Do devices have to be "BT Approved" to connect them to a BT line?

DonnyDave

My telephones devices have the BT "Approved" stickers on with the green circle. Must all devices have this? What about modems/routers, filters and caller ID units?

Can anyone direct me to some information from BT about this?

Jemma-T

That would be a REAL dream come true for BT's shareholders. Alas, it's no longer the case.

It was BABT I believe but now the CE (for Conformite Europeenne) mark covers telecom equipment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_mark

DonnyDave

Jemma-T wrote: »

It was BABT I believe...

Ah yes, that's right. On the label there's the green circle in the middle with a "BABT" logo in the corner like this:


There are quite a few Ketexun CID-2008E caller ID units for sale on eBay:
http://www.ketexun.com/product/Caller_ID_Box/143.html

There's loads of the BT260690 BT Call Reminder Displays on eBay:


However, aside from them causing clicking on the line, they sometimes seize it, meaning it is engaged to callers.

JustPassingBy

DonnyDave wrote: »

There's loads of the BT260690 BT Call Reminder Displays on eBay:


However, aside from them causing clicking on the line, they sometimes seize it, meaning it is engaged to callers.

Having two of these on the same line (main phone + extension) is absolutely fatal. You may never be able to receive another phone call! Can you figure out why?

DonnyDave

JustPassingBy wrote: »

Having two of these on the same line (main phone + extension) is absolutely fatal. You may never be able to receive another phone call! Can you figure out why?

Why do you say that it is "fatal". I have sort of gathered that; what experience have you had? Surely there must be loads of other people in the same boat because they are 10 a penny on eBay.

I actually bought three of these have have retired them.

They show the last phone number that called and keep checking for messages on BT1571/BT Call Minder (although I haven't subscribed to these answering services).

I believe the clicking on line is the device(s) checking to see if there are messages. As I don't use such a service, I wish there was a way to stop them doing it.

The batteries in the devices seemed to go flat within two or three weeks, although they did come with them, so may have been well past their use-by date.

I had two of these units on one line and also a BT Decor 310. Curiously, the PP3 battery in the Decor 310 went flat and was replaced and went flat again.

Having removed them from the line and replaced the PP3 again, it is still going strong so I believe it was these caller ID units causing the battery to drain.

I said I bought three of these devices. The third was put on my other line and I experienced it being engaged even though it wasn't in use. Lifting and putting down the handset on one of the phones corrected this on one occasion.

All this experience has lead me to believe that they don't work, hence I'm looking for some that do.

spike7451

JustPassingBy wrote: »

Having two of these on the same line (main phone + extension) is absolutely fatal. You may never be able to receive another phone call! Can you figure out why?

What's the REN of it?

DonnyDave

spike7451 wrote: »

What's the REN of it?

The REN is 0.

JustPassingBy

DonnyDave wrote: »

Why do you say that it is "fatal".

You make a call. When you put the phone on the rest unit A notices a change in the line state. It checks for messages by picking up the line. Any call coming in at that time will get a busy signal. Unit A drops the line after a few seconds and displays the number of unread messages.

Unit B detects a change in the line state when unit A clears down. It picks the line up, checks for messages and clears down.

Unit A is informed of a change in the state of the line . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was a week without the phones ringing and a call from a BT engineer (who managed to get through while neither unit was off-hook) which alerted me to a problem.

I believe the clicking on line is the device(s) checking to see if there are messages. As I don't use such a service, I wish there was a way to stop them doing it.

It is and there isn't.

The batteries in the devices seemed to go flat within two or three weeks, although they did come with them, so may have been well past their use-by date.

My experience too. New batteries fare better.

All this experience has lead me to believe that they don't work, hence I'm looking for some that do.

The caller display bit worked ok for me when I used one. My experience with two caused me to junk them.

sw13644

Just to add my experience of the BT battery operated Call Waiting device, I installed one on the same phone that my DSL is on, and when it checks for messages it first goes 'Checking Messages' and then changes to 'NO NEW MSGS'. At that point my DSL line drops and it takes 30 seconds to re-establish. This is clearly undesirable. I have placed it both before the filter and after it - the results are the same.

Since I didn't subscribe to 1571 this is unnecessary functionality. I post here so that others may more quickly diagnose the problem.

Lplates

This is familiar. I wasted £1.50 buying the BT Call Reminder on eBay, and found that it never worked as a caller ID display. Subsequently I bought one of these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220752379643

which continues to function perfectly.