Shame on me! You are absolutely right. I just plugged the RJ45-Plug of the Splitter in the Phone and the Power to the Splitter - not working. I would not in my wildest dreames have thinked of plugging a Patch-Cable on the other end of the splitter ant that to the phone. Sorry for my ignorance - looks like it sometimes MAKES sense to look in the manual for things like plugging in a cable