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I know some VoIP adapters work with pulse-dialling 'phones; I was
surprised that even the default one offered by many of the VoIP
suppliers (I forget the make and model, but it's about 4" square, and
has a model number with a 1 in it, there also being one with a 2 in it
that allows two whatever-the-VoIP-equivalent-of-SIMs-is so you can have
one VoIP for incoming and one for outgoing) does.
I was just idly wondering - is this only for dialling, or do these
adapters translate pulse-dialling to tones at any time, such as when
you're working your way through a menu? (Most of which of course don't
work with a pulse dialler - I doubt any do because the interface
probably isn't passed through.)
The least-thought-through example of such a menu I've encountered is
that on 105 (I think it's 105) you dial if there's a power cut: it asks
you to make a menu selection. They don't seem to have thought it
through, that when the power is off at least _some_ of their callers
might only have a pulse-dialling 'phone that can be used (e. g. cordless
ones can't). [Yes, I know you can get line-powered tone-dialling
'phones, and indeed I have one such.] (That system eventually does
connect you to a human if you make no selection, but you're a bit down
the queue by then.)
On 11/09/2025 23:51, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
I know some VoIP adapters work with pulse-dialling 'phones; I was
surprised that even the default one offered by many of the VoIP
suppliers (I forget the make and model, but it's about 4" square, and
has a model number with a 1 in it, there also being one with a 2 in it
that allows two whatever-the-VoIP-equivalent-of-SIMs-is so you can have
one VoIP for incoming and one for outgoing) does.
I was just idly wondering - is this only for dialling, or do these
adapters translate pulse-dialling to tones at any time, such as when
you're working your way through a menu? (Most of which of course don't
work with a pulse dialler - I doubt any do because the interface
probably isn't passed through.)
The least-thought-through example of such a menu I've encountered is
that on 105 (I think it's 105) you dial if there's a power cut: it asks
you to make a menu selection. They don't seem to have thought it
through, that when the power is off at least _some_ of their callers
might only have a pulse-dialling 'phone that can be used (e. g. cordless
ones can't). [Yes, I know you can get line-powered tone-dialling
'phones, and indeed I have one such.] (That system eventually does
connect you to a human if you make no selection, but you're a bit down
the queue by then.)
I suppose there might be a few people with very old phones that can only
do pulse dialling, but are there many people who still have BT706 phones with BT plugs fitted?
I have an old corded phone from the 1980s which is switchable between
tone and pulse dialling. I've only used it on pulse dialling once (after initially "playing" with both modes) and that was when our phone line or
our exchange developed a fault that prevented certain digits being recognised (probably a duff tone-detector or some weird line distortion)
- and sods law dictated that it affected the digits needed to call
Faults. So I tried pulse and that worked.You can always tap out a number on the rest, too.But really, I was just
On 11/09/2025 23:51, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
I know some VoIP adapters work with pulse-dialling 'phones; I was
surprised that even the default one offered by many of the VoIP
suppliers (I forget the make and model, but it's about 4" square, and
has a model number with a 1 in it, there also being one with a 2 in it
that allows two whatever-the-VoIP-equivalent-of-SIMs-is so you can have
one VoIP for incoming and one for outgoing) does.
I was just idly wondering - is this only for dialling, or do these
adapters translate pulse-dialling to tones at any time, such as when
you're working your way through a menu? (Most of which of course don't
work with a pulse dialler - I doubt any do because the interface
probably isn't passed through.)
The least-thought-through example of such a menu I've encountered is
that on 105 (I think it's 105) you dial if there's a power cut: it asks
you to make a menu selection. They don't seem to have thought it
through, that when the power is off at least _some_ of their callers
might only have a pulse-dialling 'phone that can be used (e. g. cordless
ones can't). [Yes, I know you can get line-powered tone-dialling
'phones, and indeed I have one such.] (That system eventually does
connect you to a human if you make no selection, but you're a bit down
the queue by then.)
