I need a 2 line phone

Posts: 14 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 12, 2005 Posts: 14

I've got a Vonage business line in my home with a fax set up on line 2 of my rtp300.

I bought a 2 line motorola 5.8ghz but I can't seem to get the 2nd line to work.

I want to be able to put line 1 on hold and answer line 2 and be able to put line 2 on hold as well. I've got the line in to L1+L2 plug in the phone but can't seem to get line 2 to answer.

Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong or a suggestion for a better 2 line phone?

I'm not attached to this phone because I don't like the display or the buttons but the call quality is perfect so I'm guessing the 5.8ghz is the way to go.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:36 pm Post subject: Re: I need a 2 line phone

headphonz wrote:

I've got a Vonage business line in my home with a fax set up on line 2 of my rtp300.

I bought a 2 line motorola 5.8ghz but I can't seem to get the 2nd line to work.

I want to be able to put line 1 on hold and answer line 2 and be able to put line 2 on hold as well. I've got the line in to L1+L2 plug in the phone but can't seem to get line 2 to answer.

Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong or a suggestion for a better 2 line phone?

I'm not attached to this phone because I don't like the display or the buttons but the call quality is perfect so I'm guessing the 5.8ghz is the way to go.

Have you tried taking a simpler phone and plugging it into line 2 of your Vonage adapter, just to make sure the line is working?

Keep in mind that line 2 is a fax line, you have a very limited number of minutes on it if I remember the business FAQ pages...

Posts: 423 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Oct 03, 2005 Posts: 423

The 2 line phone has 1 jack with both lines combined, is that the case? If so, I would lose that phone quickly and get one with a separate jack for each line. Then you should be able to do what you are describing easily.

If the line you plug into the 'L1+L2' jack is only connected to Line 1 on your Vonage adapter, guess what line is only going to work...

Posts: 14 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 12, 2005 Posts: 14

Nate, Thanks. Line 2 of the adapter works because I have a fax attached and it faxes just fine.. It's a different # just for the fax. Line 1 of the adapter is all I want. I just need 2 'internal' lines kinda like call waiting but more like a PBX.

Coldgin, The phone does have a Tel Line 2 plug. Should I split the line out from the adapter to a separate line into 1 & 2 in the phone?

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:47 pm Post subject:

headphonz wrote:

Nate, Thanks. Line 2 of the adapter works because I have a fax attached and it faxes just fine.. It's a different # just for the fax. Line 1 of the adapter is all I want. I just need 2 'internal' lines kinda like call waiting but more like a PBX.

Coldgin, The phone does have a Tel Line 2 plug. Should I split the line out from the adapter to a separate line into 1 & 2 in the phone?

If you have one plug coming out of your adapter, you have one phone line. Two plugs = 2 phone lines.

I'm not sure what you mean by a PBX. To my knowledge, if you're on the standard business plan, you are getting one line plus one FAX line. That one line (Line 1) is just like a POTS analog line.

Posts: 14 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 12, 2005 Posts: 14

PBX is what business use to tranfer calls to multiple extensions. There's 1 phone NUMBER, but multiple internal lines. Receptionists receive multiple calls and are able to place them all on hold depending on the # of internal lines they have.

Posts: 34 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Apr 21, 2005 Posts: 34

You need to plug into port 1 and port 2 in your adapter to get two lines. You then have to combine the lines in the jack in question.

Posts: 14 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 12, 2005 Posts: 14

Kenmore,

So I would lose my fax line?

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 4:19 pm Post subject:

headphonz wrote:

PBX is what business use to tranfer calls to multiple extensions. There's 1 phone NUMBER, but multiple internal lines. Receptionists receive multiple calls and are able to place them all on hold depending on the # of internal lines they have.

Yes, I know that. But the RPT300 has, to my knowledge, single-line analog jacks. Line 1 = your regular line, line 2 = your FAX (normally).

So the signal coming out of Line 1 in your Vonage adapter will be a standard, one line, POTS, non PBX, analog, insert-other-phrase-meaning-simple phone line. It doesn't have "internal" lines. It's *a* phone line. Line 2 is also a standard, POTS grade phone line, that is meant for FAX so you don't have a lot of calling minutes on it.

I assume you can use Line 2 (intended for FAX) for whatever you want, but it'll have a separate and distinct phone number (your FAX number) on it, and it'll have a limit to how many minutes you spend on it. It won't do any form of call hunt you don't program on your Vonage account page, and I don't know how sophisticated the hunt can get.

Plus, your standard-grade 2-line non PBX phone is expecting to receive input from 2 separate POTS lines. If they are on the same jack, then they use the middle connectors for Line 1 and the outer connectors for Line 2. But they are two phone lines, just like you'd buy from your local telco.

If you have the advanced business plan (which would support PBX), then you'd probably be providing your own equipment. But you'd also have your own PBX gear and not be asking about hooking analog equipment to it. Wink

I think we've found the crux of the problem. Line 2 does not work because there isn't one. Well, there is, but it's your FAX line. Your one non-FAX line does not have multitasking capability except maybe if you wanted to play with the FLASH key and use call waiting.

Posts: 1389 · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 4:26 pm Post subject:

I use both lines on Vonage, both separate phone numbers on a Uniden TRU8866. It is a great 5.8 mghz digital phone, expandable.

I have a splitter on line one, which I use as home/fax line for work. One line goes into my Lexmark all in one, the other into the base of the Uniden set.

Line two goes from my router straight into the base.

Made my life alot easier....