 1, and when I plug it into Vonage 2, I get Line 2 - BUT I never get both Line 1 and Line 2. When I have Line 1, Line 2 is dead (and vice versa).

When I was following directions from the other thread, I was using the 2 conductor cords.

OK. Let's be sure we're on the same page. Let's review what you're seeing with just the two line phone and the Vonage adapter, but no house wiring at all. Are the jacks on your two line phone labelled Line 1&2 for one and Line 2 for the other? Or perhaps there's just one jack on the phone?

Let's assume that you have just one jack or that you have two jacks with one labelled Line 1&2. If you run a two line cord from Vonage 1 to the Line 1&2 jack on the phone, what do you get when you push the line 1 button on the phone and what do you get when you push the line 2 button? Same question if you plug the Vonage end into Vonage 2.

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 21, 2006 Posts: 12

The jacks on my two-line phone are labeled 1 & 2 or 2.

When I plug the 2-line cord into the phone ("1 & 2") and into the Vonage Adaptor Line 1, I get the Line 1 dialtone one Line 1 and nothing on Line 2. When I plug it into Vonage Line 2, I have nothing on Line 1, but I do get the Line 2 dialtone on Line 2.