Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!ucla-cs!cit-vax!oberon!bloom-beacon!think!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!YKTVMZ.BITNET!CAPEK
From: CAPEK@YKTVMZ.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: (none)
Message-ID: <8802191101.AA14780@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 11 Feb 88 02:22:04 GMT
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Approved: telecom@xx.lcs.mit.edu

One of my colleagues asks if there's either a commercial device or an easily
buildable circuit which acts as an amplifier for the phones in a house on
one line.  The problem is that when Grandma calls, everyone wants to be
on the line.  But the CO isn't able to power 3 phones off-hook simultaneously.

Seems like it would be a common need, but I've never heard of anything like
that.  And, of course, there's no real spec that's honored by the local
operating company about how many phones can be driven simultaneously.

Peter Capek
IBM Research -- Yorktown Heights, NY