2 Line Phone

You can use 2 line phones in your business and home with your single existing phone jack.

A 2 line phone can enable someone working from home to have a separate business line, either for voice, a fax or a modem.  It is also a very useful thing for most families, specially those that have teenage children who use the phone a lot, and makes it possible for a parent to dial out with the second line regardless. In fact, many households now have two phone numbers listed—one for the adults and one for the children, making for a more harmonious family life, not to mention safety. 

Your existing wall jack is most likely already configured for two lines and you could have two active lines even without a dedicated 2-line phone but you would need a two-line splitter that would plug into the phone jack and "split" the lines into two single phone lines--one phone for Line One and a second phone for Line Two. It is much simpler to just have one phone and use it for either line.

Besides its practical uses in the home, the 2 line phone is also used by small businesses where there is a need for someone to handle incoming calls at all times while leaving a line open for calling out. It is possible to have a full blown business phone system at almost no cost with the right equipment.

There is another compelling reason to consider these phones: the IRS may allow you to deduct your home office expenses that are used specifically for business and a second line that is dedicated to business only will help you document this deduction very efficiently. Of course, you need to check with your tax professional for more details and suitability for your particular situation.

Another common use of the two line phone that you may be familiar with is used extensively in hotels so you can plug your laptop into a socket to use a high speed modem while also using the voice phone over the same wiring without any problems.

To recap, here are some of the advantages to a two-line phone:

 being able to talk to someone and be connected to the Internet simultaneously with the same  phone

 have two people be on the phone talking to different people at the same time

 be able to have a three-way conference call with two lines locally connecting to one outside number

 having a visual que in the form of an LED that lets you know whether you are on line or not.

How to set up a 2 line phone system
As mentioned before, your phone line is probably already compatible with a 2-line system.  If you find that your wiring is not compatible, you can purchase a 2 line phone jack, adapter or splitter in any phone store. Setting up the wiring is not too complicated either--your main phone cable is actually made up of 4 sub-cables (or wires) and each pair can provide you with one phone line.  At the main phone box where the phone company's line enters your home, the splitter will lead two separate lines into your home--Line 1 and Line 2.  You can choose where these lines go.  Perhaps you want Line 1 to be the "family" line and Line 2 to be your "business" line.  That's just one way to do it.  Another would be to have Line 1 for parents and Line 2 for the children. 

You will most likely be dealing with a 2 line cordless phone as this is the standard nowadays but if it does not work well in your situation for any reason, including wireless interference in your area or other reception problem, you can use a corded 2 line phone just as easily. Most businesses have both.

Here is a short representative list of some of the more popular 2 line phones at time of writing:

- Panasonic 2-line phone KX-TG9382T DECT 6.0 Expandable Digital Cordless Answering System w/ 2 Handsets.

- Uniden 2 line telephone DECT 4086 DECT 6.0 Cordless Digital Answering System

- VTech 20-2481 2.4 GHz DSS 2-Line Expandable Cordless Phone w/Digital Answering System.

- GE Two Line phone 28165FE1 Dect 6.0 Single Handset w/ Answering System.

Bottom line is that in this day and age of the Internet and the home office where more people are working remotely from home, it makes a lot of sense to take advantage of the capabilities and efficiencies that you can get with a 2 line phone.