So just had FIOS Triple play installed a week ago - very happy with it
I just ordered a second phone line. It will be 'activated' tomorrow
I spent 15 mins with the online chat guy but he couldn't explain how I plug a phone into the 2nd line. He was very confused and I gave up.
I have multiple jacks in my home and I would like one of them to be the new phone - I assume I need to wire something somewhere but am at a loss right now...
Any advice is MUCh appreciated!
thansk
Simon
Welcome to the forums. This is a place where customers help other customers.
When you activate a 2nd phone line, it will be turned on at the ONT's 2nd phone line connector. You need to check to see if anything is connected to the ONT's 2nd phone line port. If not, you'll need to wire it up yourself or hire someone to wire it.
If it is connected at the ONT, it is most likely on the 2nd pair of your phone wiring which means your phone jacks should have both phone lines active. In this case, you'd be able to access the 2nd phone line with a two-line phone.
If you're comfortable with phone wiring, the short story is you need to find an available pair in yoru telephone wires and connect them to the ONT. Then, for any jacks that you want to have access to this phone line you need to check if this pair is wired to the 1st or 2nd pair of the jack. If it's on the 1st pair, a single line phone will access it. If it's on the jack's 2nd pair while the existing line is on the 1st pair, a two line phone will be able to access both lines.
The specifics depend on how your home is wired. You can find a lot of good resources on the web should you want to learn more.
If this sounds too complicated to you, an electrician or home-theater type installer can handle this type of wiring. Verizon can do it to, however check with them on their fees before you have them start work.
Good Luck!
Thank you!
So I opened up the ONT box on my wall outside. It appears the black verzon ONT unit inside does have two lines, but although there is a grey coax on line 2 it does not appear to have any connection to it - Line 1 has the blue/white pair, but the other 3 pairs are just sitting there.
Similarly in the verizon phone (NID???) box sitting next to it on my wall outside it seems to only have the single pair (blue/white) runnning into my house.
Now the good news is looks like the phone distributor in the basement has all 4 pairs going to all jacks....
Any idea how much verizon charge to do this wiring - I would imagine if you know what you are doing it is like 30 mins of work...
Thanks
Simon
So I opened up the ONT box on my wall outside. It appears the black verzon ONT unit inside does have two lines, but although there is a grey coax on line 2 it does not appear to have any connection to it - Line 1 has the blue/white pair, but the other 3 pairs are just sitting there.
Similarly in the verizon phone (NID???) box sitting next to it on my wall outside it seems to only have the single pair (blue/white) runnning into my house.
Now the good news is looks like the phone distributor in the basement has all 4 pairs going to all jacks....Any idea how much verizon charge to do this wiring - I would imagine if you know what you are doing it is like 30 mins of work...
Depending on the specific model of ONT, there may be RJ-11 phone jacks above the connectors for the phone lines. If so, you can plug a phone it to test the line. Note that doing so will disconnect the wire running to the premise to allow for easy isolation of phone line problems.
There are many ways to connect FiOS phone lines to existing wires. A NID is not required for FiOS, as the ONT serves that purpose (the RJ-11 test jacks become the NID). Some installations will run a phone wire from the ONT to the NID to connect into the existing wires, while some will bypass the NID completely. There is no way to know for sure how your home was setup without seeing it. You can post pictures here, if you want.
A key point is the in-home phone wires need to be completely disconnected from the central office feed. You don't want the ONT trying to drive a phone line back to the central office; bad things will happen. If the ONT is jumpered to the NID, the NID should have been disconnected from the central office feed.
I've no idea how much Verizon would charge for this type of work. You'll need to ask them. You may also consider a local electrician, handyman, or home theater installer. As you note, this shouldn't be a difficult job.
Good Luck.
If you are going to use a 2 line phone just hook up from the ONT to the orange/white pair. If you are trying to use a seperate jack you wil probably need to hire someone.
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
