2torial #0877:
Learn2 Install a Second Phone Line (continued)

Check the connections

Once the phone company has activated your line and you've hooked up your jacks, it's time to test both of your phone lines.

Check for dial tones. Plug a phone into each jack you wired for line 2. If you have a dial tone, you're connected. Do the same for each line 1 jack (to make sure you didn't break the existing connection).

If any of the jacks has no dial tone, take a working phone to the circuit box and plug it into the test jacks for each line. If you don't get a dial tone in each line (and you're sure the phone you're using works), call the phone company--the problem is on their end. If you get dial tones, the problem is somewhere in your internal wiring.

Troubleshoot. Check your connections to make sure the circuits are complete from the NID to the terminal jack for each line. Check also that the color coding matches at each connection. If the connections look correct, check for damaged wire along the circuit. If the wire looks intact, but the phone line isn't working properly, it may be time to call in a professional phone technician.

Call yourself. If you have dial tones, call the line 2 number from a line 1 phone and make sure it's ringing in each of the rooms where you connected it. If it's not, make sure the phone you're using works (by plugging it into a working line 1 jack). Then check that it's plugged into the right hole in your jack adapter. Then check the jack's wiring--it may still be wired for line 1.

Each phone configuration is unique in some way, but the preceding guidelines should help you install a second line with ease--and at a fraction of the usual cost.