I suppose there might be a few people with very old phones that can only
do pulse dialling, but are there many people who still have BT706 phones
with BT plugs fitted?
I know some VoIP adapters work with pulse-dialling 'phones; I was
surprised that even the default one offered by many of the VoIP
suppliers (I forget the make and model, but it's about 4" square, and
has a model number with a 1 in it, there also being one with a 2 in it
that allows two whatever-the-VoIP-equivalent-of-SIMs-is so you can have
one VoIP for incoming and one for outgoing) does.
I was just idly wondering - is this only for dialling, or do these
adapters translate pulse-dialling to tones at any time, such as when
you're working your way through a menu? (Most of which of course don't
work with a pulse dialler - I doubt any do because the interface
probably isn't passed through.)
The least-thought-through example of such a menu I've encountered is
that on 105 (I think it's 105) you dial if there's a power cut: it asks
you to make a menu selection. They don't seem to have thought it
through, that when the power is off at least _some_ of their callers
might only have a pulse-dialling 'phone that can be used (e. g. cordless
ones can't). [Yes, I know you can get line-powered tone-dialling
'phones, and indeed I have one such.] (That system eventually does
connect you to a human if you make no selection, but you're a bit down
the queue by then.)
On 12 Sep 2025 00:25, NY wrote:
On 11/09/2025 23:51, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
I know some VoIP adapters work with pulse-dialling 'phones; I was
surprised that even the default one offered by many of the VoIP
suppliers (I forget the make and model, but it's about 4" square, and
has a model number with a 1 in it, there also being one with a 2 in it
that allows two whatever-the-VoIP-equivalent-of-SIMs-is so you can have
one VoIP for incoming and one for outgoing) does.
I was just idly wondering - is this only for dialling, or do these
adapters translate pulse-dialling to tones at any time, such as when
I suppose there might be a few people with very old phones that can only
do pulse dialling, but are there many people who still have BT706 phones
with BT plugs fitted?
Yes, I have two and they are plugged into Grandstream ATAs
I don't believe that pulse dial only phones have been made for at least
40 years. Why would any one continue to use one except to prove a point
when dialling takes so long, you need to know every number and as you
say its useless for most services that want you to interact using tones.
I know of no "standard" corded tone-dial phone that needs power. I guess
that there are some speaker phones that do need power, but these are few
and far between.
BT will provide vulnerable people, which includes every one who is old enough to have bought a pulse dial only phone, with a battery backed up
tone dial phone, and battery backup for their router and ONT...
.. with POTS the most common reason people are unable to make a call in
a power cut is because they have DECT base stations which needed power.
My Fritz!box router from ZEN, and the BT routers all act as DECT base stations, so that no longer applies.
My DECT handsets have an on-standby battery life of over a week so asAre you a "vulnerable person" who has been provided with a
long as I have backup power for the ONT and the router everything works.....
Dave
I don't believe that pulse dial only phones have been made for at least
40 years. Why would any one continue to use one except to prove a point
when dialling takes so long,-a you need to know every number and as you
say its useless for most services that want you to interact using tones.
I know of no "standard" corded tone-dial phone that needs power. I guess that there are some speaker phones that do need power, but these are few
and far between.
On 2025/9/12 13:25:28, David Wade wrote:
[]
I don't believe that pulse dial only phones have been made for at least
40 years. Why would any one continue to use one except to prove a point
Hmm. Not quite sure it's _that_ long, but certainly a long time.
when dialling takes so long, you need to know every number and as you
say its useless for most services that want you to interact using tones.
I know of no "standard" corded tone-dial phone that needs power. I guess
Every single "cordless" 'phone I've ever seen needs power to run the
base station (and the chargers for the handsets; the handsets obviously
work without their chargers when charged, but are of no use if the base station isn't working). "Cordless" were quite popular at one time, and I think still - in fact they're the only sort (of landline 'phone) I'm
aware of having seen advertised for some time, though I haven't been
looking at such things.
that there are some speaker phones that do need power, but these are few
and far between.
