Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!apple!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!texbell!chinacat!telecom-gateway From: julian@bongo.uucp (julian macassey) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Phone Wiring and Voltage Levels in Britain/Ireland Message-ID: Date: 30 Nov 89 17:37:10 GMT Sender: news@chinacat.Lonestar.ORG Organization: The Hole in the Wall Hollywood CA U.S.A. Lines: 71 Approved: telecom-request@chinacat.lonestar.org X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 539, message 3 of 4 In article , lars@salt.acc.com (Lars J Poulsen) writes: > In article > pat@cs.cornell.edu writes: > >I'm thinking of taking a cordless phone from the US to my parents in > >Dublin, Ireland. > > 1) Will it work (ie are signal levels compatible) > Undoubtedly. Telephone systems are pretty universal; actually they may > be the most standard technology around. The biggest question is pulse > dialing: > - UK uses a different dial layout from the rest of Europe and the USA. > I would expect Ireland to follow England in this respect. > In the US, a "1" is a single pulse, and "0" is ten pulses. > In the UK, a "0" is a single pulse, "1" is two pulses, > and so on, until "9" which is ten pulses. To find out the status > of this, ask your parents to look at the dials on rotary telephones. > If "0" is to the left of "9" rather than to the right of "1", > then dialling in pulse mode may require translation of the keys. > This is usually not convenient for older people. > - Tone dialing is the same. But Ireland may not have universal tone > service. (UK has a large percentage of pulse-only lines; would > expect Ireland to be in the same boat.) > The UK has the same pulse plan as the US. Now Denmark has an added pulse and Sweden has the 0 where everyone else has the 1. But the UK is the same. As I recall, the Make/Break ratio is different. Looking at my 1982 copy of BS 6305. The specs for "Loop-disconnect signalling" are: 10 PPS + or - 1, 67% break + 5 or -4%. And finally: BS 6305 British Standard Specification for General requirements for apparatus for connection to the British Telecommunications public switched telephone network. 4.4.2 (d) Coding. For transmitted digits 1 to 9, the basic network loop shall be interrupted and restored for a number of times that equals the value of the digit sent. For digit 0, the number of times shall be 10. End of extract. So, yes, US pulse dials will work, so will Touch Tone dials (Called MF in the above spec - yes I know that means something else in the US). The transmit level of US phones can sometimes be a tad low. The rest of what Lars said was pretty much right on, including visits of the local if you transgress the transmitter laws. Chances of detection are not so high though. Best way to find the "right" wires is touch your phone on sundry wires until you get dial tone. First guess on old lines is the blue and white wires. On newer lines British Telecom is now using the US wiring color codes and white/bluestripe and blue/whitestripe should do the trick. I find the best gift is a Panasonic featurephone with dialer, LED and speakerphone. Pulse/tone switchable and known to work on UK lines. I have been told that Eire (Irish Republic) phone specs are the same as UK with the same equipment. Yours Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian n6are@k6iyk (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495