I have the need to squeeze 2 lines into one line on my phone. [Note
> - getting a 2 line phone is not a solution as I already have a 2
> line and 2nd line is taken by VOIP.] One of the lines is standard
> tel co line -- other is essentially my gate bell. In my fantasy --
> I imagine talking on the phone and when someone rings the gate, the
> call waiting feature alerts me and I can jump back and forth. Is
> this possible or am I deluding myself?
Okay, you either need a 3-line phone or some sort of PBX or device to take the line and gate bell as trunks.
TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response:
Now in more recent years, since telco went out of business, the
> same device has been mounted at the customer premises instead and
> it goes by the name _I_nterphone.
> ... But this gizmo Interphone/Enterphone sits there midst all
> the house pairs, with central office pairs coming in and going out the
> other side, and upon signal, examines the appropriate pair, seizes it
> for a couple seconds and does its thing. With most Interphone/Enterphone
> devices, they are set to time out after 'conversations' which can last
> ten or twenty seconds tops. After all, how long does it take to answer
> the front gate and tell the person to come in, or go away, or
> whatever. I do not know who sells these devices currently, you might
> ask Mike Sandman
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for advice, or possibly Google for
> 'Enterphone' and also for 'Interphone'. PAT]
This sort of thing is made in the USA by
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- they only deal with distributors but a lot of companies sell their kit on. Something like their C-1000B might be suitable. It sounds like your gate bell is something like the W-3000 doorbox, which mimics a phone line to your house phone.
Owain