How do I wire up a PC modem to dial a POTS phone line?

There is an adapter that has one male RJ11 plug and 2 or more female RJ11 jacks, you can get them at Radio Shack and other places.

When looking for the telephone splitter jack mentioned in the above keep in mind there are two basic types.

1. Splits the line but gives one of the split jacks priority over the other jack. These types have led(s) on them indicating which jack is in use.
2. Just a splitter, no led(s) and does nothing more than split the line between the two jacks. This is the cheaper priced of the two types.

Your application will work with either type but I would use the cheaper one, no led(s), since you are not trying to give the laptop or the actual telephone priority control of the jacks. K-mart and other major department stores usually sell the splitters as well.

I think you'll find that MOST of the modems that have two RJ11 jacks on the rear have them just connected in parallel.

The days of expensive modems where the phone jack was disconnected from the line during data calls isn't found much now with the cheaper modems. The cost of that relay isn't something most consider now.

In some cases you may find that taking the phone off-hook before or during the dialing might cause problems. Often the modem will hold the line long enough after dialing that you can wait and pick up the phone afterwards.

I use ACT to dial like this, there are many other programs that can also dial calls for you.

-- Gary Breuckman