BT line tester

[opps]

3G modem ? Probably a dual com unit or other …. Soon find out when it flags up the secondary path is down …

It has been three days since I snipped the wires. I think that it safe to assume that it doesn't use a secondary path.

 

[bernardgreen]

Routine line checks from the monitoring service on a secondary path could be once a week or even once a month.

 

[sparkymarka]

24hrs on a grade 2

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Routine line checks from the monitoring service on a secondary path could be once a week or even once a month.

Our perfectly ordinary domestic landline is tested every evening, judging by my spotting my phones lighting up with a message of 'check line cord'. It usually happens between 21:00 and 23:00 each evening, but doesn't upset the broadband.

 

[bernardgreen]

Our perfectly ordinary domestic landline is tested every evening,

That is a routine check from the line card in the local exchange and among other things measures the AC current through the resistor and bell capacitor in the Master Socket. ( or through the bell circuit in the phone ). Basically it checks the line is still connected to the Master Socket and that there is not too much leakage from the pair to ground. If several faulty lines are found in the same areas then it can indicate a damaged cable and invokes the Repair Desk to investigate.

(( At least that was how it used to happen in the good old days ))

 

[SUNRAY]

That is a routine check from the line card in the local exchange and among other things measures the AC current through the resistor and bell capacitor in the Master Socket. ( or through the bell circuit in the phone ). Basically it checks the line is still connected to the Master Socket and that there is not too much leakage from the pair to ground. If several faulty lines are found in the same areas then it can indicate a damaged cable and invokes the Repair Desk to investigate.

(( At least that was how it used to happen in the good old days ))

I didn't think there was any routine line testing in 'the good old days'. when the line didn't work the sub would ring in, Test desk would find the card in the carousell and start writing on it.

 

[SimonH2]

My Wellingborough number was 0933 78671 to 0933 278671 to 01933 278671. We used to Call Northampton, we dialled 88 as a 'speed dial' Do those still exist?

They weren't really a "speed dial", but a hang over from before STD (that's Subscriber Trunk Dialling, not something to be embarrassed about). Before STD, to call someone not in the local area, you had to get the operator to connect the call. Calls to other exchanges in teh area used codes that were effectively routing codes for the Strowger gear then in use - hence why the phone book has a large section of "if calling from one of these exchanges, use these codes ..." The codes to call a particular exchange depended on where you were calling from as well as where you were calling to.
Then when STD arrived, anyone could dial a number on any exchange using it's STD code. I guess the local codes hung around for some time as people would be used to using them.

 

[SUNRAY]

Then when STD arrived, anyone could dial a number on any exchange using it's STD code. I guess the local codes hung around for some time as people would be used to using them.

The local codes ran as the only code to use alongside STD codes for a lot of years. I remember dialing 0DA2xxxxx as I was accustomed to from home and receiving NU tone (Number Unobtainable) when I tried to call from a friends house in a different exchange area.