In the United States, RJ11 was the telephone service jack. Every telephone a long ago was using this port/jack for telephony communications. There is a problem. The RJ11 jack is used with the POTS (Plain Ordinary Telephone System) network. It wasn’t very functional, and I can go into detail of all of the flaws, but for the part related to here, POTS are being shut down by the telephone network providers. In Allegheny County, that telephone network provider is Verizon. Verizon’s policy is to not support new, or moving customers. Once a line of telephone lines is able to be turned off, it will be. If a person wanted a “home” phone line from Verizon, they will be introduced to either a cellular ATA, or connected with FiOS internet for which the RJ11 will connect to a supporting router. These routers however has a coaxial WAN port which are incompatible with the network within the locations.
So what if you wanted a home telephone line. You have two options. The first is to acquire an unlocked ATA, and set up a SIP provider to work with that ATA. You would have to be technically savvy enough to log into the ATA, and provide credentials. However, once that happens – there is no more work to be done unless you change your password, or providers. This is something similar to what I do with my home phone service. The only difference is I am using a Wifi phone rather than an ATA.
The second option is to acquire an ATA from a VOIP provider such as Ooma, or Vonage. These are just two popular providers, but there are many more. You would buy an ATA from the company, and that ATA will be configured to your account. In some instances, the credentials can be sent to the device over the Internet. You would then use the ATA as you would in the above example, but you don’t need to be too technically savvy. In worst case, Ooma may need your ATA’s MAC address which is located on the bottom of the ATA. These solutions will require internet service.
As mentioned in another page, internet services is required. For apartments, it will be included into your rent. You don’t have to do anything special, and just plug the ATA into an available RJ45 jack. As long as your rent is paid, so is your internet.
Most people will use cellular phone services. This avoids the need for a home phone all together. Most people will have their own unique telephone number. A landline is usually associated with the family as a whole rather than a particular person.