Setting up a BT Revelation

[andy1702]

I've just bought a BT Revelation. The plan is to use it to connect up various old phones and maybe even connect it to the main phone line to the house, so any phone can take incoming calls. However I'm not a BT Engineer, and finding clear instructions on how to set up a Revelation is not easy. I've managed to download a user guide for a system phone (I have two system phones) but that's about it.

My current home setup is a master socket running to three extensions. All have broadband filters plugged in and phones. The last extension also has a router for my internet.

The question is how would you wire up the Revelation? Would I need to completely re-do the wiring in the whole house? Also where would the router go in the scheme of things? Because of the layout of the house it is currently on an extension socket, not on the main one as recommended.

Finally for now, does the Revelation require any special wiring to the sockets?

Sorry if I'm being a bit thick. Once again I'm on a steep learning curve. I'm picking up the Revelation next week and would like to be ready for it's arrival.
Any help much appreciated,

Andy

[Dave Moll]

As mentioned in an earlier thread about a BT Revelation, a full set of manuals can be found at https://www.systemstl.co.uk/item/137...lation-manuals. In particular, I would suggest reading the Installation Manual.

In summary, however, connecting the BT Revelation to your main telephone line and having your telephone extensions going through the Revelation may indeed require a degree of rewiring, judging by your description of your existing setup. The first thing I would say about this setup is that it sounds far from ideal regardless whether you include a Revelation for your extensions. Having separate ADSL filters for each extension is a BAD idea. It is far better to have a single filter (preferably incorporated into the master socket faceplate if it is of the NTE5 type with a removable faceplate) at, or as close as possible to, the master socket, with the router as close as possible to the filter.

Returning to the Revelation, your best approach would be to attach a cable with a BT plug at the far end to the desired line input of the Revelation. N.B. This would be a two-wire connection with the white (or black) wire connected to "A" and the red (or yellow) wire to "B". I have given alternative colours to cover the two main colour schemes used for telephone cables i.e white/green/blue/red (or black/red/green/yellow). This plug would then plug into the 'phone output of your ADSL filter.

As far as extension sockets connected to the Revelation are concerned, each one should be a "master" socket (i.e. including a capacitor etc) with the connections running from Revelation to socket as follows:

A -> 2
B -> 5
C -> 1
D -> 6

terminals 3 and 4 in the socket do not need an external connection.

I hope this enables you to get started, though don't hesitate to raise any further questions you may have.

[andy1702]

Thanks for that Dave. I found a couple of threads mentioning the Revelation, but hadn't found the one with the link to the manuals. It looks like I've got a bit of bedtime reading now!

To confirm my home phone setup, I've got an old BT master socket, with the removable bottom half. hard wired into that is an extension that goes into the next room and into that another extension that goes into the furthest room, then carries on again to a second socket on the other side of the far room. This far room is in fact a small office where my PC and router are set up. Each socket has an ADSL filter plugged in as I'm sure that's what the instructions on the router told me to do. However, if I've understood you correctly, you're saying only one filter is necessary. Is that right?

My plan A is to connect the Revelation to the master socket coming into the house, then feed everything as extensions (it has 12 available) The question is where should a router and any ADSL filters go in this set up? The instructions for wiring up the Revelation look fairly straight forward but don't take account of this new-fangled broadband!

I'm now on the lookout for master sockets to wire up that will be fed by the Revelation. I'm sure it will be easier when I start, but for now the theory of it all is a bit mind-blowing.

Andy

[TonyDuell]

What I think you should do is :

Disconnect the extension wiring from the master socket.

Fit a filter to the master socket, this can be one of the type that is built into a module that fits onto said new-type master socket.

Connect the broadband router to the ADSL socket on the filter. This might involve you moving the router.

The 'telephone' or 'PSTN' or whatever connection on the filter is essentially just a phone line. You could connect the old extension wiring there. Or connect it to the external line terminals on the Revelation and then wire sockets to that (which is, I think, what you want to do). The Revelation has nothing to do with broadband, therefore it comes after the filter, and the broadband router is connected to the line before the Revelation.

[andy1702]

I think you're probably right Tony. That's the way I understand it too. The problem is I can't really move the router. My desktop PC is right over the other side of the house and the wifi wouldn't reach that far. Also I prefer to have the router wired to the PC as it's quite a bit faster that way. I guess another option would be to wire things up as you suggested then run a cable from the router to my PC. The only problem with that is my broadband is so useless I regularly have to switch the router off and on again. At the moment it's within reach.

Thinking about it some more, if the Revelation is essentially equivalent to a phone, could it be plugged into any extension socket? Or does it need extra wires that aren't normally connected in a household extension socket? I don't think it does but I wouldn't say I'm totally sure.

Andy.

[TonyDuell]

AFAIK the Revelation just needs the 2 line wires (pins 2 and 5 of the BT socket) so it could, I guess, be connected to any extension socket. Of course you would still need to do the wiring from the Revelation to its telephone sockets

[Dave Moll]

As you say, as far as the telephone line is concerned, the Revelation is indeed just another 'phone. As I said in my previous post, you only need the two main line wires of a standard BT plug connected to the line terminals of the Revelation.

With regard to your router, the best solution would be, as you note above, to run ethernet cabling from the router at one end of your house to the computer at the other - which is, by the way, exactly what I have done here, as my house is essentially two stone-built cottages with a very solid wall between my living room with the master socket in and my office at with the computer at opposite ends (i.e. in the adjoining cottages).

If you continue to have the router and filter where it is (though I dread to think how much ADSL signal loss is caused by this series of links in the chain) and have the Revelation at this point, you would need to run new cabling from the Revelation to new sockets for any telephones you wish to run as extensions for the Revelation, leaving the master socket and the other two extension sockets unused.

edit: Tony posted while I was reading through the thread and composing my reply, but I think we're essentially saying the same thing.

