no splitter?

The way my phone is set up, I have 2 lines coming out of one jack. There's a splitter and each jack gives me my 2 numbers. If I remove the splitter and just plug in one jack, and I dial 211, I get one number, but if I use the splitter, both numbers come up. I don't understand this but this is how the Cavalier tech hooked it up. My problem is with the Cavtel DSL. When I start, it's very fast for a minute or two, then completely slows to a crawl. I called Cavalier support and they said that the DSL should not go into a splitter but be the lone plug into the wall jack. Would this be the cause of the slowdown? If so, I guess I need to install another jack so each jack is a separate phone number. I still don't understand (and either do they) how a single jack has one number if plugged in, but if a splitter is used and two plugs are used, each coming up with a different phone number. I know it sounds confusing, but I'm getting fed up with Cavalier's technical support, every time they say they're sending someone over, they never do! Thanks.

You need to identify if the splitter you are referring to is a DSL splitter or one of the cheap telephone line splitters like you would purchase at a discount store. The non-DSL splitters take the center two conductors of the wall jack and wire them to the center two conductors of the jack that is usually labeled line #1. The next two outside conductors from the wall jack are wired to the center conductors of the jack labeled line #2.

For a typical two line phone installation using standard single line phones the above splitter is used. When on the other hand DSL gets mixed into things it gets a little more tricky.

A DSL style splitter is not usually designed to handle a two line wall jack. It takes the center two conductors from the wall jack and after passing through a filter sends one signal to the center conductors of the jack labeled DSL and connects the signal also to the center conductors of the jack labeled phone.

If you do not want to wire the phone lines to individual jacks you need to plug one of the cheap non-DSL splitters into the wall jack first. Then plug the DSL splitter into either line #1 or line #2, depending on which phone line your Telco is piggybacking the DSL signal on. Plug your DSL modem into the jack labeled DSL and your second phone into the jack labeled Phone.

There are more elegant ways of hooking things up but with your wall jack already wired using the two different splitter types in series will work.

If your DSL modem comes with two jacks, one labeled DSL and one labeled Phone you would not need to use a DSL splitter, just the cheap phone splitter. You would just plug the line after the phone splitter directly into the DSL modem and your phone into the jack of the DSL labeled Phone. The DSL modem would then become your DSL splitter and filter all rolled into one.