Telephone - External Extension
 

Thirty years ago you had to get BT to fit an external telephone extension. You
rang their sales department dealing with your number and they would give you a
price immediately on receiving your enquiry (after no more than three rings)
as long as you knew the distance from your main socket to the new extension
point. They would take your order and an engineer would come to do the job -
usually in a week or two.

So yesterday I tried to place an order for an external extension. After 40
minutes - including a short conversation with an employee who insisted that
external extensions don't exist - I was told that it would cost 130+GBP as
long as it took less than an hour and and extra 70GBP if it took an hour and a
minute. We never got to the question of 2 hours ;-(

I wondered if they could give me an estimate for the total cost as, although
it would have taken a 1970s engineer well less than an hour to do the job it
would also have taken a 1970s sales clerk less than 5 minutes to give me a
fixed price and take my order. Apparently they can get a survey done for the
job - and it will cost me 105GBP for the survey.

So.
Can anyone advise me if I can use standard internal extension wire for an
external non-BT connection? It will need to go underground (or overhead) for a
couple of metres and the rest will be pinned to an external wall.

Any general suggestions for completing the job?

--
John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822
Qercus magazine FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527 www.finnybank.com
Qercus - the best guide to RISC OS computing

"John Cartmell" wrote in message
...
Thirty years ago you had to get BT to fit an external telephone extension.
You
rang their sales department dealing with your number and they would give
you a
price immediately on receiving your enquiry (after no more than three
rings)
as long as you knew the distance from your main socket to the new
extension
point. They would take your order and an engineer would come to do the
job -
usually in a week or two.

So yesterday I tried to place an order for an external extension. After 40
minutes - including a short conversation with an employee who insisted
that
external extensions don't exist - I was told that it would cost 130+GBP as
long as it took less than an hour and and extra 70GBP if it took an hour
and a
minute. We never got to the question of 2 hours ;-(

I wondered if they could give me an estimate for the total cost as,
although
it would have taken a 1970s engineer well less than an hour to do the job
it
would also have taken a 1970s sales clerk less than 5 minutes to give me a
fixed price and take my order. Apparently they can get a survey done for
the
job - and it will cost me 105GBP for the survey.

So.
Can anyone advise me if I can use standard internal extension wire for an
external non-BT connection? It will need to go underground (or overhead)
for a
couple of metres and the rest will be pinned to an external wall.

Any general suggestions for completing the job?

Yes get yourself a DECT phone and save the hassle.

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 15:19:40 +0100, John Cartmell
wrote:

Thirty years ago you had to get BT to fit an external telephone extension. You
rang their sales department dealing with your number and they would give you a
price immediately on receiving your enquiry (after no more than three rings)
as long as you knew the distance from your main socket to the new extension
point. They would take your order and an engineer would come to do the job -
usually in a week or two.

So yesterday I tried to place an order for an external extension. After 40
minutes - including a short conversation with an employee who insisted that
external extensions don't exist - I was told that it would cost 130+GBP as
long as it took less than an hour and and extra 70GBP if it took an hour and a
minute. We never got to the question of 2 hours ;-(

I wondered if they could give me an estimate for the total cost as, although
it would have taken a 1970s engineer well less than an hour to do the job it
would also have taken a 1970s sales clerk less than 5 minutes to give me a
fixed price and take my order. Apparently they can get a survey done for the
job - and it will cost me 105GBP for the survey.

So.
Can anyone advise me if I can use standard internal extension wire for an
external non-BT connection? It will need to go underground (or overhead) for a
couple of metres and the rest will be pinned to an external wall.

Any general suggestions for completing the job?

If you use PVC internal cable, it won't last very long, as it absorbs
a certain amount of moisture - probably negligible for mains, but can
be quite serious for telephony. It would be better if you use either
PVC in a duct of some sort, or polyethylene cable.

What sort of overall distance are we talking for your extension? Would
it be possible to use a DECT phone?

--
Frank Erskine

"John Cartmell" wrote in message
...
Thirty years ago you had to get BT to fit an external telephone extension.
You
rang their sales department dealing with your number and they would give
you a
price immediately on receiving your enquiry (after no more than three
rings)
as long as you knew the distance from your main socket to the new
extension
point. They would take your order and an engineer would come to do the
job -
usually in a week or two.

So yesterday I tried to place an order for an external extension. After 40
minutes - including a short conversation with an employee who insisted
that
external extensions don't exist - I was told that it would cost 130+GBP as
long as it took less than an hour and and extra 70GBP if it took an hour
and a
minute. We never got to the question of 2 hours ;-(

I wondered if they could give me an estimate for the total cost as,
although
it would have taken a 1970s engineer well less than an hour to do the job
it
would also have taken a 1970s sales clerk less than 5 minutes to give me a
fixed price and take my order. Apparently they can get a survey done for
the
job - and it will cost me 105GBP for the survey.

So.
Can anyone advise me if I can use standard internal extension wire for an
external non-BT connection? It will need to go underground (or overhead)
for a
couple of metres and the rest will be pinned to an external wall.

Any general suggestions for completing the job?

--
John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822
Qercus magazine FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527 www.finnybank.com
Qercus - the best guide to RISC OS computing


For external cabling you want some of this
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Ind...able_External/

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 15:19:40 +0100, John Cartmell
wrote:


Can anyone advise me if I can use standard internal extension wire for an
external non-BT connection? It will need to go underground (or overhead) for a
couple of metres and the rest will be pinned to an external wall.

It will degrade in the sun (particularly) and rain so expect it to
fail in a few years. If you run it in conduit or a pipe it will last
decades. External cable is a better bet but it is quite stiff - it
doesn't go around sharp corners very well and it is usually more
convenient to terminate it with a junction box as soon as you get
inside and use internal cable after that.

Any general suggestions for completing the job?

http://www.wppltd.demon.co.uk/WPP/Wi...telephone.html

--
Peter Parry.
http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/

Howdy wrote:
Any general suggestions for completing the job?


Yes get yourself a DECT phone and save the hassle.

How do you know it's for a phone?

alex


--
Alex Meaden
Technical Support Officer
Computing Service
remove "+nospam" from address to email

Alex wrote:
Howdy wrote:
Any general suggestions for completing the job?


Yes get yourself a DECT phone and save the hassle.

How do you know it's for a phone?

You can also get DECT modems.

In article ,
Howdy no@ta wrote:
Any general suggestions for completing the job?

Yes get yourself a DECT phone and save the hassle.

Got one.
It doesn't help with the bits I need.

--
John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822
Qercus magazine FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527 www.finnybank.com
Qercus - the best guide to RISC OS computing

In article ,
Frank Erskine wrote:
Any general suggestions for completing the job?

If you use PVC internal cable, it won't last very long, as it absorbs
a certain amount of moisture - probably negligible for mains, but can
be quite serious for telephony. It would be better if you use either
PVC in a duct of some sort, or polyethylene cable.

What sort of overall distance are we talking for your extension? Would
it be possible to use a DECT phone?

10-12 metres down the side of the house, a couple of metres across a gap, and
a couple of metres along the side of the (brick-built) outhouse. The only
problems are the facts that the trip has to be external and the gap (under
flags or overhead at about 2.5 metres up.

--
John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822
Qercus magazine FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527 www.finnybank.com
Qercus - the best guide to RISC OS computing

In article ,
Rob Convery wrote:
For external cabling you want some of this
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Ind...able_External/

Many thanks for that.

--
John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822
Qercus magazine FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527 www.finnybank.com
Qercus - the best guide to RISC OS computing