No, I think you're right there - AFAICR, the ones we had in conference
rooms were line-powered.>
BT will provide vulnerable people, which includes every one who is old
enough to have bought a pulse dial only phone, with a battery backed up
tone dial phone, and battery backup for their router and ONT...
.. with POTS the most common reason people are unable to make a call in
a power cut is because they have DECT base stations which needed power.
See above - I think _all_ "base stations" need power, even old analogue
ones.
My Fritz!box router from ZEN, and the BT routers all act as DECT base
stations, so that no longer applies.
Lots of people won't have replaced a non-DECT cordless set if it was
working - why replace a perfectly working one? (They probably wouldn't
_use_ the extra features, like CLI etc. - especially if they can't see
the LC display on the handset very well.)>
My DECT handsets have an on-standby battery life of over a week so asAre you a "vulnerable person" who has been provided with a
long as I have backup power for the ONT and the router everything works..... >>
Dave
battery-backed router, or was it you that posted about that 150-pound
one? Or, have you made your own arrangements for your router using
something else (if so what)?
On 12/09/2025 14:39, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
Lots of people won't have replaced a non-DECT cordless set if it was
working - why replace a perfectly working one? (They probably wouldn't
_use_ the extra features, like CLI etc. - especially if they can't see
the LC display on the handset very well.)>
Did they ever work perfectly?
Again, I would be surprised if any one has an analogue cordless phone.
Most had NiCad batteries which are unsuitable for that sort of use. Continual trickle charge is their death knell.
The quality is pants. There is no encryption so any one can listen in.
They often suffer badly from interference.
I am surprised to see there are a few on E-bay mostly with comments
about battery life.
I believe at 71 I am classed as a vulnerable, but as I don't use BT I
have not been supplied with battery backup, but others have reported on here that they received such things, and their surprise that it included
a battery backed up handset.
My thoughts were to use one of these, or similar, there are many on
Amazon, this one does seem to have issues providing 12v:-
https://amzn.eu/d/jhRNEh8
I would need to power my Fritz!box router and ONT which from the stats I have is less than 12 Watts in total, so the 15Ah unit would give--
probably 12 hours, and the 27Ah say 24 both of which are longer than the
BT solution which quotes only 4 hours.
Dave
On 2025/9/12 0:25:52, NY wrote:
On 11/09/2025 23:51, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
I know some VoIP adapters work with pulse-dialling 'phones; I was
surprised that even the default one offered by many of the VoIP
suppliers (I forget the make and model, but it's about 4" square, and
has a model number with a 1 in it, there also being one with a 2 in it
that allows two whatever-the-VoIP-equivalent-of-SIMs-is so you can have
one VoIP for incoming and one for outgoing) does.
I was just idly wondering - is this only for dialling, or do these
adapters translate pulse-dialling to tones at any time, such as when
you're working your way through a menu? (Most of which of course don't
work with a pulse dialler - I doubt any do because the interface
probably isn't passed through.)
The least-thought-through example of such a menu I've encountered is
that on 105 (I think it's 105) you dial if there's a power cut: it asks
you to make a menu selection. They don't seem to have thought it
through, that when the power is off at least _some_ of their callers
might only have a pulse-dialling 'phone that can be used (e. g. cordless >>> ones can't). [Yes, I know you can get line-powered tone-dialling
'phones, and indeed I have one such.] (That system eventually does
connect you to a human if you make no selection, but you're a bit down
the queue by then.)
I suppose there might be a few people with very old phones that can only
do pulse dialling, but are there many people who still have BT706 phones
with BT plugs fitted?
Assuming that's a dial 'phone, it's not just those: I have (in my mum's
flat; normally a cordless or later tone 'phone is used there) a very
early pushbutton 'phone, that _only_ has pulse.
