Home Repair and Do It Yourself Tips from the Natural Handyman

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I have a one-line phone I want to use in my office, but when I plug the phone in, it only works on my home line (1). Is there something I can do to make this phone work on my business line (2)?

Yep. Reverse the wires in the outlet itself. (Or see shortcut, below.) I'm assuming you have both lines active in the office.  (If not, return to the question list for more information.)

Simply unscrew the cover on the outlet, and switch the red wire with the yellow wire and the green wire with the black wire. This will fool the stupid phone into thinking it is on LINE 1 when it really is on LINE 2. None of your other phones will be affected by this change.

If perchance the wires leading to the telephone jack are not colored red black green and yellow, all is not lost.  Most phone jacks have short, internal wires that have use the typical residential color coding,  so you can use these as a guide.  Just write down which color goes with red, black, green or yellow and make the changes accordingly.  If possible, always test the jack when you're done with a telephone line tester to be sure all's well! 

There is a shortcut!  You can purchase a special phone jack splitter which will give you three new jacks... Line 1, Line 2 and Line 1+2.   Plugging your single-line telephone into Line 2 will give you the same effect as reversing the wires.

Back to Telephone Question List

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