HISTORY OF THE
OMNICOM SYSTEMS

The Omnicom FS1515 was a single line 5 extension system sold under the 'South Western Bell' name when single line 'plug in' systems were first allowed to be exempt from the 'Pre Connection Inspection' regime that was imposed on non-BT systems in the late 1980's.

South Western Bell pulled out of the UK systems market in July 1993 and Tetrel Ltd of Llantrisant took over the system side.

Tetrel then went on to produce the FS2828 a two line 8 extension system with similar facilities. The case looked identical to the earlier FS1515.

Interestingly when the FS2828 was submitted for 'approval' they left two line cords on it so that it could be easily tested (remember that only single line systems attached by plug in lead were exempt from PCI) To their surprise it came back 'approved for plug in connection without PCI'!

It lasted until around 1993/4. I fitted dozens of them in schools! I knew Peter Williams, the Service Manager at Tetrel quite well - we often had long chats about telephones/system. Tetrel moved into manufacture of payphones as well and were eventually taken over by GPT/Siemens c1995/1998. They carried on manufacturing payphones there - mainly BT ones. The factory is now closed and production was moved to Chorley and the staff at Llantrisant were made redundant.

I should add that there are about three versions of software for the FS1515 and at least two for the 2828. So not all programming will necessarily work with a particular version.

Many sources

Last revised: July 29, 2024