Category: accessible Devices
As some of you may know, I had a landline put in today. Last week or so, I bought a Western Electric 2500D phone. This is the standard touch tone square desk model with 12 buttons (numbers 0 through 9, star and pound), the receiver that lies across the top and the bell ringer. You can read about it here. This is actually the link for the 500 series, but the 2500 is discussed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_500_telephone
They actually still make them today, though under different brands and with much less durable materials. Everything that I've read about this phone talks about it's stirdy and reliable construction and service. I thought the 80's ones would be fine but then read that they, too, were proned to breaking. So I got one from December of 1975, which the seller stated was "solid" and which my friends said looked to be in very good condition. All of that was true. The only problem was that it was hard wired and not modular. This essentially means that it doesn't have a regular jack in the back where you would just attach the cord, with the other end going into the wall. So I asked around here on The Zone and also looked up a few things, and everyone said that modifying it would be easy. So I decided to ask my boyfriend for help. Last night, we went to Radio Shack and showed them the phone. They looked at me as if I had three heads but they did have phone wire. They were selling it for $7 with no refund, so we decided to try AT&T. We went there and didn't even bother with the manager because the lady at the desk told us that he probably wouldn't know how to fix it and he looked a bit young to know how in any case. So we got home and Spiros opened it and he was completely overwhelmed. Normally, he works with synthesizers, keyboards and amplifiers. But he's also worked on many phones in Greece, including several from that time, and he never saw one with these kinds of connections. I found the skiematics from two different sites. The first wasn't of any help, but the second, which was the set connections, looked promising. But we were both tired from a night out and it was getting late, so I decided to leave it here and let the technician from Verizon take a look at it.
Well, he came today and evenn he had difficulty with it and he's worked on these exact phones with the same connectors! Basically, it uses frayed wires (designed that way not broken) and someone unraveled them so that he didn't know what went with what and nothing in the phone is labeled! If things were in place, it would've been an easy fix. He said there are about 17 screws and he had to wrap the wire around just the right ones. He found the dial tone, and we were able to call out, but he couldn't find the ones to get the bell to work. He eventually found one of them but not the other. The problem with this wire is that when he'd put one on the screw, the others kept coming off. But he said that he thinks this can be done, either with a meter for testing, or with the kind of wire that electricians use, which are not frayed. Those will stay in place. I read about something called a junction box and also about hard wired to modular converters but he said that I don't need one. He clipped the end off of a regular phone cord and was using that but said that it's not as strong as the regular wire used for this job. I asked if the phone wire from Radio Shack would be acceptible and he said yes The only warning he gave me is that I might get static, since the service runs on fiber optics and I'll be using an older phone. He said that normaly, you never get static with Fios.
Thankfully, I have a wall phone that works perfectly, as does the internet and television. And I got good news there too! Apparently, the reason why I have to use two different remotes with this one is that it has a built-in vcr. He said that there's a chance that my 80's tv with the numberpad might be able to be programmed so that I could use the one remote! Who knows? Maybe, I could even use the pad itself! As for the phone, I'll give it to Spiros and explain what was said. I also found a page with some interesting information in general, and more importantly, links to phone sites which might be of use.
http://www.electronixandmore.com/adam/phone1.html
But I recall someone here having a father who worked for the phone company. If you're reading this, could you please respond? If anyone else could offer suggestions or ideas I'd really appreciate it. It's a truly wonderful phone, and I'm sure it will last for many more years if we could get it to work!
http://navysalvage.com/ringer.html
This site is packed with all sorts of information, including this page on connecting ringers, and they do repairs too! They even encourage potential customers to compare their services with others in order to get the best deal and to use the free index pages with the help files. So if worse comes to worst, and we really can't fix it, I'm sending my phone there! But I'm still counting on this being a cheap and local fix.
Well, Spiros took the phone with him on Monday morning and I also sent him the links that I found for repair. He's going to bring it to a man who might be able to help sort out the mess of wires, or at least give him a more suitable one so that he can fix it on his own. But now I also need a wall phone as the one that was installed here previously has a weird problem. It's supposed to have the options for both pulse dialing and touch tone, but when I flip the switch, it just dials faster with pulses. Once or twice it went to touch tone but didn't stay. Thankfully, I didn't buy this phone, so didn't lose any money on it. I also know that we have a solid one from the 80's around here, so it shouldn't be that difficult to get that one hooked up as everything on it is standard.
I am the one that told you it would be easy to connect, but not modify, because it doesn't need to be changed. For my purposes I'll assume this phone has not been altered otherwise you'll have to get help. Radio shack, or your home depot, or a hardwear store his phone wire. It comes in 4 6 or 8 strands, but you only need 4 strand wire. The phone should have an access panel on it. You match the colored wires example, green,yellow, red, and black, and you use small wire nuts to connect them. Next your jack on the wall has to be opened and you splice the wires in on the same colors. It might be a good idea to get wire that has the same colors as the jacks wires, then use a tester to locate the hot. You can then take 2 wires and try the phones wires to find the 2 that make it work. This is the normal way, but as you can tell not visually impaired compatible unless you are patient. My dad was a phone installer, and I have done this work before with help, but only installing extra jacks in my house. It's not hard providing the phone is correct. That I can't help you with. A telephone tech could do this work, so maybe call your phone company and ask for another person, but from what you've written the tech spent some time trying, so the phone is probably no good. You don't have 3 heads and it's not an odd thing, because many houses that are retro redone have old fashioned phones fore looks. I'd buy a new phone. You can still get them with only 12 buttons you know, but they have jacks, so all you do is plug them up. Using the phone cord as the tech did was not the best way. Phone wire would be better.
