uk.telecom mini-FAQ links page

This page is deliberately graphics-free and boring as its only purpose is to help you on your way somewhere else. It is the second level of the uk.telecom mini-FAQ and contains links to the main FAQ and to lots of other useful sources of information.

The FAQ

http://www.gbnet.net/net/uk-telecom/: The main FAQ, compiled by James Grinter. This is well out of date by now, so treat some of the answers with caution. In particular the answer about the BT full price list in the BT section of part 2 is now completely wrong. BT no longer publish their price list in printed form, it is published on the web (see below).

Regulators

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/: The Office of Communications. Ofcom was established under the Communications Act 2003 and will take over the functions of several existing regulators on 29 December 2003 to become a single communications regulator. The regulators merged into Ofcom are: Oftel, the Radiocommunications Agency, the Radio Authority, the Independent Television Commission, and the Broadcasting Standards Council. Some of those regulators have entries below. I don't know how long those websites will last after the changover date.
http://www.oftel.gov.uk/: The Office of Telecommunications, Oftel. The UK's main telecoms regulator. Merged into Ofcom from 29 December 2003.
http://www.radio.gov.uk: The Radiocommunications Agency. The Government body responsible for radio spectrum allocations. Merged into Ofcom from 29 December 2003.
http://www.dti.gov.uk: The Department of Trade and Industry. The sponsoring department for Ofcom. The main sections relevant to telecoms can be found by selecting Telecoms or eComminications in the `Select an industry' box.
http://www.icstis.org.uk/: The Independent Committee for the supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services, ICSTIS. This is the organisation that polices the premium rate phone line business.
http://www.babt.co.uk/: The British Approvals Board for Telecommunications. This is the body responsible for approving equipment for connection to public networks in the UK and awarding the green dot stickers. Some of its approvals role (for basic rate ISDN equipment for example) has now been taken over by European bodies.
http://www.itc.org.uk: The Independent Television Commission. This is primarily a television company regulator but as they regulate the cable TV companies and many of them provide phone service they do have some relevence. Their news releases on cable TV penetration also include data on phone service takeup. Merged into Ofcom from 29 December 2003.

Operators

There are now over 100 licensed operators in the UK. Many of these are resellers of various sorts and don't own much, if anything, in the way of cables or exchanges. The list here is restricted to the main UK operators who have real networks of their own

http://www.bt.com/

A huge sprawling thing, but then BT are a huge company. Some other BT sites, or sections of the main one, are:

http://www.bt.com/directory-enquiries/dq_home.jsp: The Web version of BT's phone books. Note that although it is cheaper than ringing Directory Enquiries it isn't quite the same. It will not provide numbers for people who have DQR status, that is not listed in the phone book but available via DQ.
http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/homepage.htm: The home of the BT Price List, and a welcome glimmer of sanity in the surrounding morass. The price list is a complex document but it is presented with a minimum of `design', letting the data speak for itself. The Price List contains all prices that BT are obliged to publish under section 16 of their licence. The Main Contents contains the current prices. The Oftel Notifications contain advance warning of future changes. This used to be available in printed form as two huge ring binders. This paper version has now been discontinued and the web version is the authoritative one.
http://www.sinet.bt.com: The site dealing with SINs, Suppliers Information Notes, TIGs, Technical Interface Guides, and SPINs, Service Provider Industry Notifications. These are technical things describing various BT services. The documents are available only in PDF format. Some of the older ones are not yet available, you can request these by ringing 0800 318601 and asking for them.
http://www.bt.com/broadband/: The starting point for information about BT's ADSL service.
http://www.groupbt.com/: The corporate face of BT.