(Wasn't there a brief
period - was it just after the GPO/BT monopoly was broken? - when _only_
such were allowed, I think to prevent us being flooded with imported
ones that used an incompatible toneset?)>
I have an old corded phone from the 1980s which is switchable between
tone and pulse dialling. I've only used it on pulse dialling once (after
initially "playing" with both modes) and that was when our phone line or
our exchange developed a fault that prevented certain digits being
recognised (probably a duff tone-detector or some weird line distortion)
- and sods law dictated that it affected the digits needed to call
You couldn't invent that scenario!
.. with POTS the most common reason people are unable to make a call in
a power cut is because they have DECT base stations which needed power.
My Fritz!box router from ZEN, and the BT routers all act as DECT base stations, so that no longer applies.
Again, I would be surprised if any one has an analogue cordless phone.I used to have an analogue cordless phone with an extendable telescopic aerial. Some time in the 1990s. The quality really was dire and many electronic devices caused interference in the earpiece of the phone
Most had NiCad batteries which are unsuitable for that sort of use. Continual trickle charge is their death knell.
The quality is pants. There is no encryption so any one can listen in.
They often suffer badly from interference.
On 12/09/2025 14:39, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
On 2025/9/12 13:25:28, David Wade wrote:
[]
I don't believe that pulse dial only phones have been made for at least
40 years. Why would any one continue to use one except to prove a point
Hmm. Not quite sure it's _that_ long, but certainly a long time.
when dialling takes so long,-a you need to know every number and as you
say its useless for most services that want you to interact using tones. >>>
I know of no "standard" corded tone-dial phone that needs power. I guess
Every single "cordless" 'phone I've ever seen needs power to run the
base station (and the chargers for the handsets; the handsets obviously
work without their chargers when charged, but are of no use if the base
station isn't working). "Cordless" were quite popular at one time, and I
think still - in fact they're the only sort (of landline 'phone) I'm
aware of having seen advertised for some time, though I haven't been
looking at such things.
The only ones its legal to sell new are DECT and both the BT and ZEN
voip enabled routers can act as DECT base stations.
that there are some speaker phones that do need power, but these are few >>> and far between.
No, I think you're right there - AFAICR, the ones we had in conference
rooms were line-powered.>
BT will provide vulnerable people, which includes every one who is old
enough to have bought a pulse dial only phone, with a battery backed up
tone dial phone, and battery backup for their router and ONT...
.. with POTS the most common reason people are unable to make a call in
a power cut is because they have DECT base stations which needed power.
See above - I think _all_ "base stations" need power, even old analogue
ones.
My Fritz!box router from ZEN, and the BT routers all act as DECT base
stations, so that no longer applies.
Lots of people won't have replaced a non-DECT cordless set if it was
working - why replace a perfectly working one? (They probably wouldn't
_use_ the extra features, like CLI etc. - especially if they can't see
the LC display on the handset very well.)>
Did they ever work perfectly?
Again, I would be surprised if any one has an analogue cordless phone.
Most had NiCad batteries which are unsuitable for that sort of use. Continual trickle charge is their death knell.
The quality is pants. There is no encryption so any one can listen in.
They often suffer badly from interference.
I am surprised to see there are a few on E-bay mostly with comments
about battery life.
My DECT handsets have an on-standby battery life of over a week so asAre you a "vulnerable person" who has been provided with a
long as I have backup power for the ONT and the router everything
works.....
Dave
battery-backed router, or was it you that posted about that 150-pound
one? Or, have you made your own arrangements for your router using
something else (if so what)?
I believe at 71 I am classed as a vulnerable, but as I don't use BT I
have not been supplied with battery backup,-a but others have reported on here that they received such things, and their surprise that it included
a battery backed up handset.
My thoughts were to use one of these, or similar, there are many on
Amazon, this one does seem to have issues providing 12v:-
https://amzn.eu/d/jhRNEh8
I would need to power my Fritz!box router and ONT which from the stats I have is less than 12 Watts in total, so the 15Ah unit would give
probably 12 hours, and the 27Ah say 24 both of which are longer than the
BT solution which quotes only 4 hours.
