Extension Telephone line

[parkesquay]

I have recently moved into a house that has only one telephone point which is in the lounge.
I didn't want to go wireless so I doubled up the telephone point and ran a cable throught the wall and up the stairs to the room where I have my computer.
No problem in regard to either telephone(lounge and study) or with my computer in the general sense except one:
When a call is taken on one phone it is not possible to pick-up and listen/talk on the other one. In my previous house we were both able to join in the chat - or not and the act of picking up the other end did not cut the call off(as this does).
Is this a cable code/wiring problem? Any ideas please

[dilligaf]

We have the same setup. One phone downstairs in the hall, another in the living room and another in the bedroom. All ring when an incoming call comes through and either one can be picked up to answer but, one can not pick up a second phone and listen to the conversation on the first phone.

Looking at the manual I think it is a settings on the phone that need to be adjusted rather than on the extension wire.

I have not really gone into it in too much detail as most calls are for my wife so if I answer I just pass the handset over to her and she gets on with it. I have no interest in listening. (Very trusting husband).
I do believe that the instructions supplied with the phone do tell you what to do if you want if you want to introduce a second or third party into the conversation.

Hope this may be of some help to you.

[parkesquay]

Dilligaf.
Thank you for that. I will investigate and if I find a solution I will post it on here. Won't be for a few days tho.

[raysparx1]

Hi parkesquay, it should be a very simple job, have a look at this site, the colours don't matter as long as the colours are the same in each number terminal at each point, good luck, Ray


http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/wiring_info.htm

[parkesquay]

Hi Ray,
Thank you for the info. I have added that site to my favourites. I haven't as yet been able to chase it all through but as soon as I can I will let you know the result on AB.
Regards

[thundercrack]

hi, I am an ex telephone engineer and looked at that web site with the info on, although correct it may be of help if I explain the simple way. a telephone works on only two wires coming in, the colour does not matter. sometimes there may be other wires connected but these do not do anything. the two centre terminals on a socket of the 6 terminals i.e. number 2 and 5 are the ones that carry the power. the only other one that does anything is terminal 3 which carries the bell ringing current. the simple way around transmission problems is to not use an extension type socket for additional phones, computers etc as the third wire( terminal 3, the bell ringer) can cause all sorts of problems if you get any wires reversed.. so connect the extension wire to terminals2 and 5 on the master socket, then do the same on all other sockets, but if you plug more than 3 or 4 phones in then the ringing will go quiet as the power is not strong enough to energise them all) but make sure they are all master type sockets, the ones with the capacitors in. computer connections should be made where possible to the master socket, but this is not a fixed rule, if the computer works o.k. then don't worry, the loss of a few millieconds is not going to cause any problem. If your original master socket is the two piece type then, as you will have found out, the bottom piece comes out and you connect the extension wiring to that. if it is the one piece type, which are obsolete, then you are not supposed to touch them. the idea is that if you get a fault, b.t. will ask you to pull out the bottom extension piece and test the line to there, to prove if the fault is on your internal wiring or their external network. If they come out and the fault is inside and it is something you have done then they will charge you a load of money for a call out, and disconnect the faulty wiring and go away, unless you want to pay an extra �130 for a rewire. if you have any problem, let me know.
alf.

[parkesquay]

Thundercrack ta for your input.
(hope ray'x and dill'f read this).
I have just had a 'play about' and this is the situation so far:
At the lounge master point (double skt) I connected both phones to the master point. I then did a test using my mobile which results in both phones ringing(as expected )and both phones useable at the same time i.e. 2 people can talk and listen(perfick). I then, just to make sure, removed one phone ,plugged in the extension cable and then put that phone into the extension. Same test(lounge
and study now) using mobile and 2 people - perfick. So far so good. So I appear to have connected all cables correctly. THAT IS THE GOOD NEWS.
The problem is when I put the adsl filter into the extension and then connect modem and telephone. The facility for 2 people(is it called a party line!!!) to listen and talk at the same time disappears. Yes both phones ring and using either one of them to make and/or receive a call works but the facility for simultaneous use no longer exists.
Hence my original question.
I should state here that the original skt in the lounge(the only skt in the house) was for a single phone. I changed this faceplate for a double(to make the extension through the wall) but there were neither capcitors nor any other additions on the original. It was a simple single skt. The first visible telphone point into the house is actually in the integral garage on the ground floor.