BT have a large number of other sets of web pages using names of the form www.bt.com/thing, where `thing' is the product or service concerned. For example, the new(ish) `midband' service is at http://www.bt.com/midband. It is worth trying a URL of this form if you are looking for details of a specific BT product or service.

http://www.kcom.com

Kingston Communications. The one UK local phone company that wasn't nationalised and which still runs the phone service in Hull. It was floated on Stock Exchange in 1999 so is no longer controlled by the council.

http://www.cw.com

Cable & Wireless plc. This was the first competitor to BT.

http://www.energis.co.uk/

Energis Communications Ltd. This is a company formed by the National Grid Company to operate a network based around optical fibres strung on electricity pylons.

http://www.scottishtelecom.com/

The website of Thus. This is the new identity for ScottishTelecom. There is presumably more to this new identity than a desire to hide from search engines by having the name in the stop-word list. Thus is the Scottish Equivalent of Energis. Electricity was privatised differently in Scotland, with the transmission system owned by ScottishPower and Scottish Hydro in their respective areas. ScottishTelecom, and now Thus, are the names used by ScottishPower Telecommunications (Services) Ltd, a ScottishPower company. They had an agreement with Ionica to use their fixed radio access technology and had started a service in Edinburgh, but with the demise of Ionica the Edinburgh service has gone too.

http://www.ntl.com

ntl Group Ltd. One of the two remaining cable TV companies, now offering phone service and broadband Internet as well.

http://www.telewest.com

Telewest Communications. The other remaining cable TV company, also offering phone service and broadband Internet.

http://www.o2.co.uk

The O2 mobile network. This is the current name for what started life as Cellnet, one of the two original UK analogue mobile networks. Now operates both GSM 900 and 1800 networks. The company is actually called mmO2 and their corporate site is at http://www.mmo2.com.

http://www.vodafone.co.uk

Vodafone Group Plc. The other original analogue mobile network, now operating GSM 900 and 1800. One of only two still using their original brand name. They also operate the Paknet data network, which uses both fixed lines and radio links.

http://web.orange.co.uk/

The Orange mobile network (GSM 1800 only). Now owned by France Telecom. The only other network still using its original name

http://www.tmobile.co.uk/

The T-Mobile GSM 1800 mobile network. This started life as One 2 One. Now owned by Deutsche Telekom.

http://www.three.co.uk/

Hutchison 3G UK Limited, operators of the first 3G network in the UK. They won the licence for the new entrant so need to get their network up and running in order to generate any revenue. Backed by Hutchison Whampoa from Hong Kong, the same company that started Orange.

Other useful places

Numbering

http://www.ukphoneinfo.com: The current home of the information that Tim Clark used to maintain at the University of Warwick. This can be described as an `added value' version of the Oftel numbering data. If you want to see how phone numbering works without peering inside Oftel's codelist.zip file this is the place to go.
http://www.davros.org/phones/charging.html: Clive Feather has pages that describe how BT calculate charges for phone calls. They contain detailed information about which STD codes belong in which charge group and which charge groups are local or regional calls from anywhere.

Details of BT's Network

http://www.davros.org/phones/btnetwork.html: Don't know your DLE from your DMSU? This is Clive Feather's description of the basic topology of BT's network. It explains those two acronyms and a lot more, and explains how how calls make their way through the network.

Costs

http://www.magsys.co.uk/telecom/: A set of tariff comparison data maintained by Magenta Systems Ltd. The residential tariff data is freely available. The business tarrif details and the data in spreadsheet form are now only available to paid subscribers. Probably the most comprehensive tariff data available in the UK.
http://www.uswitch.com/HT/index.asp?ref=oftel: This is the successor to www.phonebills.org.uk, a site set up at the instigation of Oftel to help consumers find the best deal for their calling pattern. That was replaced by Oftel's Price Assurance Standard, and uSwitch is currently (Dec 2003) the only site meeting this standard.
http://www.feinst.demon.co.uk/UKtelephones.html: Joel Feinstein's cost comparison page. In Joel's own words: Less comprehensive than Magenta Systems, but very easy to use. This site includes a country by country comparison of the peak rates for some of the cheapest companies, including links to recent discussion of these companies on the uk.telecom newsgroups.
http://www.sillyfish.com/phone/: Another site that lets you input data and then it calculates potential savings.

