On Mon, 10 Sep 2012 08:48:11 -0400, Art Todesco
wrote:
On 9/9/2012 12:03 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
We are getting Charter phone added Wednesday. The faq says:
Number Of Phone Lines
Charter will install up to two separate phone lines and a distinctive
ring for residential customers. If you need more than two separate
phone lines please contact Charter Business at 1-888-692-8635.
http://www.myaccount.charter.com/cus...Ofphoneli nes
I really don't need two different phone numbers, but since the second
line is free, I was considering how I may use it.
I currently have 2 cordless phones with 3 handsets each. One of the
base phones is right where the router (and UPS) is located at the
house. I am considering putting a single jack for that phone on the
main phone number and then letting the rest of the jacks in the house
be supplied by the second phone number.
I don't know how the phone equipment connects to the phone system.
What would be nice is if the phone guy would just install a jack that
has two ports. One for each phone number.
I could then plug the base into one jack and that gives the 3 most
important phones the main phone number.
For the second line, I have a base block next to the equipment. I
could just take a 6' phone cord and jump between the second line and
the new phone jack line 2. This would make the entire house then be
on the second phone line back feed through the room jack.
Would this work?
If it turned out that I would really want the other base (and the rest
of the house) on the same number, I could just change the jumper and
put all the phones on the main number.
The 2nd line could be connected to you computer as a fax line, maybe.
Some broadband telephone lines don't work as a fax line ... some do.
I have a fax. The second number would be useful if the fax would work
with it. I suspect that, although it would work sometimes, it would
not work reliably. (I am going to try)
Since I do not have long distance on my phone, I have tried to use
Google Voice to send a fax long distance. Sometimes it would work and
sometimes not. But what made it worthless was that the times it did
not work, the fax still reported successful. I had to send a copy of
a driver's license once. The girl said it sent half of the page.
I was able to talk her into letting me scan it and email it. She gave
me her email address and it was AOL. It amazes me the amount of
people that still require a fax. Email is, more often than not, not
an option.
On the subject of fax, smart phones should have that capability. Being
able to send or receive a fax from a smart phone would add 0 cost of
the phone.
Here I don't have the option of cable, so it's got to be DSL or
satellite for data. But the telephone company does give you a 'free'
POTS line if you bundle 3 services. I guess too many people are giving
up their wired lines and they have lots of equipment and copper in the
cables. But it is real nice for faxing. Sure, I'd like to send
documents, etc. over email, however, medical people will usually only
accept faxes for 'security reasons'. So, I have the main number
connected to a 1 line cordless phone (5.8GHz) with 4 handsets scattered
around. The fax line is connected to my computer which auto answers as
a fax and it is also connected to a 2nd cordless (DECT 6) phone which
allows 2 lines. I got it free so it was a no brainer to set it up with
both lines. Besides sending/receiving a fax, the 2nd line could be used
for an outgoing call when the 1st line is busy (on the 2nd cordless
handset, or its wired base handset).