BTE: British Telecom Engineering Trial BT Phonecards

British Telecom Engineering Trial telephone cards were cards produced by BT and/or telephone card manufacturer Landis & Gyr to test and run trials for BT Phonecards before they went into general production and release to the public.

The cards pictured below appear in order of catalogue number BTE001 to BTE022. The cards pictured are a mere few from the BTE category which features 22 cards.

To view BTE cards BTE001 to BTE013 simply purchase a copy of the UK 1 World Phonecard Catalogue (pictured right). To view BTE cards BTE014 to BTE022 you will need to purchase the UK 2 World Phonecard Catalogue.

Landis & Gyr also produced a number of dummy, test and monitoring cards. View Landis & Gyr internal cards.

BTE001: 1st Issue Definitive Thermographic Trial

BTE001: 1st Issue Definitive Thermographic Trial - BT Phonecard

1st Issue Definitive Thermographic Trial. All early GB cards, with 2mm stripes, for demonstration purposes were also manufactured by Landis & Gyr in their factory in Zug, Switerland.
BTE001: 1st Issue Definitive Thermographic Trial
Quantity: Unknown
Issued: Late 1980s

BTE009: Island Life (2) Full Face Trial

BTE009: Island Life (2) Full Face Trial - BT Phonecard

Testing for full face printing onto a BT Phonecard. This card is encoded with 120units.
BTE009: Island Life (2) Full Face Trial
Quantity: 10
Issued: 1994

BTE010: St. Tiggywinkles Full Face Trial

BTE010: St. Tiggywinkles Full Face Trial - BT Phonecard

Both sides of the St. Tiggywinkles full face print trial are shown above. You will notice on the face that the card has a 20unit header, however on the reverse you will notice it is actually encoded with 120units (the maximum number of units on a single track optical card). Please note: This card is also included in the BT internal cards where it is given a catalogue number of BTI154.
BTE010: St. Tiggywinkles Full Face Trial
Quantity: 15
Issued: 1995

BTE011: HM Prison Full Face Trial

BTE011: HM Prison Full Face Trial - BT Phonecard

This card was produced as a sample for the Home Office on encoded full face blanks. It was thought that this format may reduce potential fraud since it was easier to see used units on the optical track.
BTE011: HM Prison Full Face Trial
Quantity: 6
Issued: Unknown