Sam's Telephone Collection - Post Liberalisation Telephones

Here are just a few of the phones that became current in the immediate post-liberalisation era..

GTE Flip-phone

The GTE Flip-phone was one of the early imported phones on the British market. It is badged Ferranti-GTE for the UK. This is a loop-disconnect model. The miniaturised electronics were presumably rather fragile, as one in my collection stopped working. This one is connected to my home exchange and lives in the bedroom - hence the background. I gave the non-working one to the son of the designer who requested it as a souvenir of his late father. The original US user instructions are available in the Document Repository

The Flip-phone fits into a neat holster which can either sit on the table, as on the right, or be fixed to a wall.

Northern Telecom 9701

Dating from just after liberalisation of the telephone instrument, BT offered this attractive design from Northern Telecom (now Nortel). It uses an electret microphone and has an adjustable sounder. This model is loop-disconnect only.

Southwestern Bell Freedom Phone

Southwestern Bell imported a whole raft of telephones of varying quality and design. The Freedom phone shown here is reasonably stylish, but the whole range suffered from poor immunity to interference. Since this picture was taken I've given this one away.

Kirk Loudspeaking Telephone

A style classic, designed for Standard-Electric Kirk by Jacob Jensen in 1976. Imported by STC but marketed by BT as Loudspeaking Telephone No 10. Fully hands-free operation with volume control on the handset, behind the receiver. The concave front can be replaced with one of a different colour to match your mood or interior design. Separate models were produced in pulse and tone dialling. Both types had all sixteen keys, though the ABCD buttons are ineffective on this pulse model.

BT Ambassador

A rather bulky offering from BT which came in a range of colours including this Sunshine Yellow, the same colour as Buzby the canary used in BT's advertising at the time.

BT Statesman

Using the same handset No 16 as the Amabssador above, this was a much more successful design with its smooth, low profile. The electronics use integrated circuits to give a very compact layout. Manufactured for BT by all three major suppliers, who also produced proprietory versions - see the Corporate Phones page. The Statesman is also the subject of my first 'Take a Phone to Bits' project..

Telecomms Index