Oh okay! So you're the one whose father worked in phones! So we actually have to open up the wall jack too? Wow! As I wrote, the said that things were taken out and that every time he tried to wrap the wire around the screw, one of the parts would come off. I'm not sure if he was talking about the ones in the phone or the wire that he spliced. He also said that it would be much easier if we worked with wires that weren't frayed and told me that I could get those, but again, I'm not sure what he meant, either those instead of the wire he inserted or those instead of the ones in the phone. He didn't say that the phone was no good, but actually, that if he had the time, he could've figured it out. It's just that things weren't labeled, and as I said, weren't in their right places. If they were, he said, he could have done it without a problem. As I said, he even got it to ring, and I was able to make a call on it, so it seemed to be in working order. He also agreed that the way he did it wasn't the best, but we didn't have the phone wire. I might get one of the 80's ones, because even though they weren't made as well as the earlier ones, they still aren't the cheap crap from China etc.
Ooh cool! Tim21 just told me about four prong adapters. He said that he has a jack for those in the kitchen and just used a modern adapter to work with the newer phones. So could I have one of those put on my cord and then just attach an adapter to it instead of having to upen up the wall jack?
Forget all I told you. It's not going to help in your situation, because you need someone to do it, so here's the fix. It's what I do when I have a job bigger then me, or I don't have the time.
My local phone company charges 99 dollars to have a tech come out and wire jacks, so that same tech could wire this phone with no problems, labeled or not. It doesn't require labels to do it. You could 1. Call your phone company and ask them to send you a tech out to wire your jack and telephone, so that this phone would be on it's one jack. Next you can work your 411 and call Lowe's, Home Depot, or any other local home centers and ask them to give you the names or some independant contractors that do wiring, such as lighting, phone jacks, and such. You call them and ask what they'd charge to come over and do this job for you. Supplies for this job would cost around $12, because it be best to have this phone on it's own jack, or in this case jack box. So $12 plus labor. Some wire is needed too. Here is what your contractor will do. He, or she will open up the nearest phone jack to where you want your phone, that is the thing you feel on the wall whenm you plug your other phones up. Next wire the new jack box, or electrical box to your jack, then run wire from that to your phone. You could ask to have a connector put on the phone, but that would change it's original state, and make it look unatractive and is really not needed unless you want to move it about. I assume you live in an apartment, so all this work is done inside, she or he won't go out to the B box.
Enjoy. Let me know how you like it.
Of course i need someone to do it. I wasn't planning on doing it myself. *smile* I just didn't know that I had to have another tech from Verizon come here and open the wall jack. I thought that I could either send the phone out to be serviced or have Spiros or a local general tech whom he knows do it. I honestly couldn't care about aesthetics, so long as the phone works, and if one way is easier and more cost-affective, I'll go with that. I really wasn't planning on spending $100 to have this done. I paid $35, including shipping, for the phone itself. I'm not sure what you mean by the B box, but yes, I do live in my own place just above the house.
If you live in a house the B box is the main telephone box. It is located on a wall outside, or in the basement, but mainly on the wall outside. It is where all the phone jacks are wired in to the main phone system. A tech could run wire directly from it to your phone, and that was how it was done, but for you it's not needed. No I understood you weren't going to do this yourself, but you had said your boyfriend was an electical enginer, so I assumed he'd be doing this for you.I don't want you to take offince, so please do not. This wiring is simple and if you call the places I suggested I'm pretty sure you can find someone that will do it for you for the price of supplies and maybe a 20, so about 32 dollars. I am able to do it with sighted assistants, and that person only need tell me the colors of the wires. If I don't have help, then that patients comes in to play, because I have to try several combinations before it works. I do understand you not wanting to spend lots on this project, so again if you just can't get it done, and I believe you can, then go to a phone store, or even Walmart and you'll find a phone simular to what you have with only 12 buttons, but it will plug up to your jacks. Radio Shack sales 2 models such as I'm talking about.
No offense taken. Like I said, even the tech who worked on these phones had difficulty with it. Don't forget that Spiros was in Greece all this time, so the connections there probably are and were different. He never saw one like that. The diagram helped, but as I said, it was late, so we put it off and I let the tech see it. $32 definitely sounds feasible and way better than $100! Thanks for the tip on Radio Shack. I'll either go to them or get the later Western Electric model if this doesn't work.
It can work. And my spelling sucks to night. Lol. I am happy you did not take offense. I mean non at all, and love your stick to it, but I've told you this before. Smile. Again let me know. If you don't find this works and you want a simple phone I'll post a model and exactly where to get it.
We actually have a cordless phone from Toshiba, which I'm sure was made in Japan, as it went through all sorts of drops and spills and still works. It has more features than i need but a few really neat ones as well, like intercom and a numberpad right on the phone. I'm pretty sure it's analogue, as it has telescoping antennas on the base and a large nontelescoping one on the handset Unfortunately, the microphone in it isn't as good as it used to be because I dropped liquid in it when I was much younger *red face*. But I don't know where the phone is and don't have the model so can't look for it on Ebay! The one drawback is that it doesn't have a bell ringer, which was one of the reasons why I bought my new/old phone.