How do I make the rest of my phone jacks work!?

Question

I just moved and when I called my new phone company, they told me that at one point there were two lines in the house i'm in and that they would connect my service, but would have no control to which jacks would work in my house. There are like 4 phone jacks and of course there was only one that works, and it is in the kitchen, and the rest of them dont work. Is there a way that I can switch this? or have all of my jacks working by doing the work myself? I consider myself a handy person. HELP! Thanks!

Answer 1

If your house is wired for two lines the phone wiring inside the house has two pairs of small wires bundled into the phone wiring, (1) red & green and (2) black & yellow.  That means that if you look inside the wire going from the box where the phone company gets into the house to your jacks, you will see 4 small colored wires.  Actually, the wire itself is copper and the insulating covering is colored.  

Newer installations might have 4 line wiring with another two pairs.

The one kitchen jack that is working has one pair connected, probably the red/green pair.  Connect the black/yellow pair to the other connectors in the wall jack, and test with a two-line phone or a phone-line splitter.

Connect the other jacks in the house the same way.

If you want line 2 to be the primary line on one of the jacks, switch the red/green pair with the black/yellow pair.

Answer 2

trace out the wires and find out where they are not connected.

reconnect.