Phone lead problem

beefster

It sounded simple.... change the wall phone in the kitchen as the handset had been dropped and now sounds like a dalek is talking on it.

Have got a BT Duet 450. The lead from the BT socket to the phone is built in behind the kitchen units.

Got a new Duet20 and it wont work off same lead... tried a binatone phone and same??
The 450 works fine but sounds awful.

Anyone any ideas why the lead for the 450 wont work on other phones.. any way using the old lead on new phone? A new lead... will mean running on the surface which i would like to avoid if possible??

Thanks

aamuk

There are two ways the clear plug (RJ-11) tends to be wired in the UK. In one method the signal wires go to the outer two pins, whilst in the other method they go to the centre two pins (as in the US). The second method tends to be more common these days. I'm guessing the wire on your old phone goes to the outer pins, whilst in the new ones it goes to the inner ones.

As one possible option, which could go wrong, you could cut the plug off the old wire and attach a regular telephone socket in its place. You would essentially be making the old wire into an extension lead.

Another option is to replace the clear RJ-11 plug and wire it correctly for the new phone, but for this option you would need a replacement plug and the correct crimping tool to attach it.

beefster

Thanks for that... looking at the plugs what you describe makes sense as the new plug only seems to have 2 inner connection pins whilst the old one in place is fully connected with all pins in place.

May try twist and crimp method. Dont really want a socket in the position the phone is.

Thanks for the info, gives me something to work from.

Might hunt for a BT duet 450 which is the phone that has gone wrong and do a 1-1 swap to save the hassle!