Converting 2 phone lines back to one phone line?

Question

I used to have dial up so we had 2 phone lines put in our residence, but now I have DSL and would like to go back to one line. Phone company wants $60 bucks to do this. When a repairman from the company came out, he showed me a box and how to test my lines, etc. I was wondering if there is a simple way to convert the house back to one line using that box, and then just cancel the service or do I have to have the company come out and do it? Thanks

Answer 1

You have to have the phone company do it because you have to get into the service box.  It's reeally simple, all you need to do is disconnect two wires and your down to a single line.

Answer 2

If I understand you correctly what your saying is that you have 2 phone lines which to me also means 2 different phone numbers.

Now you want to cancel 1 line / number & keep the other.

Simple: choose which number you no longer want, call the phone co. & cancel it.

If this is the case than there is no need to dis connect the other line just leave it.

I assume you live in a house or a building where you have legal access to the phone box mounted on the house.

If this is the case & your wanting to cancel 1 line/number, keep the other but, in this process get the phones on the canceled line to work with the remaining line. To do this simply use or hook up & use a cordless phone on the phone jack for the line you want to cancel, take the handset to the box outside the house, open the box (usually a s***w or metal tag or something holding it closed) (there may be a "s***w" with a "stem" protruding in the middle of the head of the s***w, this takes a special s***w driver & you should not have to touch it. If a s***w look for a "slot" or "phillips" head s***w first. Removing it should allow the door to swing open. Now the door is open & on newer boxes there are phone jack  type outlets in it & on older boxes there are wires attached to a post usually by a nut or s***w. Their will be "phone line" type wire in there running through the wall to your house there should be a separate line for each phone number. If a "jack plug" type wire do this:

Turn on your cordless handset so you get dial tone, unplug 1 wire from jack outlet in box if the dial tone goes silent you just unhooked your line your going to call & have canceled. If the line is not dead after you unplug it plug that 1 back in & unplug the other 1 it should be dead now. 1 step I forgot to mention. Before you disconnect a line do yourself a favor and get a 1 to 2 (also known as a Y splitter for hooking up 2 phones to 1 phone jack). Should be able to get 1 from almost any type store Sears, Walmart, some larger drug stores, Hardware store, etc. cost @ $1.00-$7.00.

Ok back to the task @ hand.

Now you found the "outlet" where the old phone line was leave it empty. Now Take the plug for the line you are keeping back out of the hole & insert your new 1to2 phone jack plug & plug it into the outlet that had the line you are going to keep in it & plug both of the phone wires into this 1to2 outlet.

There your done. Now all phones in the building that were connected to 2 lines should work on the 1 phone line.

Back to the disconnecting wires in the box for a minute.

IF you do not have the "plug" type wire (newer box) & you have the Older type Box perform the same steps just instead of unpluging unscrew or loosen the nut to remove wire. When the right wire is found simply fasten it the the line you are keeping. If there are no "plug outlets" then there is no need for a 1to2 type plug in the box.

If this is not what your looking for or you have trouble than re-post a question, address my name in the title in this section & first chance I get I'll do my best to address it.

This task is not really that hard (I could have done this @ 5 times over in the time it took me to type this).

When everything is working properly Then call & cancel the line/number you no longer want.

STOP: If after all this, your thinking you can have DSL, cancel a line/number and still have 2 different phone numbers on 1 line, SORRY I don't think it can be done this way if at all. You will be reduced back to 1 phone number only.

If there are any issues with "dead" phones first make sure everything is hooked up properly, even if you have to completely reverse your steps & start over. If everything is done properly & still have a problem with dead line/lines do not rule out the 1to2 plug if 1 is used. I have seen some of these things fail, not often but I have. Just replace it. Some plugs may go bad over time so keep it mind if you do have an issue like this.

Good Luck.