There is obviously a significant difference in the phone systems in the
two
countries. Our phones have the bells in parallel and if thee are too many
the wrong impedance is presented to the exchange, and no ringing voltage
will get sent. I have never seen a UK approved phone with a REN less than
1, but there were plenty of 2s & 3s about at one time.

You can buy a REN booster ( a mains powered device) which allows many more
phones.


To me, Phil's post illustrates how *similar* the our systems are,
and I strongly suspect that the reason why we don't see REN
1 is that the approval rules specify the figure quoted should
be an integer between 1 and 4.
Powered devices like DECT base-stations and FAX machines
don't need to supply any significant ringing current from the line,
they just need to sense the AC waveform to trigger the ringing.

REN is a bit of an anathema these days IMHO.
A good get-out for the support drones.
(
For the North Americans)
What is unusual with the UK system apart from our
"special" plug and receptacle instead of an RJ11,
is the fact that we use a third wire which couples
all the ringers in parallel to a capacitor in the master
socket to which the incommer is connected.
Many modern phones do not even use this "bell wire"
and just use the A and B wires (tip & ring).

--
Graham

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