Geographic alternatives for 0845/0870 numbers

http://djbnet.co.uk/tel/: This page lists geographic numbers for many companies that only publish non-geographic 0845 or 0870 numbers. Sometimes it is useful to have the option to use the geographic numbers.

Directory Enquiries

http://www.marcuskern.com/info/118.htm: One of Oftel's last acts was to break BT's monopoly of the directory enquiries market, replacing the 192 code for this with a multitude of six digit codes starting with 118. Marcus Kern's page helps to deal with the resulting confusion.

ISDN

http://aa.nu/isdn/: Adrian Kennard's ISDN pages. These started out as a description of his experience in setting up an ISDN2 line and Istec 1008 small PBX. They have now grown into much more.
http://www.seg.co.uk/products/isdnover.htm: Michael Spalter's ISDN pages. SEG Communications concentrate more on data communications rather than voice and their main pages have lists of TAs, Bridges and Routers.
http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~dank/isdn/: Dan Kegel's ISDN pages. A large collection of now rather dated information about ISDN, mainly about American things.
http://www.bt.com/isdn: The ISDN specific section of BT's site.

BT Highway

http://www.bt.com/highway: BT Highway (available in both Home and Business flavours) is a service that provides an ISDN line and provides two analogue phone sockets on the NTE (the box that goes on the end of the line) in addition to the normal two digital sockets. It allows you to take advantage of the ISDN 64 kb/s data capabilities while retaining your analogue facilities, including your existing number, Select Services, and CLI services. This bit of BT's site deals with Home Highway.
http://www.mckerracher.org: Phil McKerracher's site, which has a lot of useful information about Highway (and ISDN). Phil knows what he is talking about. He had a lot to do with the firmware inside the Highway NTE.

CLI

http://aa.gg/callinglineidentity.html: Adrian Kennard's description of CLI facilities in the UK.
http://www.ainslie.org.uk/callerid.htm: Alastair Ainslie's pages born out of his struggle to make a Windows PC and a modem work with BT's Caller Display service. Also has reviews of various bits of CLI software and an archive of CLI related articles from uk.telecom.

Junk Calls

Fed up with unwanted telesales calls or faxes? You can do something about it. Take advantage of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.

http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2003/20032426.htm: The regulations themselves. These implement an EC directive which, among other things, controls direct marketing calls, faxes, SMS and emails.
http://www.dti.gov.uk/industries/ecommunications/directive_on_privacy_electronic_communications_200258ec.html: The DTI page about the EC Directive, the consultation exercise on the draft regulations, and the final regulations.
http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/eventual.aspx?id=35: The Information Commissioner is responsible for enforcing these regulations. This is the relevant section of the Information Commissioner's website, with guidance and a complaint form linked from it.
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/: The website for the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). You can register your phone number here if you are an individual subscriber and you don't want to receive telesales calls. You can also register by phoning 0845 070 0707.
http://www.fpsonline.org.uk/: The website for the Fax Preference Service (FPS). Unsolicited direct marketing faxes to individual subscribers are illegal, so an individual should not have to register a fax number here. It's an open question whether registering is worth it for individuals. Corporate subscribers have to register in order to opt out of receiving such faxes. You can also register by phoning 0845 070 0702.

There is no equivalent of the TPS or FPS for email. Do not be deceived by the e-mps thing linked from the TPS and FPS sites. This is an entirely voluntary thing run by the Direct Marketing Association in the USA, at http://www.dmaconsumers.org/emps.html.

Mobiles and Paging

http://www.hairydog.clara.net/cell1.html: Iain Harrison's Hairydog Guide to Mobile Phones, a user's view of the UK mobile phone business.
http://www.noblelgw.freeserve.co.uk/: Barry Perfect's pages have lots of details on mobile phones, and even more on radio paging.

Personal Numbers

http://www.uk-places.org/07number.html: Peter Morgan's page giving details of various personal number operators, their facilities, and their charges.