I was just idly wondering - is this only for dialling, or do these
adapters translate pulse-dialling to tones at any time, such as when
you're working your way through a menu? (Most of which of course don't
work with a pulse dialler - I doubt any do because the interface
probably isn't passed through.)
On 11.09.2025 23:51 Uhr J. P. Gilliver wrote:
I was just idly wondering - is this only for dialling, or do these
adapters translate pulse-dialling to tones at any time, such as when
you're working your way through a menu? (Most of which of course don't>> work with a pulse dialler - I doubt any do because the interface
probably isn't passed through.)
IIRC those adapters (like "routers" with analog ports) support both
variants for dialing, so they can recognize both variants, like the old> telephone exchanges.
Although, they don't translate the pulses, so if you try to control
remote answering machines or robots, it won't work with pulse dialing.
Ah, that's what I was wondering: was it only for dialling that they
recognise pulses. Which, from what you say, sounds like yes. So, in
effect, you'd be in the same position you are with a POTS line if you
only have a pulsing 'phone: you can dial, but not interact with menus etcetera.
On 13.09.2025 08:41 Uhr J. P. Gilliver wrote:
Ah, that's what I was wondering: was it only for dialling that they
recognise pulses. Which, from what you say, sounds like yes. So, in
effect, you'd be in the same position you are with a POTS line if you
only have a pulsing 'phone: you can dial, but not interact with menus
etcetera.
Yes. For that case, DTMF generators are available that can be placed at
the microphone of the handset to control menus, answering machines etc.
I remember those; meant to, but never got round to getting one. I'm
surprised they're still available - I'd have thought the prevalence of
DTMF 'phones - even the cheapest has been DTMF for probably decades
now (almost certainly cheaper to make now!) - would have reduced the
demand to the point of it not being economic to make them any more.
I don't think they are being produced anymore, but you may buy them
used.
On 14/09/2025 09:50, Marco Moock wrote:
I don't think they are being produced anymore, but you may buy them
used.
Or use a mobile phone app.
(It might be worth noting that ATAs wouldn't normally send DTMF in band,
but would decode it and send signalling messages for digit start and
end. That's because typical VoIP codecs don't reproduce non-speech
sounds accurately. The same is true of all mobile phones, except they wouldn't decode the tone, as they have direct input from the keypad;
trying to use an MF4 box with a mobile phone is unlikely to work well.)
David Woolley <david@ex.djwhome.demon.invalid> wrote:
On 14/09/2025 09:50, Marco Moock wrote:
I don't think they are being produced anymore, but you may buy them
used.
Or use a mobile phone app.
Or similar software on a computer. It used to be there were 'contact manager' apps that would hold your addressbook and make the DTMF sounds when you wanted to dial, if you didn't have an autodialling modem connected to
the line they could use. You held up the receiver to the PC speaker and the phone would hear the DTMF tones.
(It might be worth noting that ATAs wouldn't normally send DTMF in band,
but would decode it and send signalling messages for digit start and
end. That's because typical VoIP codecs don't reproduce non-speech
sounds accurately. The same is true of all mobile phones, except they
wouldn't decode the tone, as they have direct input from the keypad;
trying to use an MF4 box with a mobile phone is unlikely to work well.)
I've had troubles with configuring VOIP - sometimes tones want to be
in-band, sometimes in the control channel, sometimes both. The ATA may receive DTMF correctly when dialling but not correctly pass it for
'press 1 for this, press 2 for that' menus.
Once you have established the call and it has been answered, pressing a numeric key on the phone will generate DTMF which simply passes through
the system unmolested. I have a Linksys ATA sitting here at the side of
me and if I press a digit on the phone I can hear it at the remote end
(when I have called myself.)
