Is it possible to have 2 landline phones on the same number?

[bandit4910]

Well my mom has hooked up a phone downstairs and one upstairs hoping they will run the same number...

Is that possible?

Or will the phone have an extension?

[Capt'n Skunky]

Wow, never thought I\'d live to see the day when people didn\'t know how 'land lines' work.

You can connect them both, but they will not be able to handle separate calls. If someone is on one and you pick up the other, you will be able to hear and talk with the current conversation.

If you need to be able to handle to calls at the same time, you will need a second number(easy, less $) or some kind of multiplexing switchboard (hard, more $).

Arrr!

Capt\'n Skunky

[bandit4910]

Wow, never thought I\'d live to see the day when people didn\'t know how 'land lines' work.

You can connect them both, but they will not be able to handle separate calls. If someone is on one and you pick up the other, you will be able to hear and talk with the current conversation.

If you need to be able to handle to calls at the same time, you will need a second number(easy, less $) or some kind of multiplexing switchboard (hard, more $).

Arrr!

Capt\'n Skunky

Thanks.

I don\'t really use land lines since we have VoIP and mobile phones.

[Cthulufaic]

I don\'t really use land lines since we have VoIP and mobile phones.

What\'s VoIP? I assume it is something like skype or whatever.

[Capt'n Skunky]

Yes gramps, VOIP is Voice Over Internet Protocol. ;P

Arrr!

Capt\'n Skunky

[bandit4910]

What\'s VoIP? I assume it is something like skype or whatever.

It\'s basically a phone online.

You sometimes pay for it.

I use iCall which is free.

Skype\'s phone calling system is VoIP.

[Ydoow]

Vonage is VoIP too I believe.

And yeah, wow. Kinda odd to live through what used to be a very common technology becoming obsolete and no longer common knowledge

Everyone saw this coming, my own family is considering removing our land-lines. It\'s just odd to see some of the first people who haven\'t been risen with a land-line lol.

Oooh! Get this!

My grandparents used to share a landline with their neighbors. It was a community deal kinda thing way back when landlines were new. A bunch of homes could pay for a landline together and all be wired to the same number. It was much cheaper than paying for your own landline so it was pretty common.

Over the years more and more of their neighbors moved away/got their own land-line until now, my grandparents are the only ones on that land-line and still pay the ridiculously low rate

I found that pretty funny.

[bandit4910]

Vonage is VoIP too I believe.

And yeah, wow. Kinda odd to live through what used to be a very common technology becoming obsolete and no longer common knowledge

Everyone saw this coming, my own family is considering removing our land-lines. It\'s just odd to see some of the first people who haven\'t been risen with a land-line lol.

Oooh! Get this!

My grandparents used to share a landline with their neighbors. It was a community deal kinda thing way back when landlines were new. A bunch of homes could pay for a landline together and all be wired to the same number. It was much cheaper than paying for your own landline so it was pretty common.

Over the years more and more of their neighbors moved away/got their own land-line until now, my grandparents are the only ones on that land-line and still pay the ridiculously low rate

I found that pretty funny.

Yes Vonage is VoIP.

That\'s part of the reason my family didn\'t get Vonage.

And the fact that you had to pay $29.95 for VoIP when you can pay $10 a month on Icall.

[Capt'n Skunky]

I\'m not so crazy about VOIP as a replacement for an actual phone line being hardwire or cellular. It\'s just adding another layer of possible failure and expense. As cheap as burn-phones are, I don\'t see why anyone would tie themselves to a PC that much have a broadband connection.

I resisted giving up my land line for a long time until I moved(2008) somewhere that land lines were insanely expensive vs. cell phones. Running phone lines in the Virgin Islands is not easy. Put them overhead and it\'s a maintenance nightmare due to hurricane season and burying them on an island that\'s mostly steep hills and volcanic rock is cost prohibitive. Sure, they put them in around the main city and the resorts, but those areas are rarely located up in the hills like where I lived.

Arrr!

Capt\'n Skunky

[bandit4910]

I\'m not so crazy about VOIP as a replacement for an actual phone line being hardwire or cellular. It\'s just adding another layer of possible failure and expense. As cheap as burn-phones are, I don\'t see why anyone would tie themselves to a PC that much have a broadband connection.

I resisted giving up my land line for a long time until I moved(2008) somewhere that land lines were insanely expensive vs. cell phones. Running phone lines in the Virgin Islands is not easy. Put them overhead and it\'s a maintenance nightmare due to hurricane season and burying them on an island that\'s mostly steep hills and volcanic rock is cost prohibitive. Sure, they put them in around the main city and the resorts, but those areas are rarely located up in the hills like where I lived.

Arrr!

Capt\'n Skunky

I don\'t really use VoIP...

I only use it for School and other stuff.

[Guest GroundHOG-2010]

Wow, never thought I\'d live to see the day when people didn\'t know how 'land lines' work.

Neather did I.

It\'s basically a phone online.

You sometimes pay for it.

I use iCall which is free.

Skype\'s phone calling system is VoIP.

News Flash. Anything that transmits you voice over the internet to someone elses computer is a VoIP.

I\'m not so crazy about VOIP as a replacement for an actual phone line being hardwire or cellular. It\'s just adding another layer of possible failure and expense. As cheap as burn-phones are, I don\'t see why anyone would tie themselves to a PC that much have a broadband connection.

Arrr!

