Telephone Legislation in the United Kingdom.

From 1st January 1985 government legislation came into force which opened the way for companies in private sectors to supply approved telephones for connection to domestic direct exchange lines, later on the 1st December 1986 further relaxation in the regulations allowed users, or their agents to install extension wiring and telephone sockets to be connected into the PSTN. 

In order to do this however the user must have a master socket installed by the appropriate network operator. To the public this change of policy permitted apparatus to be owned outright instead of being leased. 

It also opened the doors for a lot of private firms to be able to supply and install office telephony equipment thus ending a virtual monopoly of the post office who used to operate the system. Today the main national carrier is known as BT there are a few others, and foreign carriers who provide business services but don't forget Kingston communications in Hull who pretty much control the whole area around Hull.

Similar legislation has been introduced around various countries of the EU, this new specification is CTR21 for telephony apparatus and approved equipments may carry the CE mark or the green BABT spot. The EU council decision 98/482/EC is a pan-European specification permitting single termination connection to the PSTN.

One point worthy of note is the emergency number in the UK which is 999 is not the only number, actually 112 is also the emergency services and it's worth being aware that 112 works in nearly all country's across Europe. For further information refer to the official bodies and organisations listed in our links page.

With the advent of voice over ip many traditional services and technologies are being replaced by internet based services. We will be introducing more internet services and support in the future.

Do you want low priced calls, do you want to try voIP services, do you want an inbound Geographical UK number (ie an number which corresponds to any UK city or town directly linked to a SIP voIP account, then we can help - just contact us and we'll send you our special introductory offer).