Telephony

Lines, exchanges and services of the Republic of Fluid

Published specifications

Sixteen specifications, published whole, with schematics, parts lists, test procedures and firmware source. No fee, no licence and no prior approval for connection.

Why they are openNo patents exist here

Patents are prohibited and knowledge made with public resources belongs to everyone. Every specification below is published whole: schematics, board files, parts lists, test procedures and the firmware source. There is no fee, no licence and no authorisation to request.

A workshop, a tool library, a cooperative or an individual may build any of these and connect the result to the network. The only condition is that it meets the line specification, because equipment out of specification degrades the pair for the neighbours who share the cable.

The specificationsTS-1 to TS-55

Current revisions

Superseded revisions stay published. A workshop repairing an old device needs the drawing it was built to.

  • Two-wire line interfaceTS-1Revision 9, 2021 · the transformer, protection and hybrid every copper device starts from
  • Subscriber loop, communal copperTS-3Revision 6, 2019 · what the pair must deliver and what may be hung on it
  • ISDN basic rate terminal adapterTS-8Revision 11, 2024 · two bearer channels, S bus, bonding-ready
  • Voiceband modem, 64 kbit/sTS-14Revision 14, 2016 · the most common modem in service
  • Multi-link PPP bondingTS-16Revision 5, 2022 · two to four links, voiceband or ISDN, presented as one
  • Voiceband modem, 96 kbit/sTS-22Revision 7, 2025 · echo cancelled, full-duplex shaped, steps down as line quality falls
  • Household routerTS-24Revision 12, 2026 · four ports, answering function, no radio unless one is fitted
  • Fibre terminalTS-27Revision 4, 2023 · the only specification requiring excavation
  • DSL modemTS-31Revision 8, 2024 · 35 to 90 Mbit/s depending on the cabinet distance
  • SIM and subscriber credentialsTS-35Revision 3, 2025 · how a card is written, and everything the network agrees or declines to store
  • LTE small cellTS-38Revision 6, 2025 · the unit installed on a roof following a communal vote
  • 5G standalone radio unitTS-40Revision 2, 2026 · n78 only, with a limited feature set
  • Call boxTS-44Revision 5, 2018 · vandal-resistant, no coin mechanism, short codes hard-wired
  • Wired handsetTS-47Revision 10, 2020 · the black telephone most people still have in the hall
  • Exchange line cardTS-52Revision 9, 2025 · forty-eight lines, hot-swappable, no storage of any kind on the board
  • Conference mixerTS-55Revision 3, 2026 · the unit an exchange runs so that meetings stay in the sub-region

Building oneFour steps, no approval

From drawing to connected

  1. Take the drawings. Every revision is on this site with its errata. Old revisions stay published, because a workshop repairing a thirty-year-old modem needs the drawing that modem was built to.

  2. Build it, anywhere. Boards, cases and magnetics are made by cooperatives in eleven sub-regions and by tool libraries in most communes.

  3. Test it against the published procedure. Each specification has its own test: what to inject, what to measure, what the pass limits are. Tool libraries hold the test sets and lend them.

  4. Connect it. A device that passes the test may be connected, and a device that fails will be found by the line survey and reported to the builder.

AfterwardsTen years at least

Parts stay available

Every specification comes with a parts guarantee of at least ten years from its last revision, and in practice the cooperatives hold stock for the working life of the design. TS-14 parts have been available continuously since 1996.

Foreign equipment

Equipment may be connected where it meets the line specification and where the software in the modem may be examined, replaced or removed, or where it is compatible with the published protocol.