Capt\'n Skunky

Thank you. Someone else that thinks like me on this issue and doesn\'t just march head long into doing it. Anouther reason I dislike VoIP is that it uses a lot of data (and here in NZ we have data caps for the internet), so too much VoIP will make us go over the data cap extremly quickly.

[GOOMH]

I\'m not so crazy about VOIP as a replacement for an actual phone line being hardwire or cellular. It\'s just adding another layer of possible failure and expense. As cheap as burn-phones are, I don\'t see why anyone would tie themselves to a PC that much have a broadband connection.

I resisted giving up my land line for a long time until I moved(2008) somewhere that land lines were insanely expensive vs. cell phones. Running phone lines in the Virgin Islands is not easy. Put them overhead and it\'s a maintenance nightmare due to hurricane season and burying them on an island that\'s mostly steep hills and volcanic rock is cost prohibitive. Sure, they put them in around the main city and the resorts, but those areas are rarely located up in the hills like where I lived.

Arrr!

Capt\'n Skunky

Exactly, with VOIP you\'re screwed if the power goes out. Of course you have a cell phone if you need it but lets say the battery dies and you need to call the police, since you have VOIP you\'re screwed. I prefer a physical connection at all costs if I need to use it to save myself. This situation is extremely unlikely but hey it could happen.

[bandit4910]

Exactly, with VOIP you\'re screwed if the power goes out. Of course you have a cell phone if you need it but lets say the battery dies and you need to call the police, since you have VOIP you\'re screwed. I prefer a physical connection at all costs if I need to use it to save myself. This situation is extremely unlikely but hey it could happen.

Exactly why my parents prefer a wired connection.

(Of course with FiOS your still screwed if the powers out....)

Plus this came with our package.

[Thiel]

Exactly, with VOIP you\'re screwed if the power goes out. Of course you have a cell phone if you need it but lets say the battery dies and you need to call the police, since you have VOIP you\'re screwed. I prefer a physical connection at all costs if I need to use it to save myself. This situation is extremely unlikely but hey it could happen.

Err, you do know that the phone net is just as dependant on the power grid as your house is right? It just ties into it on a higher level.

[GOOMH]

Err, you do know that the phone net is just as dependant on the power grid as your house is right? It just ties into it on a higher level.

Yea but the phone line rarely if ever goes out when the power for me is constantly going out with the little winter storm.

[socket7]

Err, you do know that the phone net is just as dependant on the power grid as your house is right? It just ties into it on a higher level.

Phone lines (POTS) run on a DC system completely separate to the AC that powers your house. At max, it transmits 48volts (when it\'s ringing). In the early days, the phones themselves provided all the power needed to make the system run. Now we have automatic switching gear that keeps things going. These switches are highly redundant and have backup power supplies to conform with 911 regulations.

The only way to knock out POTS in most situations is to cut the cable going to the house. If the phones are out for any other reasons, you have MUCH worse problems then dead phone lines. Like perhaps a tornado, hurricane, major earthquake, or your entire city is flooding.

[Amram]

Well my mom has hooked up a phone downstairs and one upstairs hoping they will run the same number...

Is that possible?

Very much a smartass reply, but....

yes, it is possible. The phone lines are quite capable of handling more than one data stream simultaneously, look at DSL service for evidence enough of that. So its only fair to say yes at this point, in theory you can connect two landline phones to one landline and operate them with separate numbers provided you separate their data streams.

However, the phone company\'s switch system(software, hardware, or both) isn\'t setup to support it, and they are unlikely to change that. Phones also are not setup to support it, and the makers of phones aren\'t likely to include something that needs support from a provider that won\'t support it ever, so....

So, in all practical concerns, no, its not possible, but thats been covered, just clearing up my smartass remark with this bit.

[Tradingmon]

Of course you can - I have seen it all the time, well, not so much anymore, since the cell phone industry has boomed so much. If you simply call the phone provider they should be able to help you out.

[Amram]

I assume Tradingmon, that your referring to two separate lines coming into the house? Pretty much every house is wired with two pairs of wires, letting just about every house out there operate two separate lines. Wire a few jacks to hook into the second pair of wires and away you go, but that line needs to be active.

If you did actually mean one single paid for line into the house, capable of supporting more than one simultaneous phone call, then that is interesting, i had no idea its actually been done before.

[bandit4910]

I assume Tradingmon, that your referring to two separate lines coming into the house? Pretty much every house is wired with two pairs of wires, letting just about every house out there operate two separate lines. Wire a few jacks to hook into the second pair of wires and away you go, but that line needs to be active.

If you did actually mean one single paid for line into the house, capable of supporting more than one simultaneous phone call, then that is interesting, i had no idea its actually been done before.

No I ment running the same phone line...

Currently I have 3. I did have four but one\'s wire snapped.

(One my cable company had to install due to the second one not grasping the chord.)

The second one is a normal phone wire.

The third one was unused, it just got old the wire it was connected to snapped I guess...

I assume Tradingmon, that your referring to two separate lines coming into the house? Pretty much every house is wired with two pairs of wires, letting just about every house out there operate two separate lines. Wire a few jacks to hook into the second pair of wires and away you go, but that line needs to be active.

If you did actually mean one single paid for line into the house, capable of supporting more than one simultaneous phone call, then that is interesting, i had no idea its actually been done before.

I don\'t believe that\'s possible without having extensions set up to the phones.