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    Some pages of this and other topics include contributions from members who are creating and posting their own CAD designs for 3D printing and laser-cutting. Do not confuse them with Templot's own exported CAD files. All files derived from Templot are © Martin Wynne.
  • The Plug Track functions are experimental and still being developed.

    For an updated overview of this project see this topic.   For some practical modelling aspects of using Plug Track see Building 3D Track.

    The assumption is that you have your own machines on which to experiment, or helpful friends with machines. Please do not send Templot files to commercial laser cutting or 3D printing firms while this project is still experimental, because the results are unpredictable and possibly wasteful.

    Some pages of this and other topics include contributions from members who are creating and posting their own CAD designs for 3D printing and laser-cutting. Do not confuse them with Templot's own exported CAD files. All files derived from Templot are © Martin Wynne.

UK's PSTN will be kaput by 2025

Quick reply >
Well we have a small Openreach box (modem?) to which we plug in our router. The box is only about 150yards away but copper from there to us. I doubt either of the 2 routers we use (why 2 thats another story altogether) alternately (basically when the supplied one needs a bit of a rest;))has a socket for a phone, so will we need a new router or is it new phones?

When we lived in France, we just plugged the base phone into an adapter, which had a normal French phone plug, then plugged into the "Livebox". We shall see. The base phone worked on the UK phone system too but has been replaced due to the keypads being worn out. Though we still have them, just in case.
 
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Hi Stephen,

It may be different for you but here in Australia it was a new router which came as part of the contract.
The old phones just plugged into that. Two things that became very rapidly obvious with
this system was voltage drop, due to sharing the copper cables with other properties,
which your phones may register as missed calls and you must not leave any old connections
to your incoming line to the modem. The line must go to the modem only.
We found through experience that leaving old extensions connected can cause all sorts of
weird issues with the system.

Matt M.
 
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Hi Martin.
Yes we do have roadside cabinets proclaiming your fibreoptic broadband is here, which appeared at least a year before they started connecting users to it, at least without having to pay extra for the privilege. We were contacted by BT about having it done, but the existing broadband was fast enough for what we do, so I wasn't unduly bothered until they mentioned that everybody would have to be changed over sooner or later, so went ahead with it. They fitted a small box near the top of the pole which is the interface between the fibreoptic and the copper to each house. I guess the incoming cable has a power supply built into it. The plan is apparently to bring the fibreoptic into every house and dispense with the copper link, but we wait and see when that happens.
The broadband is certainly much faster since the upgrade.
Regards
Tony.
 
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The details of my fibre to the house seem to be this. There is a small box on the pole opposite my house which carries the fibre main, which I think is a junction box. There is a fibre line from that pole to the pole by my house (this pole is just to keep the lines the required height above the track to my place), which continues to my house, and connects to a small box on the outside of the house. A fibre line from that passes through the wall on the house to a wall box on the wall of my lounge, adjacent to the wall box for the copper phone line. A line from the new fibre modem provided by Openreach connects to that fibre wall box. The phone now plugs into a port into the back of that new modem.

Not sure if the fibre main passing along the road plugs into a local cabinet down the road or not.

The way it's been done gives me the impression that Openreach has put some thought into making things are future-proof.

Nigel
 
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I doubt either of the 2 routers we use ... ... has a socket for a phone, so will we need a new router or is it new phones?
@Stephen Freeman

Hi Stephen,

Pass. :)

The German-made router:

Fritz!box 7530, see: https://www.techadvisor.com/review/avm-fritz-box-7530-3691196/

which was supplied by my internet provider (Zen Internet) includes a FON socket, into which plugs a supplied adaptor having a standard BT phone socket. So I assume I could just plug my existing phone straight in.

Whether other routers are the same I don't know.

So I could go over to VOIP now if I wished, using my existing phone, but I'm not clear if I can dispense with the line rental until OpenReach convert us to FTTP, or that if I did would I lose my existing number? Whereas if I wait until OpenReach force the conversion to VOIP in 2025, presumably I keep my existing number?

It's all as clear as mud. I shall see what Zen Internet say. But at present it's all working fine, and IIABDFI.*

*if it ain't broke, don't fix it

Martin.
 
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When BT switched me over I kept my original number. Only differences were I now have to include the area code even for dialling local numbers, and no phone if the mains power goes off.

Nigel
 
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When BT switched me over I kept my original number. Only differences were I now have to include the area code even for dialling local numbers, and no phone if the mains power goes off.

Nigel
No power if the mains goes off is nothing new unless you are using a really old phone, any DECT phone relies on the mains even on analogue, at least ours do.
 
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No power if the mains goes off is nothing new unless you are using a really old phone, any DECT phone relies on the mains even on analogue, at least ours do.
For that very reason I have a basic, corded phone which cost about a tenner that I can plug into my landline if I needed to. Otherwise, these days the landline socket is empty.
 
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No power if the mains goes off is nothing new unless you are using a really old phone

I'm still using a really old phone. :)

Not only because it doesn't need any power, but mainly because it contains an actual metal bell, which is loud enough to hear from the garden. I also have some cordless phones, but I prefer to use the old one. It will be a shame to see it go.

Presumably the "if the power goes off" issue is easily solved by including a battery back-up in the system? Assuming the power cut isn't also affecting the telephone exchange. Does the future still include telephone exchanges? Locally the large building called the Telephone Exchange is now a block of flats, and the actual telephone exchange is in a cupboard under the stairs.

Martin.
 
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My phone is probably about 20 years old, don't know if that's old. I believe it took whatever power it needed from the copper phone line, so unaffected by mains power outage unless the exchange was hit.
 
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With the copper cables back to the exchange, the phone was powered by the batteries in the exchange, which worked at 50 volts DC. The ringer signal was 90 Volts AC and you knew about it if you happened to be holding the phone wires when it was applied, even though the current was low. The batteries in the main exchanges were big and capable of running the exchange for several hours without being charged and some exchanges had standby generators as well.
With an optical link between you and the exchange, I doubt there will be a direct electrical connection, so in the event of a power cut that an old phone probably won't work.
Regards
Tony.
 
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The ringer signal was 90 Volts AC and you knew about it if you happened to be holding the phone wires when it was applied, even though the current was low.

Hi Tony,

That's recalled a boyhood memory from the 1950s. The old wires between the pole insulators were bare copper. One stretch ran through an old cherry tree. We used to climb the tree to scrump the cherries. If you happened to be in contact with the wires when someone received a call, you could easily lose your footing in the tree and end up on the grass, covered in squashed cherries. We soon learned to be careful -- the cherries were worth it.

Happy days, thanks for the memory. Do kids still get up to such tricks? I can't remember the last time I saw a boy up a tree -- it would be a common feature on any layout set in bullhead days. :)

cheers,

Martin.
 
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Glory Be! BT are outside digging up the road and running fibre-optic cables into the ducts to each pole.

No warning, of course. But it means I shall soon have full fibre to the premises broadband. :)

The exact meaning of "soon" remains to be seen.

Martin.
 
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Glory Be! BT are outside digging up the road and running fibre-optic cables into the ducts to each pole.

No warning, of course. But it means I shall soon have full fibre to the premises broadband. :)

The exact meaning of "soon" remains to be seen.

They were doing much the same round our estate last week - not the fibre as yet, but the tubing in which the fibre will be. We haven't had an indicator of when the actual fibre will be installed although there was an Openreach van at the box at the entrance to the estate this morning.

Jim.
 
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