My wife would like to add a separate 'phone line' to our home. I have heard of a set up where up have one phone line/number and when someone calls in there is device with a message to press one number for one phone and a different number for a second phone. To me this sounds simple and likely cost effective for what we want to accomplish. Has anyone heard of this type of setup and what equipment is involved?
Thank you in advance.

Not entirely sure, but what you are talking about sounds like a pbx system. These use hardware/software for internal routing answering the phone, forwarding, storing messages and so forth. It generally isn’t inexpensive to implement. There might be something along these lines for systems with between 2-4 lines. If so, stores such as Staples and other office product suppliers would have them.

Most or all residential phone lines are wired to the interface box with 4 wires and almost all residential wiring has a spare set of wires. Cat 3 cable, which is used for most phone line, uses 4 wires. It takes 2 wires to make a phone circuit, so you probably already have one big component needed to install a 2nd line.

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

Some phone companies will give you the option to have a "distinctive ring" capability. This will allow you to have a different phone number over the same phone line. When someone calls on the other number, your phone will ring differently than normal. That way you know someone is calling on the other phone number. Works pretty cool.

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Frank
84 500SEL EURO 101K ( JUST LIKE MY 1ST WIFE. GLAD TO GET RID OF HER! )
85 300D 310K (sold)
90 350SDL 184K sold
83 300D 118K (sold)
88 300E 153k (sold)
93 400E 105K (sold)

Hey Tracy.

First, thanks for some advice concerning massive data you gave previously. You'd find the impact of your comments affirming.

What do you think of wireless networks for home? we're not allowed to use wireless to access our LAN at work, no matter what kind of password protection we claim. Why is that? Should this affect my home network?

Bot

Wireless networks are not my field of expertise. I fight putting them in offices. Many don’t care about the risks. Anything one does on a wireless network can be monitored. Many or all wireless networks can be haakked. Using the tools provided and integrated into most wireless routers will reduce the likelihood of being haakked but not eliminate it. If you care about things as trivial as your shop username and password, let alone banking, credit card, personal info, browsing habit related info, you don’t want to use a wireless network.

Proponents of wireless will say that due to the latest encryption methods that it would take a haakker weeks or months to tap into your network. This may or may not be true. Folks what wants the more powerful haakking tools can find them.

Regarding data storage, TB drives are now in the realm of consumer devices. If you had some real money to throw at data storage you could do this...

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

Short of a PBX system it might be easier to get a dual line phone system which is inexpensive (and what I use) and or just get two handsets with or without answering machines.

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1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

Whoa. That's just like us, if you allow for the 7 orders of magnitude differences in budgets.

We're up to serving 7 TB and will double that by year's end. Last fall (when I asked you about this) we projected 4 TB would be needed by year's end. Our LAN is completely replaced with fiber bundles. I don't know anything about that stuff but it is noticeably faster and much less prone to crashing. Even so, we often use 1/2 TB drives to transfer data. It's faster to walk a large format hard drive to another office than it is to send it over the network.

For what it's worth we're not allowed wireless networks at work either. Security folks claim that they are too easily broken and information is easily obtainable. In the past a few departments have secretly put them in so that they could use laptops in various buildings. They were sniffed out with wi-fi detectors and shut down.

As for home, we run a wi-fi network that hooks into 3 desktops and 2 laptops. Our network uses both WEP and WPA. WEP stands for wired equivalent protocol and is supposed to equal the security that you would have using ethernet cables to connect your computers. WPA is newer and supposedly more secure, I don't remember what it stands for. Basically the security consists of encrypted communication between the computer and the wireless router. You still have the same security issues at the router (such as open ports and the like) that you would have without the wi-fi. I'm pretty happy with our wi-fi network since I can go anywhere in the house or yards with the laptop and still be connected to the net.

Our neighbors on either side and up the street also have wireless networks that they don't secure. I can get into them and surf the net any time I like. I'm sure if I wanted to I could snoop into the info that they send back and forth. I've told them that the networks are open but it's not a big concern for them. Works out great for me because I hop onto thier network when our connection goes down as it periodically does (yay, Verizon). I've told them all what I do and none of them have issues with it. It's all personal preference evidently...

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-livin' in the terminally flippant zone