I need help with an office phone

January 10, 2013 6:16 AM

Good Morning Hive! I'm having a little trouble setting up my office phone. Here's the info:

we have a Panasonic kx-ts4200 set up in my office. The building (3 offices) is set up with multiple lines, each supposedly accessible in each office. In the neighboring office, this is true, but in my office not so much.

When I plug the phone into my wall, line 1 continuously blinks red. When I pick up the line, it automatically switches to line 2. Any attempts to manually switch it to line 1 result in some empty noise, and then the phone disconnects.

Line 1 is supposed to be my primary number. Suggestions?

thanks!

posted by oviedo to technology (5 answers total)

It may be your jack, not your phone.

If it helps, here's a link to the users manual.

You need to know if the jack in your office is a 4-line Jack, or a 2-line jack. If you only have a 1-line jack, the phone may not work with it. The instructions for setting the phone up in each case are different.

If there's an IT person in your office, or some other equipment guru, you may want to have him/her have a look.

If you have a single line phone somewhere in your office, you can plug it into the jack. If you get dial-tone, chances are you have a 1-line jack. Dial 1-200-222-2222. That's called the Anibell number and it will tell you what telephone number is on the jack.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:53 AM on January 10

Don't you have an IT department? This kind of thing what they're there for.
posted by mkultra at 6:53 AM on January 10

no mkultra. I don't have an IT department. we are a small business (read: 3 offices). Getting our IT guy out here takes an appointment and a few days time.
posted by oviedo at 6:59 AM on January 10

Call your phone company and see if that line is down. If its a pots line they go down all the time especially if its a Verizon copper line.
posted by majortom1981 at 8:39 AM on January 10

And I would try calling the company that installed the phone system, not a normal IT person. Knowing phone systems is not always part of a normal IT guy's job.

If you don't know who installed it or you did it yourself or something you can just use google to find a business telephone company in your area. They can test your jacks and lines and program the system. Try googling for "Panasonic phone system +city"
posted by magnetsphere at 9:01 AM on January 10