We got phone service through Qwest, but only one of the phone jacks in the house is active. It turns out the previous owner of my house had three phone lines coming into the house: a home line, a business line and a fax line. The fax line only came into the one outlet in the office and that is the one Qwest activated when we signed up for new service.
Qwest only guarantees that one outlet will work, so now I have two choices:
- Pay Qwest $100 to activate the first additional jack and $60 for each additional jack after that.
- Find a local phone guy/handyman to activate the additional outlets.
- Buy one of those 5.8ghz phone systems (wireless network on 2.4ghz) that has a base station and additional phones running off the one base.
You might think Qwest could activate one of the other lines coming into the house by flipping a switch at their office, and you’d be right. They won’t do it though. 
The expandable phones are appealing because we can move them from room to room as needed. Anyone have experience with the Panasonic, AT&T or VTech systems?
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Geof adds this Comment:
I have a Panasonic system, and my parents have one of those base station with multiple phones setups.
The only issue I’ve ever had with a 2.4GHz phone was having the base unit too close to my 802.11g WAP.
May 24th, 2004 at 11:58 am
Alex adds this Comment:
The base station would be next to the WAP, so the 5.8ghz seems to make sense.
May 24th, 2004 at 12:05 pm
george stojanoff adds this Comment:
Yeah quest (aka USWest) really sucks. When I lived in AZ, my phone line would get a lot of static every now and then. I called them up to complain and USWest told me that it was normal for the lines to get a lot of static when it was raining! I guess its good that USWest does not operate in Seattle. Dorks.
May 24th, 2004 at 12:32 pm
Jordan adds this Comment:
I my Uniden 5.8GHz phone. It really is a great system. I can’t praise it enough, and I’d buy it again and again if I needed it. Double-check, but they MIGHT be limited to two handsets per base-station [which might be less than optimal for your needs].
I have the simplest two-handset model. No answering machine, or keypad on the base. But out the other options too.
http://www.uniden.co[...]ct=TRU8885-2
May 24th, 2004 at 1:23 pm
Jordan adds this Comment:
Err…shouldn’t have used angle brackets.
I [HEART] my Uniden phones! They rule.
May 24th, 2004 at 1:24 pm
Sam DeVore adds this Comment:
I would take the effort to activate the other jacks in the house, why limit yourself. It really isn’t that hard if you have access to the POT box, there is usually a user servicable side and a phone company side, the user side is the one that should give you access and is really easy to do, all you need is a screw driver. My qwest (or qworst) box has test plugs that you can plug a phone into to see which is live. My house actually has a second line that qwest has left active, it has the same number as a neighbor.
Sam D
May 24th, 2004 at 1:34 pm
Ari adds this Comment:
Hi Alex, I’ve used the vtech system in both an office/warehouse and my home. We had the max phones allowed at work, and it worked perfectly even with a two line system. At home, we had the main phone in the kitchen, a second one in the living room, a third one in the bedroom and a fourth one in the office. (the living room phone had a signal strong enough that I could go have coffee at the neighbors (2 doors down) and still get my calls. I also liked the fact that since I purchased them at Best But with the extra warranty, I could exchange them without question (okay..I dropped one of them!). Hope this helps.
May 25th, 2004 at 3:21 pm
Miraz Jordan adds this Comment:
A few weeks ago I bought the Panasonic DECT TCD540 digital answerphone and cordless phone. I’m in New Zealand so model numbers may not match the US. I love it and wish I’d had a phone like this years ago. The base station sits in another room and the cordless phone is in a charger very close to my Powerbook and only a few feet away from the iMac which serves out my wireless connection. It all works gorgeously.
May 28th, 2004 at 2:21 am
aslo need additional jacks to work adds this Comment:
Hi. I’m experiencing the same problem as you. But i have a different provider. I have SBC. They will charge me $125 for ONE additional jack to be turned on and if i want others one to be turned on it will cost another $50 per jack. THAT IS RIDICULOUS!
Well SBC said I could pay them to do it, hire a phone guy to do it, or do it myself. I CHOOSE MYSELF!
I am not a tech wiz or anything. I am seeking any help from anyone who has the knowledge of turning phone jacks on in the house.
Email me please if you have any info on this. Most appreciated, THANKS.
October 5th, 2004 at 11:54 am
alexking.org: Blog adds this Trackback:
Office Equipment
It’s coming up on a year since I joined the ranks of the self-employed and I realized last month that it was high time for me to get some general office essentials and set up a few things to help me run my business more effeciently.
Got voice …
December 3rd, 2004 at 1:15 pm