The British Telecom Octara is
a medium size keysystem designed for busy offices such as accountants, solicitors,
travel agents, doctors' surgeries etc. The British Telecom Octara was introduced in 1986 and sold until the mid 1990s.
The British Telecom Octara central control unit (CCU) is initially equipped for
2 lines and 6 extensions but can expand using additional 2 x 6 cards up to the last
card which is a 2 x 8. This gives the British Telecom Octara system a maximum configuration of 10 lines 32 extensions.
The BT Octara system supports analogue lines only.
The BT Octara only supports
its own terminal telephones (TX21, TX23 and TX25) and cannot handle standard telephones, DECT cordless phones or fax machines. The British Telecom Octara system is analogue lines only and will
not support ISDN. An answering machine can be connected to the British Telecom Octara system via a switch 2A which
diverts the incoming line before it gets to the system. An external paging port
connects in to most public address systems and a music on hold (MOH) port connects a music
source if required.
There are still many British
Telecom Octara systems around still working well. We try to hold stocks of all BT Octara
parts including CCUs, telephones and expansion cards, although some parts are becoming more difficult to obtain due to the system's age.
BT
Octara Telephone Handsets
British Telecom TX 21 Basic
telephone
British
Telecom TX 23 Key telephone
British
Telecom TX 25 Key telephone with full handsfree