The UK Telephone System |This is an over view of how the
components of the British telephone system work together (1900's
- 1980's). Click on any part of the picture you have an interest
in. Start in the house with the lady on the telephone making a
call. She uses a telephone - connected to internal wiring -
connected to a terminal block - connected to underground cable.
The house next door is fed by overhead wiring which connects to
the underground cable via a terminal block at the top of the
pole. The underground cable then goes to the exchange, via a
pillar and cabinet, where it terminates on the main distribution
frame (MDF). There is a call in progress and a simplified
version of a Strowger type automatic exchange can be seen to the
top left in schematic below. The lady in the house is dialling
2369. Last revised: February 05, 2011