Ok, so we run 6 lines into our office, and currently at the front desk we only have one phone jack. So we'd like to split that so that two phones can be used concurrently out of the one jack. How would we do this? Where can we find the piece of equiptment we need and what is it? THANKS!:confused:

Its called a phone jack Tee and that is exactly what it looks like. Plugs into the jack and has an outlet coming out each side. Available most anywhere nowadays. It is ancient technology.

Each line is a pair(2 conductors), if you want to wire for a 2 line phone, first pair hook to red and green(line 1), second pair will hook to yellow and black, be sure to use a 4 wire line cord.
You could have 3 separate jacks, each of the three pairs will hooh to red and green on each jack(Red and green is used for all single line phones and is the center 2 conductors).
If category wiring is used, white/blue to green and blue/white to red.
Without a phone system or KSU, you can still get a phone that will handle 4 or 3 lines, this uses 2 double jacks with 2 4 conductor line cords.
There are a couple of numbers that can be called to let you know what line your on ANI, this is for phone techs, not sure if I can say.
But for non techs, you can call your cell and see the number by caller ID, another is call the number and look for ringing voltage.

I think Strat's post is a little confusing, so let me try conceptual first.

In a normal phone jack there are 4 wires, but actually there are 6 positions and the jack could, in theory, support 3 lines. But let's assume two.

Jacks can have red/yel/grn/red colors. Old style or they can have CAT markings. Strange color markings and require a punch down tool. You need to find this information out. The wires entering the jack could be a mix of solid and striped colors. You need to figure this out.

Hopefully, all the wires terminate in a single place. i.e. home runs. If it's a converted older home, then wires can come from anywhere.

A two line phone uses a single jack. The inner pairs are line 1 and next outer pair is line #2.

There is an adapter that can plug into this jack that will provide 3 outputs, line 1, line 2 and line 1+2. What this adapter will do is allow two single line phones to access to access, line 1 or line 2 depending on what jack is used. The L1+L2 is a duplication of the wall jack.

There are wireless wall jacks, most not compatible with modems or fax machines although some will work with low speed modems.

That's conceptual (Not complete).

So, we need answers to:

1. What kind of jack are we talking about?
Red/yel/grn/blk or the punch down version

2. What kind of wires are connected from the wall?
The red/yel/grn/blk or the funky colored ones? (how many pairs?)

3. Where do you think the jacks terminate?
Outside at the NID? Inside somewhere? Non home-run?

Then the basic problem becomes:

1. identifying the line at the hub (lack of a better word).
2. Identifying the wires to the jack.
3. Moving to the proper pairs and possibly using the adapter.

I can't guess why:

1. Ah I want to add a fax machine
2. There are two people and I want them to both share a 2 line phone
3. I want two people to share separate phones
4. Something else?

Bear in mind, there are options left out.

You have two choices. You can use a splitter as tickle advised. Its functions the same as a electric adapter that allows you to plug multiple devices into a single jack.

Or you can daisy chain another jack from the existing one. Phone lines are basically a continuous set of 4 wires that can be tapped into at any point. So all you would need to do is get some phone wire and a jack and connect the phone wire to the existing jack using the color coded wire and connect the other end to a new jack.

You can find all you need at your local Radio Shack.

Daisy chaining is not a recommended practice anymore. It can be detrimental to VoIP and DSL connections.

But this is for a phone line.

I did not say that you cannot do it. I just said it's not recommended for new installs.

Consider an older home with quad shield wire and home run and daisy chained combination wiring. This is a really bad situation.

First, In those days one pair was for power for a Princess phone and one phone. Twisting removes RFI (Radio Frequency Interferance). Voice has relatively low bandwidth < ~3000 Hz. The wiring does not behave as a transmission line.

Daisy chaining does not unless only the last run is terminated with a resistor, but this won't work for phones.

Problems:
1. Noise
2. Crosstalk when wires run near other phone lines or when two lines are in the same cable.
3. Higher error rate for modems/fax machines.
4. Really bad performance when DSL modems are connected

Home run wiring with twisted pairs:
1. transmission line-like performance
2. inside runs can be re-routed easily
Ideally all jacks should be wired the same and the changes made at one point.
3. No crosstalk
4. Much better performance when DSL modems are used on the line unless a whole house splitter is used.
5. Technician will spend a lot of time sorting the system out unless it is documented very well.

I gave you advantages and disadvantages. I did not say it would not work. It is just not recommended.

Just like it is recommded to install 2 - coax, two 4 pair CAT 5 and 2 fiber for each room in the house except the home theater room which needs more.

That's 4 phone lines, 1 Ethernet, Fiber (yet to be determined - TV?)

FIOS requires Ethernet and coax.
Sat receivers require telephone + feed or a feed for Horiz and Vert feeds

A bedroom might require TV + Nanny CAM.

The TV location could use one of he connections to re-distribute video to a modulator in the house.

What about IR remote control, Antenna rotator connections etc. or any new technology.

It's recommended.

People using 66 punch down blocks should not use 100 Mbps ethernet. It's not a good idea to use 2 pairs for two separate 100 Mbps ethernet connections because of crosstalk. Do people do it. Yes.. Now what happenes when Power Over Ethernet Plus came along and you wire wired the Ethernet with 4 wire cables.