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#136911 05/12/03 01:07 PM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 7,520
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pauluk Offline OP
Member
Pictures & notes thanks to DJK:

Quote
Here are a few pics of eircom (formerly Telecom Eireann) sockets &
fittings.

Eircom ADSL / Phone Master Socket (New):
[Linked Image]

Eircom ADSL / Phone Master Socket (New) (RJ11 both sides):
[Linked Image]

Interior of Eircom New-type Master socket (ADSL splitter module part of
front panel):
[Linked Image]

Front panel, including ADSL splitter:
[Linked Image]

Original Telecom Eireann / Eircom master socket used for the past 20+
years. RJ 11 outlet (6 terminal):
[Linked Image]

Inside original Eircom/Telecom Eireann master socket:
[Linked Image]

Theoretically, they should be wired like so:

Incoming 2 wire L1 & L2 (no R)--- socket 1 ---- outputting L1, R, L2
--- socket 2 -- outputting L1, R, L2 and so on..

There is no "slave" version all sockets contain the capacitor and line
test circuits.

However, in many installations the sockets were simply run radially
from a junction box each operating independently.. especially where DIY
was involved. Unlike BT, Telecom Eireann / Eircom does not have any ownership of the cabling within your home. It terminates its network on a final junction box which contains equipment designed to protect the
network (fusing etc).

Manufactured by Siemens / Rutenbeck (Ireland)

These are still installed where DSL is not required.



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 05-12-2003).]

Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,253
D
djk Offline
Member
The orange & white striped cables connecting to the front plate of the new type socket are connecting to the exsisting sockets in the house and providing them with a filtered DSL-free line.

The socket comes with a non DSL face plate so in very simple installation all the installer has to do is swap the old face for a new one it's totally modular.
If the master socket is wired correctly to begin with the slave sockets automatically get a filtered feed.

It's very similar to BT's NT5 system but with different circuitry and different connectors internally and extermally (RJ11 as opposed to BT style). Similar concept though.

In the old sockets you use jumpers under the cover to set it to behave as either a master socket, a slave (passing the "R" (Ring wire) through) or as a full 6-way socket (not sure what would use that though.. i guess they kept their options open re: ISDN or multi-line phones). There is also a way to wire them so that when used with specific equipment once the first phone picks up the line other phones will be disconnected. The line is passed through the first phone and back into the socket on the outer pair and on from there. I think it was designed for either privacy or more likely for Fax / modem data or minitel (videotext) use in the 80s. Nothing worse than having someone pick up the phone during a fax!


[This message has been edited by djk (edited 05-12-2003).]

[This message has been edited by djk (edited 05-12-2003).]

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 7,520
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pauluk Offline OP
Member
It's a mystery to me why when the U.K. adopted the new sockets and wiring method in the early 1980s that they didn't take the oppotunity to dispense with the third "ringing" wire. Clearly this third wire continued in Ireland as well, although as you've told us that there were some 500-style sets in use, it clearly wasn't needed for all phones.

Another use for a master jack which can cut off the feed to those downstream is an auto-dialer on an alarm system.

Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,253
D
djk Offline
Member
Well, unlike the UK the eircom/telecom/p&t push button phones are (and always have been) designed to work on 2-wire service only they never required a 3rd wire ringer.

Hence, in most cases the "R" terminal(s) is left disconnected in the socket. You had to set a jumper to activate it in the master socket too. I would guess that the older sockets from the late 70s and into the early 80s do provide the ring signal by default. Others don't. Many people also use regular 2 X RJ11 flush sockets or those little beige skirting sockets for extension phones. None of these sockets would have a 3rd wire ring connected up.

I know that in some instances an RJ11 master socket (eircom call it a Jacks Modular 1M/1) was added to household wiring where it was feeding hardwired "500" type rotary phones at other extensions. It would provide the old 3-wire installation with the (R) connection. The likelihood of actually plugging a rotary phone in with RJ11 was pretty slim unless you had one specifically modified.
The rotary dial phones were wired as 2-wire with the ringer and (L2) connected to one terminal and L1 to the other unless there were extensions where a bell tinkle would occur.

The "Jacks Modular 1M/1" system was implemented before digital switching was nationwide too. So there were probabally the odd SxS line and definitely plenty of crossbar lines terminating on them with pulse dial phones well into the 1980s. I'm sure there are still pleanty of phones still set to pulse dial on digital lines.

We never had the ultra-strict "it's illegal to touch the master socket" approach that BT had. As long as you knew what you were doing it wasn't exactly very difficult to move the master socket. Eircom don't seem to object as long as you don't mess with the stuff outside of your house. If you used a normal RJ11 point it would just mean that the over-night line test might cause a "tinkle" but only on old rotary phones. Other than that it worked fine. If you screwed up you could call them out but they charge a pretty heafty hourly rate.

In a modern house it wouldn't be entirely unusual not to find a master socket or to find a TE/Eircom socket and a load of generic RJ11s all wired directly to the incomming line (radially) (Eircom even do this themselves!)

There was never really an issue with connecting anything that would work to the Telecom Eireann network. P&T (it's predecessor [pre 1983])used to be a bit obcessive (like BT) about DIY work but it had more to do with unions insisting on jobs for the boys than anything technical. They'd get all freaked out if you connected an answering machine! and insist on printing a ø beside your name in the phonebook ! to indicate "automatic answering". They would obcess about this kind of fine detail while being incapable of providing a simple reliable STD line from Dublin to Cork. The result was they were completely abolished for gross incompetence and "for damaging the economic development prospects of the country!" The public and government finally snapped when they were taking up to 9 months to provide a new phone line and screwing up communications systems to large multinational companies! By the end of the late 1970s and into the early 80s there was a multi billion £ plan to turn the entire network digital (way ahead of most of the world). Lots of rural areas went straight from manual operator service to cutting edge digital systems.

From what I remember of the French system it had a similar set up too. 3rd wire ring was possible but not usually installed.

I don't know why BT continued to specify 3rd wire ringing in new phones. I can understand keeping backwards compatability in the socket system. There are plenty of BT specified products that are fully modern yet require 3rd wire ring!

On the alarm system point:

Ours takes the line before any jacks.. the phone line comes in and goes into the alarm then on the the "master jack". To sieze the line it simply disconnects the entire house.


[This message has been edited by djk (edited 05-13-2003).]


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