I have just used it to call my mobile and once the connection is
established DTMF does pass through albeit a very short duration pulse.
What I don't know is whether it is my originating phone (Doro) that is sending short bursts of DTMF or if it is the system that curtails the
tones such that I only hear the short burst - I suspect the former.
Assuming that's a dial 'phone, it's not just those: I have (in
my mum's flat; normally a cordless or later tone 'phone is used
there) a very early pushbutton 'phone, that _only_ has pulse.
(Wasn't there a brief period - was it just after the GPO/BT
monopoly was broken? - when _only_ such were allowed, I think
to prevent us being flooded with imported ones that used an
incompatible toneset?)>
I don't remember. I thought DTMF was a world-wide standard. I haven't realised that some countries' phones might use different dual-tone frequencies.
Once you have established the call and it has been answered, pressing a numeric key on the phone will generate DTMF which simply passes through
the system unmolested. I have a Linksys ATA sitting here at the side of
me and if I press a digit on the phone I can hear it at the remote end
(when I have called myself.)
I have just used it to call my mobile and once the connection is
established DTMF does pass through albeit a very short duration pulse.
What I don't know is whether it is my originating phone (Doro) that is sending short bursts of DTMF or if it is the system that curtails the
tones such that I only hear the short burst - I suspect the former.
Once you have established the call and it has been answered, pressing a numeric key on the phone will generate DTMF which simply passes through
the system unmolested. I have a Linksys ATA sitting here at the side of
me and if I press a digit on the phone I can hear it at the remote end
(when I have called myself.)
DTMF does pass through albeit a very short duration pulse.
On 14/09/2025 17:37, Woody wrote:
Once you have established the call and it has been answered, pressing a numeric key on the phone will generate DTMF which simply passes through the system unmolested. I have a Linksys ATA sitting here at the side of
me and if I press a digit on the phone I can hear it at the remote end (when I have called myself.)
That will work if the codec is G.711 (A-law or -|-law), or more generally
a time domain one. It won't work reliably with frequency domain codecs,
like GSM, or G.729, as they model the human voice tract.
Really? Well DTMF was designed to be carried across voce
circuits, analogue and digital. All the tones are within the
voice band.
https://www.rfwireless-world.com/terminology/dtmf-frequency-vs-dtmf-codes
Does anyone know how the recipients of calls handle in-call dialling? I'm thinking of when you call the bank / whatever and they have phone menus, are they doing DTMF decode from the audio stream or are they receiving it in a
sideband channel? Presumably if they expect to get calls from mobiles
(which they do) then audio decoding DTMF won't work reliably, so they must
be doing it via an out of band channel. How does that get conveyed from a)
a mobile and b) a VOIP connection from an ATA?
It may be SIP all the way, but in case it isn't something must be doing DTMF detection. If you have an analogue line, would that be the line card in the exchange briding to SIP? Or is there an analogue to SS7/System X/whatever
to SIP gateway doing it somewhere in the network? (I'm assuming the bank's phone menu system speaks SIP natively)
On 14/09/2025 20:21, Julian Macassey wrote:
Really? Well DTMF was designed to be carried across voce
circuits, analogue and digital. All the tones are within the
voice band.
https://www.rfwireless-world.com/terminology/dtmf-frequency-vs-dtmf-codes
DTMF is designed to work over a 3.1kHz audio service. Whilst as far as
I know the land network has always provided such a service, at least >starting at 2G, the mobile network has only ever provided a voice
service. The way that GSM and similar codecs work, they will not
accurately reproduce combinations of two unrelated pure tones.
There may well have been technologies in use at the time that were not >friendly to pure tones. At that time, BT was a knowledge oriented >organisation, it was only when it was being privatised, that it became a >money oriented one, so I'd tend to believe that there were valid reasons
to think that some parts of the network might not cope.