[thundercrack]

hi, o.k. starting to make sense. the original socket in the garage will be the master with the capacitor, you have changed one of the "slaves". this means that there would have been a third wire"the ringer" connected from terminal 3 on the main through to the slave. this is where the problems start. can I now assume that you have bought a long plug and socket extension lead to run the wire to the computer? if so this makes it a bit of a d.i.y. nightmare.these leads are sometimes reversed a/b and as the ringer wire is in circuit you get all the problems associated with this wire.next step is to reverse the wires in your new double slave, wires 2 and 5. see if this works. it may cause continous ringing, if so just change them back. if that fails, the only answer is to throw the extension lead away and buy a bit of phone wire and two single outlet master sockets with the capacitor in and get rid of your double socket and fit the new one and insert the two wires feeding and the two going away to terminals 2 & 5 ( they will fit on top of each other) and fit the other one by your computer. keep me posted.
alf.

[raysparx1]

Glad you turned up alf, good luck, parkesquay, I will leave you in the very capable hands of alf, I have learnt a lot from your answers alf, thank you from me as well, be handy when I am running in extra points for people, Ray

[parkesquay]

Thank you ray.

[thundercrack]

hi again, bit more info. if you want to get a ring test dial: 17070 then option 1. b.t. don't mind people using that bit of their test facility but don't try the other options.
alf.

[parkesquay]

Hi Alf,

This is the type of ready-made extension cable that I have:

http://tinyurl.com/2ddknr

Noted that the garage skt. is actually the master.
Firstly I will do as you suggest and reverse wires 2 &5(presumably both skts) in the lounge and see what happens. I will try and do this over the weekend.
It isn't a disaster as I can use either phone and the adsl is ok, but it would be nice to use both extensions at the same time.
Why does connecting the adsl filter appear to cause the problem which doesn't exist without it?

Regards

[thundercrack]

hi, the filter is probably wired correctly internally but the sockets or the extension lead are crossed somewhere which means they can take an a/b cross which will not affect the phones on thir own , but filters have to be exact or you get faint transmission etc. I have encountered many problems of a similar nature and usually finish up starting from the first socket and re-doing all the connections from scratch to get the a/b legs straight and leave out the ringing wire. I trust you are plugging each phone into a filter before plugging into a socket. every device that plugs into a socket, i.e. phone,computer,sky t.v. burgler alarm etc. must be filtered otherwise noise will be heard and the internet connection will drop out or not log on. so, are you using two filters? if not, that is your first step, then reversal of a/b wires. then, let me know.
regards, alf.

[parkesquay]

Hi All,
PROBLEM APPEARS TO BE SOLVED(sorry about the shouting).

'dilligaf' this may also be the solution to your similar problem.

I have a spare pair of filters from my wanadoo days so I used these as a straight exchange for my current tiscali ones(suggestion from this and another forum0.

Using BT 17070 option one (ring back) I listened to the start of the message and leaving phone off base I then dashed downstairs and could hear the dial tone. Did same test again but using my wife to listen to one connection and I could talk to her.

So the obvious conclusion is that at least one of the original filters is not as it should be.

Special thanks to Ray and Alf. I hope that I may be able to reciprocate sometime.

[dilligaf]

Congratulations, I will try the above on my phones.
If it doesn't work , I will commiserate over a drink this evening.

If it does I will celebrate with a drink this evening.

Either way I'm on a winner.
Thanks for your lead back your original question.