Ferranti Zonephone collection

Made:
1989 in Moston

Ferranti Zonephone telepoint service equipment, including basestation, handset, charger, carry case, and organiser.

Details

Category:
Telecommunications
Object Number:
2016-2027
Materials:
plastic (unidentified) and metal (unknown)
type:
telepoint service
credit:
Gift of Mr Phil Holt

Parts

Telephone base station

Telephone base station

Base station for Ferranti Zonephone telepoint service, made by Ferranti Creditphone Ltd, New Moston, 1989

More

Zonephone occupied a short-lived niche in technology in the era when access to cordless telephones was growing and before ‘mobiles’ became available to many more people.

In the late 1980s the second generation of short-range cordless telephone (CT2) technology, known as Telepoint, was in development. Many people thought that Telepoint technology could compete with the young mobile phone industry as the infrastructure was on a more domestic scale and, therefore, much cheaper to install.

Four Telepoint services were launched: Rabbit, Phonepoint, Mercury Callpoint and Zonephone. Users could carry their Telepoint phone with them and make calls if they were within range of a public base station. The quickly expanding mobile phone industry rapidly outstripped Telepoint systems. The last operator, Rabbit, withdrew in 1993.

Ferranti Zonephone, launched in October 1989. The service only managed to secure around 500 subscribers, and closed in July 1991.

Measurements:
overall: 40 mm x 181 mm x 205 mm,
Materials:
plastic (unidentified)
Object Number:
2016-2027 Pt1
type:
base station
Image ©
The Board of Trustees of the Science Musuem
telephone headset

telephone headset

Handset for Ferranti Zonephone telepoint service, made by Ferranti Creditphone Ltd, New Moston, 1989

Measurements:
overall: 32 mm x 47 mm x 191 mm,
Materials:
plastic (unidentified)
Object Number:
2016-2027 Pt2
type:
handset
Image ©
The Board of Trustees of the Science Musuem
telephone handset

telephone handset

Handset for Ferranti Zonephone telepoint service, made by Ferranti Creditphone Ltd, New Moston, 1989

Measurements:
overall: 32 mm x 47 mm x 191 mm,
Materials:
plastic (unidentified)
Object Number:
2016-2027 Pt3
type:
handset
Image ©
The Board of Trustees of the Science Musuem
telephone handset charger

telephone handset charger

Charger for Ferranti Zonephone telepoint handset, made by Ferranti Creditphone Ltd, New Moston, 1989

Materials:
plastic (unidentified)
Object Number:
2016-2027 Pt4
type:
charger
Image ©
The Board of Trustees of the Science Musuem
carry case for telephone handset

carry case for telephone handset

Carry case for Ferranti Zonephone telepoint handset, made by Ferranti Creditphone Ltd, New Moston, 1989

Materials:
textile
Object Number:
2016-2027 Pt5
type:
case
Image ©
The Board of Trustees of the Science Musuem