[julie_m]

PBXes are supposed to require master sockets for each extension (though of course you can use secondary sockets for extensions from extensions) because there is no pin 3 ring signal, but you may as well use the now-redundant ADSL filters to convert your old secondary sockets effectively into masters.

[Dave Moll]

And, of course, used in this way, the filters won't have any effect on your ADSL signal, unlike the way they are now.

[Mark James]

I have recently set up a Revelation in the house. I found the instructions by Tonetel much easier to follow than the original BT pre-release ones which are widely available. Cannot recall where I found the Tonetel ones but it was on the web. If you cannot find them then PM me with your address and I will e-mail them to you.

Mark

[andy1702]

I think I'm now starting to get my head around the Revelation systems and what it can and can't do. I'm off to fetch it next weekend.

But after having a chat with Ian about CNet, I've had a bit of a brainwave about how to set it up, make it compatible with my internet connection, get 12 vintage phones running, but still leave my current bog-standard BT house extensions alone(ish)

The problem I have is that becaue of the layout of the house I can't get my broadband router anywhere near the master socket. Master socket is in the front room of the house, but my PC (and hopefully the Revelation when I set it up) are in a small office at the back, which the wi-fi wouldn't reach if the router was near the master socket.

So I've come up with what i think may be a possible solution in the attached sketch. Basically the idea is to fit an ADSL filter to the master socket, which (as I understand it) will be the only ADSL filter I need. From the filter the ADSL will go to the router which will be moved so it is close to the master socket. This will allow wi-fi to reach most of the house, but not the back office. From the router I'm planning to run a Cat5e ethernet cable direct to an ethernet switch near to my PC and the Revelation. From the switch, another ethernet cable will go to my PC and another to the ATA (Grandstream HT502), which is the box required for CNet access.

Meanwhile my domestic phone extensions will remain unchanged, running from the original master socket.

Now for the complicated bit...

The Revelation is a 4x12. Two of the Revelation's exchange lines will be connected to the ATA, giving two lines to CNet. However this leaves two of the Revelation's exchange lines unused. So I was wondering if it would be possible to use one of these spare lines to connect to my normal extension (the red wire on the diagram), giving all the vintage phones connected via the Revelation the option of either connecting to CNet or PSTN?

I'm no expert in any of this, so please feel free to let me know if I've made some schoolboy errors somewhere along the way. It's the red connection I'm most unsure about.

Andy.

[julie_m]

I can't spot anything glaringly obviously wrong with it. If you can select at the time of placing a call which exchange line it goes out on, then it should work fine. An exchange line is an exchange line, as far as the Revelation is concerned, whether it be the PSTN or another PABX. A telephone call only needs 64 kbits/second for the audio and a little more for supe, so bandwidth-wise you have little to worry about with two lines in use.

You can get faceplate filters which replace the removable faceplate of an NTE5 master socket, and have a 1.8 µF ringing capacitor to support a total REN of 4. Ordinary plug-in ADSL filters often only have a 470 nF ringing capacitor, which can only support an REN of 1.

[andy1702]

From reading the Revelation manual (it's not the most user-friendly document in the world!) I think you can select an outbound line on the Revelation by dialing a code for that particular line. Simply dialing 9 automatically selects a line, but I think certain lines can be grouped so that the Rev only selects from the lines in the group.

As always though, I could be wrong. So if anyone knows different, please let me know.

Andy.

[julie_m]

If you can force selection of a particular line, then it should just work. Otherwise, you would have to arrange to ensure both lines on the ATA were occupied (by placing a loopback call down one line and back up the other?) to force the call to go out over the BT line.

[andy1702]

I'll check the manuals again just to be sure. I think it should work by programming the Revelation to use two grouped lines for the ATA, which (hopefully) can then be set up as the only lines to automatically accept outgoing calls. I should then be able to force selection of the third line when I want to call via the PSTN. At least that's the theory!

[AndiiT]

Hi,
You can "force select" an exchange line on the Revelation by dialing 51 for line 1, 52 for line 2 etc.

On the subject of wiring, if the ADSL router is some distance from the incoming Network termination point (master socket) had you considered using the spare wires in the existing wiring, usually Orange, Green and (if fitted) brown pairs to extend the telephone line to the router and then "back wire" pairs from the Revelation to your extension sockets, if you wish them to be connected via the PBX (once you have filtered the feed) which has the ADSL line on it, to the Revelation exchange line port. Doing so may be complicating matters more than your diagram above though.

I have a quick guide for programming the Revelation which I produced after hours of trying to figure out the instructions on Bobs Telephone File, PM me if you require a copy.

Regards

Andrew

[andy1702]

Thanks for the suggestion about the wiring. I need to move the router to get better broadband speed though. Currently I'm loosing over 1Mb because it's on the end of my current phone extensions. I'm also quite keen to keep my current phones clear of the Revelation, just in case I mess up with my wiring somewhere along the line or the Revelation turns out to be faulty.

Andy.

[Dave Moll]

Originally Posted by andy1702

Currently I'm loosing over 1Mb because it's on the end of my current phone extensions.

This, along with the multiple ADSL filters, is very much along the lines I had expected.

[andy1702]

The interesting part is why did mu ISP tell me to install all those ASDL filters at the time? As a newcomer to the world of wiring up old telephones etc, at the time I did what most people would probably do and just followed the instructions. I wonder how many other people are caught out like this?

[Dave Moll]

It seems this was generally the advice at the time. I was given the same advice when I first installed ADSL. Maybe it was a combination of hard-wired extensions pre-NTE5 and not quite realising the amount of signal degradation caused. I seem to remember the ISP supplying about three filters - along with one of those ghastly USB modems.