Re: tlug: RJ-11 in the UK?

[Frank Bennett <bennett@example.com>]

Jonathan Byrne - 3Web <jq@example.com> writes:

> Does anybody know if the UK phone system uses RJ-11 jacks?

No, they use something different.  Don't know what it's called,
but it's a different plug from the States and Japan.

> I was just talking
> to somebody who insists the Hayes PCMCIA modem she brought from the UK has a
> cord that's too big for the Japanese jacks.  But then she sometimes describes
> it the other way around, too.  

She's telling the truth.  It's wider and thinner than an RJ-ll.

> Of course, she also tried plugging the phone
> cord *right into the card* without the card modem's phone line adapter cord.
> So I really don't know what the heck she's talking about.  Nor does she, I
> suspect.

Tut-tut!  I'm sure that she's fundamentally a _very_ nice person.

She'll need to get a different cable adapter for the card, but I
have no idea about Hayes' worldwide wiring patterns.  Someone in
Akihabitat might have a tack-on universal switchering-thing for
UK jacks?

I remember that I had to rewire one of the jacks in our house in
London to get an American phone to work with it.  By trial and
error.  One of the settings I tried caused all the phones in the
place to ring constantly.  Great fun.  I have no idea what an
experiment like that might do to her modem... :)

Another thing to watch for is the "guard tone" setting.  I think
that in the UK it needs to be set to "off" (my memory of this is
really vague, so DON'T trust me --- but it should be in the
manual if she's still got that to hand).  The Japan phone system
might be indifferent, or might need the opposite setting.

Who knows?  Isn't serial communications FUN?  Brings back all
kinds of distinctive memories, this.

Cheers,
-- 
-x80
Frank G Bennett, Jr         @@
Faculty of Law, Nagoya Univ () email: bennett@example.com
Tel: +81[(0)52]789-2239     () WWW:   http://rumple.soas.ac.uk/~bennett/
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