uk telephone wiring and sockets, compared to other countries

dada44

hello there, I was just wondering if anyone has any experience regarding uk telephone sockets and wiring, compared to other countries. I was wondering how they compare to other countries in terms of ease of use and installation, and simplicity, as well as effectiveness and reliability.

Another question i was wondering, was I was aware that UK telephone master sockets in the house, can support around 4 or 5 extension lines and phones. Is this a similar case for other countries, or do they have more or less?

The ones I was primarily thinking of was the RJ11 compared to the British BS 6312


rj11:



bs 6312:


Any useful input would be greatly appreciated. It's more for personal interest - as lately I was comparing UK electrical plug sockets to other countries.

paulsad

Wow ... do people still use those! ? ;)

Buzby

You won't be comparing like with like. The issue is primarily of ringing current, and how high the resistance on the line is before the phones degrade. UK developed its own (non standard) system to prevent the arrival of EU and USA telephony kit, which is why there was a new plug and socket developed. The maximum current a line can provide has a REN (Ringer Equivalnce Number) of 4, any more and the the phones may not ring. A standard phone had a REN of 1, and anything else with a bell incremented this by 1, so 4 phones were about the limit.

Then more modern phones were developed with a REN of 0.5, and some of the new ones have a REN of 0 as they could allow 'n' handsets to be connected, and all to ring. That said, Caller Display would suffer, and ADSL BB could be problematic.

Neil_Jones

dada44 wrote: »

hello there, I was just wondering if anyone has any experience regarding uk telephone sockets and wiring, compared to other countries. I was wondering how they compare to other countries in terms of ease of use and installation, and simplicity, as well as effectiveness and reliability.

Another question i was wondering, was I was aware that UK telephone master sockets in the house, can support around 4 or 5 extension lines and phones. Is this a similar case for other countries, or do they have more or less?

The ones I was primarily thinking of was the RJ11 compared to the British BS 6312




Any useful input would be greatly appreciated. It's more for personal interest - as lately I was comparing UK electrical plug sockets to other countries.

The BS6312 was apparently in widespread use in many foreign countries. Many of them have now phased out its use because of broadband, though it'll still hang around for a while.

The RJ11 is a different kettle of fish though, because it's primary use is to connect between modem/router and the data side of the filter. It gets mixed up with RJ10, which is the RJ11 connector but with the more traditional white block with handle on the side and primarily used for connection between telephone and wall socket. You can use an RJ10 cable on a broadband router/modem which comes in useful for diagnostics on the hidden socket under the BT Plate.

With regards to REN, as previously stated the practical limit is four. However the rise of cordless telephones kind of makes the figure irrelevant, because only the base unit is physically connected to the line. All the other telephones ring when the base unit rings.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Interesting thread. Always willing to learn. Thanks guys.

*takes anorak off*

dada44

Thanks, that's interesting. I don't understand why though - that the BS6312 was phased out because of broadband? Was it so because the broadband sockets are the same, and it just allowed uniformity? If so, why did the british not do that?

It seems quite inconvenient for most of europe, and the world to have one socket, whilst britain has another.

Neil_Jones

dada44 wrote: »

Thanks, that's interesting. I don't understand why though - that the BS6312 was phased out because of broadband? Was it so because the broadband sockets are the same, and it just allowed uniformity? If so, why did the british not do that?

It seems quite inconvenient for most of europe, and the world to have one socket, whilst britain has another.

BS6312 was set as a standard in 1981 and based around voice-calls and customer ability to add their own devices to the BT network. The internet as we know it today wouldn't be available until at least 1995 and broadband wouldn't be the norm until well after the turn of the century.

The presence of filters on the phone line was the cheapest way of adding broadband capability to the network and bring it to end users. The new NTE5 faceplate which does away with the need to use a filter (because it has one built in) is not, AFAIK, fitted by BT as part of standard new installation of a telephone line.

The socket variations are nothing new though - electricity mains plugs are different in most of Europe to UK British Standard 1363, which ironically is used or partly inspired in a lot of countries OUTSIDE the EU.