History

http://www.thg.org.uk/: The Telecommunications Heritage Group (UK). A group of people engaged in the study, preservation and collection of the heritage of communications.
http://www.seg.co.uk/telecomm/index.htm: The Strowger Telecomms Pages. A set of pages produced by Michael Spalter devoted to the olden days of electro-mechanical switching.

Recording Telephone Calls

http://www.seg.co.uk/telecomm/record.htm: The question of the legality or otherwise of recording phone calls comes up in uk.telecom from time to time. After a recent (December 97) debate on the subject Michael Spalter produced a summary article, which led to more vigorous debate. This page is the result. Note in particular the quoted article from Peter Walker, Technical Director of Oftel. Remember that law is not an exact business and is only settled in a court. If anyone wishes to settle this matter once and for all, step forward and I'm sure it can be arranged to have court action taken against you. :-)

General Telecoms Advice

http://www.telecomsadvice.org.uk/: A site set up at the instigation of Oftel to provide advice on telecoms to small businesses.

International

This is only a very small random collection of things.

http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/: The TELECOM Digest Archive, maintained by Patrick Townson. A vast storehouse of information, containing the Digest since 1981 and much, much more. A CD-ROM of the contents of the archive at the end of 1995 is available if you want your own copy.
http://www.itu.int: The International Telecommunication Union. This is a United Nations agency dealing with telecoms. I don't know the details but it is a combination of what used to be CCITT (now ITU-T) and CCIR (now ITU-R). It is responsible for making recommendations for all aspects of telecoms, from V.24 for async serial communications to E.164 for international country codes, and a huge amount else besides. Like most international standards bodies it doesn't make very much information available for free.
http://www.etsi.org: The European Telecommunications Standards Institute. Set up in 1988 to set standards for Europe in telecommunications. It isn't clear to me if this is a European Union body or is a wider European thing. Since September 1998 they have allowed free access to individual standards documents for private use if you register. This is bold move for a standards body, much to be welcomed.
http://www.nanpa.com/: The pages of the North American Numbering Plan administrator, NeuStar Inc.
http://www.lincmad.com/: Linc Madison's pages mainly about numbering in the USA.
http://www.wtng.info/: The World Telephone Numbering Guide pages, by Dave Leibold.

Other Newsgroups

I only have any personal knowledge of the first four of these. The details of the rest are just taken from the Newsgroups file.

uk.telecom.mobile: Formed in April 1997 as a UK mobile phone and paging group, partly to reduce the volume in uk.telecom itself. Its charter is here.
uk.adverts.telecom.mobile: Formed in June 1999 in an attempt to prevent widespread advertising, contrary to the charter, in uk.telecom.mobile. Its charter is here.
uk.telecom.broadband: Formed in July 2000 for discussion of matters relating to broadband services in the UK. Its charter is here.
uk.telecom.voip: Formed in May 2005 for discussion of voice over IP technology and related matters in the UK. Its charter is here.
comp.dcom.telecom: The Usenet version of the Telecom Digest, moderated by Patrick Townson. Mainly American in content but high quality stuff as it is moderated. Patrick also maintains the TELECOM Digest Archive at http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/
comp.dcom.isdn: The main Big 8 ISDN newsgroup. The content is mainly about American experience which makes dealing with BT about ISDN look simple.
comp.dcom.telecom.tech: Discussion of technical aspects of telephony.
comp.dcom.modems: Data communications hardware and software.
comp.dcom.cell-relay: Forum for discussion of Cell Relay-based products.
comp.dcom.frame-relay: Technology and issues regarding frame relay networks.
comp.dcom.fax: Fax hardware, software, and protocols.
comp.dcom.xdsl: Discussion area for different DSL technologies.
alt.cellular: Cellular telephone technology.
alt.cellular.gsm: About GSM mobile phones.
alt.ph.uk: United Kingdom version of alt.2600.

This page is maintained by Peter Ilieve (peter@aldie.co.uk). Last updated: 17 May 2005.

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