Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request
From: Nigel Roberts 0860 578600 <"iosg::robertsn"@iosg.enet.dec.com>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: TouchTone(tm) in the U.K. (was Re: Touchtone History)
Message-ID: <9673@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 12 Jul 90 09:58:47 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 479, Message 1 of 14


I called my local British Telecom Sales and Service Department in
Colchester just now. (There's a Freefone number for that (8921), which
is handy seeing I'm in Reading at the moment).

TouchTone (and thus Star Services) is available only on our C.O.
(Colchester 0206) if the number is in the form 5nnnnn or 7nnnnn,
according to the person I spoke to there (Sarah in Customer Sales)

Bearing in mind previous comments on the subject, I asked what type of
exchange served my area (Colchester numbers in the form 39nnnn --
Manningtree used to be an independent exchange with area code 020639
until six or seven years ago when they replaced the Strowger
exchange).

She went away for four or five minutes and to my amazement came back
with the answer. 'It's a TXE-2' she said. Full marks to Sarah for
this.

This leads me to ask a few questions of the DIGEST.

What exactly is a TXE-2? (My guess is that it's a magnetic reed type
exchange).

Is there any way it could support TouchTone? (A BT engineer once told
me that there might be some kind of black box which they can add).

Are there any more features available on the TXE-2 that we are not
being told about?

And does anyone have a guess as to how long it will be before it is
updated to something modern? (I IMAGINE we've got another 19 years of
pulse dialling to put up with, but I hope I'm wrong ...)


Nigel Roberts (on contract at DEC)
Orichalk Ltd;   P. O. Box 49; Manningtree; Essex; CO11 2HQ; England.
Tel.  +44 206 39 6610 or +44 860 57 860 0 (Cellnet)
Fax.  +44 206 39 3148