Cordless phone bought in the UK

[Nighte]

Hi,

I have a BT Synergy 2150 cordless phone and answer phone system which I have brought with me from the UK. It was quite an expensive system when bought a couple of years ago (with 4 cordless digital phones and built in answer phone) and as I have eventually managed to master how it works I want to use it here in France.

The only problem is..... IT DOESN'T WORK!!!!!????

I understand that some phones both with or without cords will work here and some don't - is it a case of the latter with this system or am I missing something, Is there anything I can do to make it work?

I will also add that it's not just the ringer - there no dial tone at all? But the phones will talk to each other - just not to the phone line!

Kind Regards

Simon

[moon]

Hope this doesnt sound too stupid but you have got a cord and plugged the base station into the phone socket havent you?

Bob

[Nighte]

"Hope this doesnt sound too stupid but you have got a cord and plugged the base station into the phone socket havent you?

Bob"

Thanks for your quick response! It's definately plugged in properly and I think I have checked all the basic solutions however keep em coming!

Simon

[Baz]

Vitually all UK phone equipment will work in France. However, some of the more expensive equipment needs a special adapter because the normal BT to TF adapters will not work. These special adapters may be easier to purchase in the UK, if you speak to BT and get a knowledeable representative they will tell you the correct converter adapter or I believe PC World have a pack with all the alternatives.

Baz

[Ecossais]

Simon,

 

As Baz says it should be possible to most UK telecoms equipment to work.  How have you connected your Synergy?  Have you taken the line cord off another French phone?  Is the socket OK with a French phone plugged in?

 

The usual problem with UK phones or fax machines is that they might not ring due to the way the equipment is wired for the BT network, but you should be able to dial out.

 

As you have 4 phones it is worthwhile trying to get it going.  One way is to buy a UK telephone “master socket” from Maplin (or a shop selling electronics equipment) and a yard of telephone cable and make up an adapter.   http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=897&TabID=1&source=15&WorldID=7&doy=26m10

 

Connect terminals 2 and 5 in the UK socket to the top 2 connections on the left side of the French phone socket and plug your Synergy into the UK socket.  That should get it working and it will ring on incoming calls.

[Nighte]

Thank you for your help so far.......

The phone has a removable telephone line cord (the kind with the universal plug on the phone end) so I have simply removed the cord with the UK plug on the end and replaced it with one that has a French plug on the end. I know the socket and cord are fine as I use them for my internet connection and have no probs - I have just unplugged the cord from my laptop and plugged it into the phone and there is nothing? BIZZARE?

Kind Regards

Simon

[Mikew]

I have a FT lead to connect to the computer, I tried to use the lead from a phone that had been fried by a storm (lead checked out ok!), but found that different connections were used on the small transparent plug, had to go out and buy the correct one. Look carefully at the plug, BT uses connectors 2 & 3, FT uses 1,2 & 4, (or 1,3 & 4, never know which way round to count!)...

 

MikeW

[I1]

After moving out here I checked with somebody who had lived in France for several years about UK DECT telephones. I was told that some will work, others wont. Manufacturers are generally not particularly cooperative providing assistance as they state that the phone is designed for the "region" it was sold in.

I did contact a telephone distributer in the UK (as there was one particular DECT phone I wanted) and they said it would work OK in France and would take it back/refund if it didn't. However, paying shipping costs two ways would have been costly and I decided it was not worth it. However, I did nt alady have the phone so I was in a different position to the person who raised the question.

I thus decided to purchase a cheapo DECT phone from the local supermarket (€35'ish).

My brother purchased (in the UK) a quite expensive Bang and Olofsun telephone "system". He is now moving to Australia and contacted Bang & Olufson about it working out there. Despite the exact same model being available in Australia, he was told that it may not work and that they would provide no assistance.

[I1]

[quote]I have a FT lead to connect to the computer, I tried to use the lead from a phone that had been fried by a storm (lead checked out ok!), but found that different connections were used on the small tra...[/quote]

I had a UK telephone which I used through one of those "international adapters" I had. The telephone worked ok in that you could dial and the talk and listen ok on the handset. However, it would not ring on incomming calls.

Also, I had some problems with my internet connection and whilst it was not the cause, France Telecom checked the line several times. One check they asked me to remove all telephone equipment. With everything connected they detected an issue with the line. With everything disconnected it checked out ok. I then got them to re-check it as I reconnected each telephone. It was then all ok (I didn't reconnect the UK telephone). It was not the internet connection problem, but did suggest to me that there was something not 100% using the UK telephone.

[Will]

It is, unfortunately, a fact that there are small but significant differences between British and French phone systems and although many things will work, or can be made to work, on the other system, not every piece of equipment can be guaranteed to work properly. It seems that the more complex the equipment the bigger is the risk of it not working. We had a non-DECT cordless three-phone and answer machine system that worked fine in England but refused to work 100% in France whatever we did.

[Iceni]

Our UK bought Samsung DECT phone is a curate's egg - fine for making and receiving calls but the answerphone doesn't. So we use FT's free answerphone.

John

[Franglais24]

Hi,

We brought over a BT On-Air cordless system which worked ok having sourced a lead. But it worked only for a few months and then packed up for no apparent reason. But maybe it would have done this in the UK anyway.

F24

[Jonzjob]

 "I have a BT Synergy 2150 cordless phone and answer phone system which I have brought with me from the UK. It was quite an expensive system when bought a couple of years ago (with 4 cordless digital phones and built in answer phone) and as I have eventually managed to master how it works I want to use it here in France"

Hi Simon,

We moved over 3 months ago and bought our Samsung Dect 3 phone system with a/phone with us, that didn't work either. What we did was to buy a single Dect phone with a/phone and attach the other phones to it. It now works a treat and even although we bought a good phone here it didn't cost a fortune. The only thing to remember is that a new phone in France will have the instructions in Frence (where have I heard this sort of thing before?) and it took me a while before I worked out what the code was for the new phone. I spent ages trying to find out why I couldn't attach the old handsets to the new phone, but when the centime dropped it was easy.

Good luck,

John.

[Jonzjob]

 "I have a BT Synergy 2150 cordless phone and answer phone system which I have brought with me from the UK. It was quite an expensive system when bought a couple of years ago (with 4 cordless digital phones and built in answer phone) and as I have eventually managed to master how it works I want to use it here in France"

Hi Simon,

We moved over 3 months ago and bought our Samsung Dect 3 phone system with a/phone with us, that didn't work either. What we did was to buy a single Dect phone with a/phone and attach the other phones to it. It now works a treat and even although we bought a good phone here it didn't cost a fortune. The only thing to remember is that a new phone in France will have the instructions in Frence (where have I heard this sort of thing before?) and it took me a while before I worked out what the code was for the new phone. I spent ages trying to find out why I couldn't attach the old handsets to the new phone, but when the centime dropped it was easy.

Good luck,

John.

[Brier]

[quote]Hi, I have a BT Synergy 2150 cordless phone and answer phone system which I have brought with me from the UK. It was quite an expensive system when bought a couple of years ago (with 4 cordless digit...[/quote]

We had exactly this problem with our DECT phone. We discovered from the manufacturer that it is important to use the original lead supplied with the phone as it is wired differently to the standard ones. They advised a socket to adapt the French socket to a UK one but we couldn't find one easily so we solved it as follows:

A French adapter with an RJ11 socket (same as for a modem).

An RJ11 to UK socket adapter sourced from a computer store in the UK.

The original phone lead.

The phone now works perfectly - It even rings!

Hope this helps