RJ11 to RJ11 or RJ11 to adaptor supplied?

[Thegovernoruk]

Thanks again folks for any advice given as new to Virgin Media. My heads about to explode. I need to buy a cable to connect BT Advanced phone docking station to my new Virgin Hub. Under docking station looks like RJ11. Is it better to connect this direct to Hub and would that be a RJ11 to RJ11?

or

Buy a RJ11 to telephone cable so I assume fits into the adaptor supplied by Virgin?

in other words do I need the adaptor or was it only supplied for convenience?

[goslow]

Usually best to begin with to use the VM-supplied adapter in conjunction with the original cable that came with your phone.

This is because there are different configurations of RJ11 to RJ11 lead and some phone handsets/bases have particular configurations of internal wiring within the phone cable.

Have you managed to get this basic arrangement working first of all before moving to a RJ11 to RJ11 lead?

Are you wanting the RJ11 to RJ11 lead to reduce the amount of adapters and cable joins or to provide more cable length?

[Thegovernoruk]

Hi thanks for speedy response. I don’t have a cable for the phones docking station as it’s been lost when moving house and last two years had other BT wi fi phones now returned when leaving them to join a virgin. So I’ve dusted down my Cordless phones used previously which connected into telephone socket on skirting. They are also BT DECT phones. Just not sure whether adaptor is supplied because most people changing hubs will be just unplugging phones from these older sockets rather having an RH11 end on them? 

[goslow · Accepted solution]

That is correct. VM supplies the adapter because most phones have a BT plug on them.

You can buy another RJ11 plug to BT plug and use that in conjunction with the VM adapter or you can try a RJ11 to RJ11 lead (cordless base direct into the VM hub).

If you look into the TEL1 socket on the back of the VM hub you should see that it is the centre two pins (pins 3 and 4) which are in use. If you look into the RJ11 socket on the cordless base station of the BT phone you should also find (most likely) that it will also be the centre two pins which are in use.

If so, you need a RJ11 to RJ11 lead which is a 'straight through' connection so pins 3 and 4 connect to each other from one end of the cable to the other.

It can start to get a bit complicated because some cables present 4 pins (even though two might not be used) and some phone bases have arrangements of power plus voice connections going through the one RJ11 plug.

A lot of online suppliers are not that reliable about supplying an exact cable as advertised so you might order exactly the right cable as described online, only to find the supplier ends up sending you something different!

You can probably pick up a generic phone cable (RJ11 plug to BT plug) somewhere like B&Q. Most other local DIY shops seem to no longer supply a good range of phone accessories.