Would a British Trimphone work here or are the DTMF tones different?

[DarrenWGaransi]

Hello Everyone,

I was considering acquiring a Trimphone from the UK, since I lived there as a child and I thought it might be fun to have one here.  Trimphones do come in a tone version with the same keypad layout as here but I'm curious whether or not the General Post Office or British Telecom settled with the Belly System scheme of DTMF and the associated frequencies.  Does anyone know?

Any insight would be really appreciated.

[Owain]

DTMF tones are standard under ITU-T Recommendation Q.23. It is also known in the UK as MF4.

The tones used within the network (eg SS7 and its predecessors) may be different.

[GG]

Yes they are compatible: US and British phones can each be made to work in the other country with nothing more than a few simple wiring changes to make the bells ring (or the tweeters tweet, as the case may be). 

One thing to watch out for: the majority of Trimphones with keypads, are not DTMF (touchtone, MF4), but are "decadic pulse," meaning, pushbuttons that make rotary dial pulses. 

Keypad Trimphones of any kind (decadic or tone) were produced in smaller numbers than rotary ones, so the price will be higher.  if you're looking for "the" iconic Trimphone, it's rotary.  Prices vary from about $30 US for tatty examples, up to about $80 US for ones that are in near-mint condition. 

If you get one that's equipped with a BT modular plug, no worry: you can buy adaptors at most electronics shops.  Typically an adaptor will have one BT jack and one US jack, and then either a BT or US plug on the other side.  In any case, you can plug a US mod cord into the US jack and plug the other end of it into a US jack on the wall, and it will work. 

However you may still need to make minor wiring changes in the phone to get it to ring on the US lines.  The Britishtelephones.com site has wiring diagrams and schematics, so if you know how to read those, you can figure out what needs to be done. 

[Wallphone]

Here is some more info on the Trimphone.
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimphone >
< http://britishtelephones.com/t766.htm >
< http://britishtelephones.com/t786.htm >
With one thing leading to another, it looks like the pushbutton model of the Ericofon was pulse also. But only the Ericsson version and not the North. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ericofon > I don't know that much about them to know that North & Ericsson made different Ericofon's. Apparently the North design of the PB didn't last too long due to a design flaw. I have seen Ericofon's on eBay that had both a Dial & PB on the same phone.
I have a Northern Electric Push Button dial that is supposed to put out pulses but I haven't tried it out yet. It is a 35QEX (4 wire). If anyone has any info on this dial please let me know.
Mini Thread Hijack over.
Doug Pav

[AE_Collector]

Other Doug started a new thread about the push Button & Dial Ericofon.....

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=5911.msg68605;topicseen#new

Terry

[Doug Rose]

Other Doug started a new thread about the push Button & Dial Ericofon.....

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=5911.msg68605;topicseen#new

Terry

Hey Terry.....I thought I was Other Doug!  See...you can't teach an old doug new tricks!

[Wallphone]

And I thought that I was the one that wasn't the other.
Doug Pav

[Doug Rose]

And I thought that I was the one that wasn't the other.
Doug Pav

word up

[AE_Collector]

Maybe you are both "Other Doug's".....can't recall now. You may both be correct, Doug Rose was probably Other Doug. Not sure what to do if Any Other (oops...Additional) Doug's Show up.

Terry