Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: albert%endor@husc6.harvard.edu (David Albert) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Phone Design For Humans Message-ID:Date: 28 Sep 89 18:35:38 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: David Albert Organization: Aiken Computation Lab Harvard, Cambridge, MA Lines: 38 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 415, message 3 of 5 In article Gabe Wiener writes: >Speaking of the 2500, is it still with us? Does AT&T (or ITT, or GTE, >or Stromberg Carlson (comdial) or whoever) still manufacture a _real_ >2500 set? I don't know sets by their numbers, but if the 2500 is the standard, pre-buy-your-own-phone desk set with a roughly rectangular base, then the answer is that they are no longer manufactured, but that "refurbished" models are still available. In 1983 (or so), when Illinois Bell allowed you to purchase the phone you had been leasing from them at a discount, I did so. About 6 months ago the touchtones on my phone stopped working (no, it had nothing to do with line polarity -- that's the first thing I checked -- and it happened a few days after I dropped it on the floor, so maybe it was my fault) and I decided to get a new one. I was finally able to purchase a "refurbished" touchtone set exactly like my old one, for $49.95, direct from AT&T, but they told me that none of their new desk-model touchtone phones had mechanical ringers. (For the same price, AT&T said they'd fix my old phone, but that hardly seemed like a reasonable option). Also available for $49.95, they said, was an in-line modular mechanical bell attachment that would work with any phone, so for those who want the features of new phones and the sound of old ones, that might be worth considering. I decided to go with the complete phone. David Albert | "What are you trying to do, UUCP: ...!harvard!albert | change the world?" INTERNET: albert@harvard.harvard.edu | "No, just our little corner of it." [Moderator's Note: But you know what I *really* miss are the 2515 sets. Those were the 2500 'two line turn button' sets, with the plastic knob in the corner for selection of line one or two. The turn button also could be depressed, and the corresponding blue/white pair of wires (mine has three pairs, at least) used to sound an intercom buzzer elsewhere. Furthermore, I got a little neon bulb at Radio Shack and wired it in there so it would illuminate the little button when the phone rang. All that AT&T will do for you now is replace them one on one for *lease* customers only. Its a shame to see these great old sets no longer being built. PT]