GE 96595 InstaJack for Phones

by GE

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005MIU8
• Item model number: 96595
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #4 in Electronics > Accessories & Supplies > Telephone Accessories > Wireless Jack Systems
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 24, 2001

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Instantly add an additional phone jack to any room in your house, saving expensive phone line hookup fees. Use with telephones and answering machines. No wiring, drilling, or tools required; just plug it in. Create unlimited extensions in home, bedrooms, kitchen, home office, and elsewhere. (Use model TL96596 for extension unit.) Model 96595 offers built-in surge suppression and contains the base unit, an extension unit, and a 6-foot cord.

Product Description

TL26595 INSTAJACK
- GE Instajack
- Turns any outlet into a phone jack (eliminates the need to run phone lines)
- Works with corded phones, cordless phones, satellite receivers, TiVo and replay TV boxes, fax machines
- Compatible with call forwarding, call waiting, three way calling, conference calling, speed calling, etc.
- Works between floors
- Easily relocated
- Built-in phone line protection
- 1 Year manufacturer's warranty
- Plug base unit into any electrical outlet near an existing phone jack (base unit uses power and phone line), plug extension unit into an electrical outlet near phone, satellite receiver, etc. (extension unit connects to phone by line cord)
- Includes base unit, extension unit, and 6' line cord
- WhiteGEINSTAJACK

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fussy product that can work with effort, June 14, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: GE 96595 InstaJack for Phones (Office Product)

I bought this product because I needed a phone in my family room, which is really an enclosed patio without electrical wiring in the walls. I actually first bought the Radio Shack branded product, which I returned becuase it picked up too much static and stopped working after a couple of hours. After getting the GE product, I looked at the back panel and found out that it, the Radio Shack and the RCA product are all identical except for branding.

Both the Radio Shack and GE products worked perfectly when first hooked up. The Radio Shack product did not come with a manual, so after I returned it and got the GE product I read the manual and learned that they cannot be used with an extension cord. I hooked up the GE product directly to an outlet with high hopes one night.

The next morning, the static made the extension line useless. By the afternoon, I could not get a dial tone off either the base unit or the extension. Worse than that, every other phone in my house, not even attached to the product, lost their dial tone! Unplugging and resetting the units only solved the problems for all phones for a day or less. I experimented, and found that the problem was that I ran my phone line in and out of my computer. Luckily, I have a cable modem and only used my dial up as an emergency backup, so I was able to disconnect the phone line from the computer.

Although the product now works fine, I cannot give it the full 5 stars because (1) the product is fussy and the manual does not provide all fixes, and (2) I doubt the product will work when I switch to DSL and need to connect my phone line to the DSL modem. For that reason, I will actually return the product this week. I would hate to spend [the money]now, only to trash the system when I switch to DSL.

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Does not work with DirecTV Tivo, July 11, 2005

By 

Brett Shomaker (Washington, DC metro area) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: GE 96595 InstaJack for Phones (Office Product)

I purchased this item hoping I could use it to get my DirecTivo talking with the mother-ship again after I moved to a new house that had no phone jacks near the TV area. I followed the simple instructions to set it up and was able to get a dial tone (with little to no static), but the DirecTV Tivo failed to connect every time it dialed in. A quick call to the DirecTV support people revealed that this unit is not compatible with their service. In fact, only 3 wireless phone jack replicators are. One of them is the Belkin F8V1027, also available from Amazon (ASIN: B0000CG4GF -- Amazon used to have a way to recommend items instead of this one, but I can't find it now, so plug the ASIN into Amazon's search and you should get the item).

I'd recommend that you buy the Belkin version even if you're not using it for DirecTV. The Belkin version is less expensive and provides superior functionality. Specifically, it's Caller ID compatible, whereas the GE version is not (the GE works with Caller ID phones, but does not display the incoming numbers). So, save some bucks, and get a better product: buy the Belkin.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Value, November 4, 2001

By 

B. Hanson (Tigard, OR. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: GE 96595 InstaJack for Phones (Office Product)

This product was purchased after finding several that were well over ($). It was as easy as implied. You just plug it in and you are done. I plan on purchasing another one for my mother soon and have definately spread the word to others about the great value this InstaJack phone is.