OLE@csli.stanford.edu (Ole J. Jacobsen) (08/04/89)
The recent discussion brought back memories of my first message to this
list almost 6 years ago, I have enclosed it verbatim (I am still real
proud of those diagrams!):
Date: 15 Nov 83 12:55:44+0100 (Tue)
>From: ole@nta-vax (Ole Jorgen Jacobsen)
To: TELECOM@ECLC
Subject: Dialling arrangements etc.
Hello friends in the telephone world,
I only just subsrcibed to this list and while reading through the
the archives I noticed a couple of questions relating to dialling
arrangements which I will answer herein.
First of all "Telegrafverket" is the old name for the Norwegian
Telco, now called "Televerket". Don Lynns phone was made by EB
which is Elektrisk Bureau an LM Ericsson sister company in Norway.
The dial is the "Oslo" or "X" dial as explained below. EB now make
our new fancy Tastafones which are "Touch Tone Compatible".
On the subject of dials:
There are (at least) 3 types of dials in use worldwide:
o The "Z" dial is the most common (Internationally) and it looks
like this:
(4) (3)
(5) (2)
(6) (1) Pulses correspond to digits
(7) (10 pulses for 0)
(8) \\
(9) (0)
o Next comes the peculiar "Oslo" or "X" dial:
(Also used in New Zealand?)
(6) (7)
(5) (8) Still 10 pulses for 0 but
(4) (9) the rest is inverted
(3)
(2) \\
(1) (0)
The Oslo dial is only used within the city itself, we are 10
miles out of Oslo and have the Z dial, it is apparently too
expensive to re-strap the old exchanges so we are stuck with
the two incompatible phone types until it all dies and goes
TT/digital.
o Finally, in Sweden the shifted "Y" dial is used:
(3) (2)
(4) (1)
(5) (0) Similar to the "Z", but
(6) shifted so that 0 gives
(7) \\ one pulse and 9 gives ten.
(8) (9)
I am not sure what the basis of all this is, but can only
assume "Historical Reasons".
Just before the new Tastafones went into production here a
couple of years ago, it was decided to have the keypad layout
DIFFERENT to your favorite Ma Bell. The reason is apparently
that people familiar with calculators should not have to re-
program their hands when shifting to the new phones, I guess
it makes sense, but it is still a bit wierd. The keys still
give the same DTMFs of course so that our phones would work on
your system and vise versa.
7 8 9 1 2 3
4 5 6 4 5 6
1 2 3 7 8 9
0 * # * 0 #
Our keypad Your keypad
Enjoy International Standards!
Ole J Jacobsen
Norwegian Telecommunications
Administration
Research Establishment
N-2007 Kjeller
Norway
+47 2 73 91 75
ole@NTA-VAX
<OLE>
<370>
-------euatdt@euas11g.ericsson.se (Torsten Dahlkvist) (08/07/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0274m02@vector.dallas.tx.us> OLE@csli.stanford.edu (Ole J. Jacobsen) writes: > Just before the new Tastafones went into production here a > couple of years ago, it was decided to have the keypad layout > DIFFERENT to your favorite Ma Bell. The reason is apparently > that people familiar with calculators should not have to re- > program their hands when shifting to the new phones, I guess > it makes sense, but it is still a bit wierd. The keys still > give the same DTMFs of course so that our phones would work on > your system and vise versa. > > 7 8 9 1 2 3 > 4 5 6 4 5 6 > 1 2 3 7 8 9 > 0 * # * 0 # > > Our keypad Your keypad > To the list of "Famous Mistakes"-quotes, should be added the telecom-group (I'm not sure exactly who participated) who in the early 70:s ran an investigation of people's attitudes towards keypad layouts. They found that most users learned to use the "1-on-top" keypad, as used on most phones around the world today, slightly quicker than they learned the "calculator- style" keypad. The unfortunate conflict between the two lay-outs was noted but the general conclusion was that "there are so many more phones than calculators in this world that if we decide on a new lay-out, IT will be the standard." Of course, a few years after this, the silicon revolution came around and everybody got at least three pocket calculators before they got their first keypad phone. Some countries, like Norway and Denmark, who have held on to their Telco monopolies very long and have been late in converting to DTMF, have been able to force a change of style on their keypads. I believe the Danish lay-out (same as the Norwegian above) was actually passed as a law by their Parliament which even makes it _illegal_ to sell a phone with a different style of keypad in Denmark. Not that I know of anyone ever trying to enforce that law against small-scale dealers, but a large company like Ericsson would be very careful to "toe the line" when selling to Denmark. /Torsten Additional disclaimer: Even though I work for a subsidiary of Ericsson and have in the past been involved in the actual design of some of their products, I am now in no way connected to such activities and my interest in these matters is purely for nostalgic reasons. I am not in any way acting as a representative of Ericsson and the opinions expressed are strictly my own. Torsten Dahlkvist ! "I am not now, nor have I ever ELLEMTEL Telecommunication Laboratories ! been, intimately related to P.O. Box 1505, S-125 25 ALVSJO, SWEDEN ! Dweezil Zappa!" Tel: +46 8 727 3788 ! - "Wierd" Al Yankowitz