This paper proposes an alternative to the passive bus realization of the current CCITT ISDN user-network interface. Our new approach is termed phase aligned passive bus (PAB) scheme. An automatic phase adjusting mechanism using a monitor bit is employed in the terminal equipment. This scheme enables the terminals to operate in complete phase synchronization on a passive bus. The advantages that result from this technique are: 1) Eliminates, in principle, the bus length limitation due to round-trip delay time. If line bit rate of 192 kbit/s is kept, then a practical bus length is about 700 m with no limitation on terminal distribution. 2) Allows various extended bus configurations, such as simple repeatered extention, connection of optical link, and multibranched passive bus. 3) Provides spare bit transmission capability to facilitate intrabus communication and maintenance. As an alternative it keeps the general framework of the current CCITT I-series standard such as

channel structure and LAP-

protocol. Experiments realizing long passive buses are shown to confirm the feasibility of the proposed scheme. This concept is also shown to be applicable to a 2-wire full duplex user-network interface, advantageous in the existing office environment, employing time compression transmission.