Auxiliary Equipment

You can connect many types of telecommunications devices to your system without expensive adapters or additional phone lines. Many industy-standard, single-line devices will work with the system regardless of the manufacturer:

Touch-tone, rotary, and cordless telephones (such as those you might have in your home)

Fax machines

Answering machines

Modems

Credit card scanners

There are several other devices that may be compatible with the system. For more information, refer to the list in Chapter 4 or contact your local AT&T Authorized Dealer. Also, see Chapter 4 for advice on setting up auxiliary equipment to work effectively with the system.

Requirements

An industry-standard device must meet the following conditions:

It must be non-proprietary. That is, it cannot be made specifically for use on a particular telephone system. (For example, you cannot connect an AT&T MERLIN® system phone because it is specifically designed for use on a MERLIN system.)

Its Ringer Equivalence Number (REN*) cannot be greater than 2.0. (The REN is shown on a label on the device, usually on the bottom.)

You can connect a standard two-line device to the system, but for best results it should be installed and used as if it were a single-line device.

Connecting Standard Devices

You can connect a standard device so that it is on an extension by itself, or so that it shares an extension with another piece of equipment (either another standard device or a system phone) as long as the REN of the two devices together does not exceed 2.0. (System phones have 0.0 REN.) For example, you can connect a standard phone and an answering machine to the same extension. An extension with two devices connected to it is called a combination extension. You cannot connect two system phones on one extension. The PARTNER II Communications System Installation guide provides installation instructions.

REN is a measure of the power it takes to ring a phone. The typical home phone line handles 4.0–5.0 RENs; each extension jack in your system handles up to 2.0 RENs.

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AT&T 518-455-317 manual Auxiliary Equipment, Requirements, Connecting Standard Devices