GPO/BT "Jubilee" or "Compact" 776

[andy1702]

I thought I'd resurrect this thread because I've just got another one of these in the light brown colour. It dates from 1982 and is just the phone, not the bell set. There is a straight line cord on it that looks in period and terminates in a modern BT plug. So I plugged it in, called it and to my surprise it rang. Although when I say rang I mean warbled, similar but not the same as a trimphone. So I took it apart and found a little rund black box wired in and stuck down to the circuit board with tape.

The question is... was the 'ringer' fitted later by someone or is it an original? I thought all 776s had to have an external bell set or no bell at all as standard.

Also it has an official 'PROHIBITED' sticker with the red triangle underneath it. This is the thing the GPO/Telecom stuck onto phones they didn't want connecting to their network. But why prohibit one of their own design of phones?

Andwers on the proverbial postcard please.

[twocvbloke]

I believe the "Prohibited" sticker means that it has been modified in a manner that is not compatible with BT regulations, so that warbler may not provide the right load on the line (too little or too much, who knows), so is only suitable for connection to a private exchange and not directly to a BT phoneline, not that it matters today considering the quality of cheap phones people buy from Poundstretcher and the like, aswell as those WE500 "Rotarepo" lookalikes from china and the lack of botheredness from BT about what is connected...

After all, internal wiring on the customer side of the master socket is the customer's responsibility, though if causing a fault can be charged for the work to rectify it, even if it's just unplugging a dodgy phone...

[Owain]

As soon as a phone was modified in any way it stopped being approved under the grandfathered scheme and had to have a Prohibited sticker on it if offered for sale.

Modification would include changing the cord to New Plan plug and socket and/or restrapping.

[andy1702]

So.... Do you think this warbler thing is not original then? It certainly doesn't look like it was an official fitting, bekng held down to the circuit board with sticky tape. It must have been done a long time ago though and through some sort of official channel to get the proper sticker on the bottom.

[Owain]

The Prohibited sticker isn't "official" in any way. Shops had to apply them to any unapproved phone. They probably bought them on a roll from the 1980s equivalent of ebay (Exchange and Mart?)

Only the green Approved sticker is official and designates the phone went through BABT testing.

[mercevo2]

Yes indeed some of the very last of the model 776 did in fact have a shrill electronic ringer, I have one of these in blue
they are very rare, I have never seen another one,

[andy1702]

That's interesting. So this might be official then? The question now is where did I put the phone?