# How to keep the phoneline open while online. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2003, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-the-phoneline-open-while-online/193359 "2003-08-06T16:35:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chuckster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@chuckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chuckster)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-the-phoneline-open-while-online/193359/1 "2003-08-06T16:35:06Z")
I’m setting up a PC for a small business which has only one phone line as far as I know. The owner wants the PC so he can list part of his inventory on e-bay. Of course, while he is working online he will not be able to receive calls from his regular customers. There are several options he has: 1)Only do his online work after hours. However, who wants to work in his own free time? 2)Get a second phoneline. I am leaning toward this option. The cost of the second line is only slightly higher, and when he is not online he has a second line for other uses. 3)Get a software package that either alerts him he has a call, or even allows him to take calls while online. This can, however, cause complications in the setup and stability of the PC. Besides, he is not very computer literate. I was wondering who out there has had experience with this problem, and how they dealt with it. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-the-phoneline-open-while-online/193359/2 "2003-08-06T17:12:19Z")
Short of option #4, DSL, #2 is the most cost-effective. #3 is ok, but it’s a pain the butt, cause generally you have to reconnect after ending the call. And if his business gets a lot of calls, it will become frustratiing. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-the-phoneline-open-while-online/193359/3 "2003-08-06T17:27:25Z")
Check the local prices for modem service+phone line, vs. something like cable or DSL; I actually saved money moving to cable. Otherwise, I’d go with #2. ---
**Author:** ![Gravity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gravity/32/14322_2.png) [@Gravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gravity)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-the-phoneline-open-while-online/193359/4 "2003-08-06T17:37:20Z")
I have a thing called an Emmerson Switchboard. You connect your phone, computer and fax into it, and it will ring when you’re getting a call. It only rings twice, and you have to have call-waiting. When I looked into it, it was the best option for us. The hardware was $35, and the call waiting was $2.50 a month. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-the-phoneline-open-while-online/193359/5 "2003-08-06T17:59:43Z")
How many calls a day does he expect? Does he need to be online constantly? I just have call waiting and voice mail. When I get a call, my connection drops and the phone rings. This works fine because it’s usually more important for me to take incoming calls than to be online. If I don’t want to be interrupted I turn off call waiting and let voice mail pick it up. I did try a device called Catch-A-Call that was supposed to let me maintain my dial-up connection while accepting incoming calls, but I actually experienced more dropped connections and missed calls with it than without it. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-the-phoneline-open-while-online/193359/6 "2003-08-06T19:13:59Z")
Here’s one for option 3: [http://www.callwave.com/](http://www.callwave.com/) If he’s going to be getting lots of calls, option 2 would be better. But if it’s only a few calls, he could test option 3 for a month or so and then decide if he’d prefer to switch to option 2. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-the-phoneline-open-while-online/193359/7 "2003-08-06T23:02:59Z")
You could use a cellphone for business voice line. Also you could get call forwarding on busy on your internet line to fwd to a cellphone.