On 2/18/19 6:58 AM, lonelydad wrote:

[snip]

The ringer on each phone/device puts a load on the line. If that load gets
too big the ringers won't work properly and other bad things micht occur.
That's what the big fuss was about with Ma Bell. They decided that the best
way to keep that from happening was to control the devices connected to the
line. These days, every landline device has a ringer equivalence number on
the label. The sum of all connected devices should not be greater that
four, if I remember correctly.

I thought it was 5. 1 is the load from an old mechanical bell.
Electronic phones may have a much lower load. IIRC, there's also a
letter at the end of the REN (usually A or B?) indicating the ringer
frequency.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"It is necessary for men to be deceived in religion." [Marcus Terentius
Varro]