European telephone

[SIRCOOKS]

i just visited the uk, and purchased a really cool cordless phone that i liked, they told me to get a converter and everything should be allright. Wron...the thing is not working, i have the right converter, but the ting is always blinking like its looking for a signal...can anyone help me?

[CptMurphy]

Don't they have different frequencies?

[Andromeda43]

And, you're trying to use this UK phone WHERE?

I'm sure that in the UK it works just fine. But like everything else

from their beer to their cars to their....well you see where I'm going.

Their phone system is NOT the same as the phones here in the ol' US for instance.

You can get voltage adaptors to use US devices in the UK which works for most things,

but not for clocks that need a 60 cycle sign wave from which they derive the timing, or

for syncronous motors that only run at the right speed on 60 cycles...NOT 50 cycles as

in the UK and EU.

If you're not using that phone in the UK, I'm not surprised that it's not working right.

Do they even use the same modular phone plug?

[jaclaz]

Let's start from the beginning.

Modern telephones are made along an International Standard (on the phone part).

The power supply may be different, i.e. 115 V AC 60Hz in the states 230/240 V AC 50 hz practically everywhere else.

However it is many years that MOST low-power electronic devices are "Universal voltage".

The "radio" part of a cordless device will work, of course, everywhere, if properly powered (atmosphere is roughly the same, with the possible exception of Manhattan and downtown Athens )

What I don't understand is what the problem is.

Usually on a cordless device there are two pieces, a "base" and a "handset".

The base is powered by mains, the handset by batteries.

Even without connecting the base to the phone line, by pressing the "call" button on the base, the handset should ring.

If it does not it means that one of the units is either not properly powered or defective.

This sometimes is also shown as a blinking light, meaning that the base or handset cannot connect with the other piece.

If the above test succeeds, there might be a problem in the connection to the phone line.(NO PHONE SIGNAL)

In the US, and generally in most base units the connection is made with "plugs" standard RJ-11:

http://kropla.com/rj11.htm

in Britain, the standard wall plug is the British Telecom one:

http://kropla.com/uk.htm

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/freshwater/howpst.htm

See the diagrams to make sure the connection is properly made, the two center slots on both plugs must be connected.

Usually a telephone set, to be LEGALLY used in a country, should be approved by the telecom authority of the country, since most manufacturer are international, all recent phones are approved everywhere, though.

Depending on the number of telephones that you have connected in your house, you might have an impedance or REN (Ringer Equivalent Number); on some phones there is a switch, either internal or external to set the REN.

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/freshwater/ren.htm

Posting here the EXACT make and model of the phone you have might help, I am afraid that your description as

a really cool cordless phone that i liked

didn't help much.

jaclaz

[ramone_johnny]

A really cool mobile phone aye?

You know what, that post reminded me of just why I want to get out of support. See below...

Staff - "my computer isnt working properly"

Me - "whats the problem"

Staff - "I dont know but i just clicked on the button and some error message popped up and then I couldnt do anything and I tried to fix it by...blah blah blah"

How is anyone supposed to offer assistance to anyone with such dumbarse requests, with such little explanation, or such plain stupidity.

Why dont you wave the phone around out in an open space like on the freeway during peak hour and see if you can pick up a signal.

RJ

[jaclaz]

You know what, that post reminded me of just why I want to get out of support.

With all due respect to both support people and truck drivers, you don't seem to have the right attitude to work in support, maybe driving a truck would be more suitable to you.

You see, when people ask something on a support forum, most of the time it is because they don't know much about the matter, you are not obliged to reply, but I don't see why you should offend their intelligence or knowledge.

jaclaz

[colinbate]

You need to pair the handset with the base unit as they use different fequencies.

The instruction leaflet will tell you how to do this.

Regards

Colin Bate

[SourceCode]

if you're afraid of wiring (though it is really only a couple wires):

http://www.laptoptravel.com/Product.aspx?ID=1785