TELEPHONES
Telephones
transferred cost £10 in May; providing a completely new line about £80 (but it could be less than this if wiring from a previous installation can be re-used).
Extension sockets
Extension sockets can be fitted at the same time as the main socket or at a later date. As with the main socket, extension sockets can be fitted almost anywhere in the house, though not in bathrooms or other locations liable to dampness. Extension sockets can also be fitted in garages, other outbuildings although there are additional charges when external wiring is involved. Sockets can be fitted on any surface which is suitable for normal wall fittings. Wiring is normally run on the surface, around doorways and along skirting boards, and as the wire is thin and white it is hardly obtrusive. Chasing and work under floorboards is not generally undertaken.
The charge for an extension (including the main socket conversion) was £35 at May, but further extension sockets installed at the same time cost only £20 extra.
Apart from some housing estates, for connection to a socket, BT will where all the wiring is underground, change your existing system – the ng houses are connected to the telephone main point and all existing extensions network by means of a wire running – to the new socket system for a fixed and between a pole in the street and the outside of your house. Nowadays all are new internal wiring terminates on a main socket into which your telephone is plugged. You can have a socket installed in most parts of your house; discuss the position and the route of the wiring with the BT engineer when he calls. The job of installing the telephone, wiring and connecting it up takes only a few hours.
The Getting a phone installed. If you move into a house where the previous occupier had a telephone. If service, then provided that the tele-
To the phone itself and the wiring is still there you can have the service transferred to you. Get in touch with the
– local BT Area Sales office for the area
– you are moving to —you’ll need to tell them the telephone number you’re intending to take over, and the address. They’ll transfer the phone to
I your name and also arrange that your details are included in the next edition of the local telephone directory.
If the previous occupier did not
• have a telephone, provided there is a suitable cable running outside your
price of £10. An extra extension installed at the same time costs another £15.
Extension bells
Extension bells of varying loudness and sizes are available. They can be fitted indoors or out.
Types of telephone
With every exchange line BT provides the standard type of telephone. However they have a very large range of coloured telephones, both dial and press button.
Most BT telephones can be either rented or purchased outright. Full maintenance is included if you rent and BT will also arrange maintenance for a small extra charge if you buy a telephone from them.
You don’t have to have a BT phone, phones are now available from other suppliers. But only phones approved by BT can legally be connected.
Help for the disabled and the elderly. A telephone can be a lifeline. BT have special equipment and services which can help those who are hard of hearing, have speech problems or impaired mobility. Ask for a leaflet at the Sales Office.
Much of the equipment offered is standard commercial apparatus such as press-button phones. People with impaired vision often find these easier to use than dial phones, especially when the number five is notched in some way to aid location of the keys. Calimakers are also useful and it is possible to have a single-number call- maker, giving direct access to the operator at the press of a button. Extension bells and loudspeaking telephones are available for the hard of hearing.
Simple adaptions such as fitting the telephone sockets at waist height can also be useful.
