Gaston, Most of Europe uses 16 KHz billing tones with the exception of Switzerland and, I believe, Belgium which use 12 KHz tones. The tones, actually tone pulses, are placed on the analog line when the call has taken an additional "billing unit" of time indicating an additional charge. The user can purchase a meter which accumulates these charges to show how much a call is costing in real time.
I'm not sure where to find the specifications on the tones from the generator (central office) point of view, but many of the European national specifications for telecom equipment include specifications on the tones from the receiver (TTE) perspective. The tones are fairly precise in frequency, the major issues are their minimum and maximum length. For the full story download the ETSI standard ETS 300 001 from http://www.etsi.org/. Select Publications & Products: Standards Online and take it from there. You'll have to register, but it's free. It contains the analog TTE specifications for most of Europe, east and west. Dick Shultz > ---------- > From: [email protected] > Reply To: [email protected] > Sent: Monday, November 8, 1999 10:58 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: European billing tones > > Hello group, > > In North America, to charge for a conversation (public payphone), the > beginning of the conversation is indicated by battery reversal (RBA). > I heard that in Europe to meter a conversation, there is billing tones (12 > & > 16 KHz) . > I would like to know where I could get specifications about those billing > tones in Europe. > Is there different tones for each country? > > Thanks in advance, > > Gaston Cloutier > > telweb inc. > 350, rue Franquet, porte 45 > Sainte-Foy, Québec > CANADA > G1P 4P3 > > Email: [email protected] > > Tél.: 418-650-5516 ext. 217 > Fax: 418-650-0860 > >
