roy%phri@uunet.uu.net (Roy Smith) (06/23/89)
At work, we've got an AT&T System-25 PBX. It supports two kinds of
lines and phones. The first is the plain old 2-wire tip/ring DTMF set
(although, it will recognize pulse dialers as well). The second is a
new-fangled multiline setup which replaced the old key sets. These lines
use 3 pairs. I believe they are tip/ring, power, and some sort of digital
2-way communication between the phone (er, excuse me, "voice terminal") and
the switch.
How does one hook up something like an answering machine or a fax
machine to one of the 3-pair lines? We've tried the obvious; just pulling
tip and ring out to an RJ-11 and plugging the answering machine in, but
that didn't work. In retrospect, I don't suppose there was any reason to
think it would work; what I'm calling tip and ring really aren't tip and
ring in any normal sense, just the voice signal for the currently active
conversation. All the contol information (ring, off-hook, etc) probably go
over the digital control pair.
What we ended up doing was running an old-style line into the
office where our main number is and putting the answering machine on that.
When the office staff leaves for the day, they forward the main number's
calls to the other line so the answering machine can catch them. It seems
like there has to be a better way. Is there?
--
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
{allegra,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy -or- roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu
"The connector is the network"ben@sybase.com (ben ullrich) (06/24/89)
No, there isn't a better way to hook an answering machine to a 25 (or 75, for
that matter.) We did just what you did here at sybase when we first got into
a new building with our system 75 and our at&t audix voicemail wouldn't answer
the main number after business hours.
Why do you have to hook the answering machine to the 3-pair phone anyway?
What does that buy you that the 2 pair (2500 set, i suppose) doesn't?
...ben
----
ben ullrich consider my words disclaimed,if you consider them at all
sybase, inc., emeryville, ca
+1 (415) 596 - 3500 "something sporty ... like a probe."
ben@sybase.com {pyramid,pacbell,sun,lll-tis}!sybase!ben