My suspicion is that, on the local loop, shared lines ><https://telephonesuk.org.uk/shared-service/> might not have worked with >DTMF. The early ones used an RF carrier, and it is possible that the >frequencies of the carrier weren't well enough controlled to avoid >significant frequency shifts in the tones. (The frequencies were--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
shifted up at one end of the line, and down at the other. I can't see a >crystal in the picture of the WB900 1A subscriber adapter, but I do see
a large coil, so I suspect they used an LC oscillator, at the subscriber >end, which would mean the frequency shift wasn't particularly accurate)
There may well have been technologies in use at the time that were notYes, BT was kniowledge-based and had a strong engineering way of
friendly to pure tones. At that time, BT was a knowledge oriented
organisation, it was only when it was being privatised, that it became a
money oriented one, so I'd tend to believe that there were valid reasons
to think that some parts of the network might not cope.
thinking. My guess would be that they had never certified DTMF across
the PSTN so couldn't say with any certainty that it would work. They
would have been aghast at the suggestion that something not provably
correct would be connected to their network. And maybe they were
concerned about possible interference with any in-band signalling
tones in use at the time?
On 2025/9/12 13:5:17, Rupert Moss-Eccardt wrote:
On 12 Sep 2025 00:25, NY wrote:
On 11/09/2025 23:51, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
I know some VoIP adapters work with pulse-dialling 'phones; I was
surprised that even the default one offered by many of the VoIP
suppliers (I forget the make and model, but it's about 4" square, and
has a model number with a 1 in it, there also being one with a 2 in it >>>> that allows two whatever-the-VoIP-equivalent-of-SIMs-is so you can have >>>> one VoIP for incoming and one for outgoing) does.
I was just idly wondering - is this only for dialling, or do these
adapters translate pulse-dialling to tones at any time, such as when
[]
I suppose there might be a few people with very old phones that can only >>> do pulse dialling, but are there many people who still have BT706 phones >>> with BT plugs fitted?
Yes, I have two and they are plugged into Grandstream ATAs
If you call something that has a menu (I think 105 has one), can you use
them to navigate it?
On 11/09/2025 23:51, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
I know some VoIP adapters work with pulse-dialling 'phones; I was
surprised that even the default one offered by many of the VoIP
suppliers (I forget the make and model, but it's about 4" square, and
has a model number with a 1 in it, there also being one with a 2 in it
that allows two whatever-the-VoIP-equivalent-of-SIMs-is so you can have
one VoIP for incoming and one for outgoing) does.
I was just idly wondering - is this only for dialling, or do these
adapters translate pulse-dialling to tones at any time, such as when
you're working your way through a menu? (Most of which of course don't
work with a pulse dialler - I doubt any do because the interface
probably isn't passed through.)
The least-thought-through example of such a menu I've encountered is
that on 105 (I think it's 105) you dial if there's a power cut: it asks
you to make a menu selection. They don't seem to have thought it
through, that when the power is off at least _some_ of their callers
might only have a pulse-dialling 'phone that can be used (e. g. cordless
ones can't). [Yes, I know you can get line-powered tone-dialling
'phones, and indeed I have one such.] (That system eventually does
connect you to a human if you make no selection, but you're a bit down
the queue by then.)
I don't believe that pulse dial only phones have been made for at least
40 years. Why would any one continue to use one except to prove a point
when dialling takes so long, you need to know every number and as you
say its useless for most services that want you to interact using tones.
I know of no "standard" corded tone-dial phone that needs power. I guess
that there are some speaker phones that do need power, but these are few
and far between.
BT will provide vulnerable people, which includes every one who is old
enough to have bought a pulse dial only phone, with a battery backed up
tone dial phone, and battery backup for their router and ONT...
.. with POTS the most common reason people are unable to make a call in
a power cut is because they have DECT base stations which needed power.
My Fritz!box router from ZEN, and the BT routers all act as DECT base stations, so that no longer applies.
My DECT handsets have an on-standby battery life of over a week so as
long as I have backup power for the ONT and the router everything works.....