Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway
From: julian@bongo.uucp (julian macassey)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Phone Design For Humans
Message-ID: 
Date: 28 Sep 89 17:12:25 GMT
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X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 415, message 2 of 5

In article , gabe@sirius.ctr.columbia.
edu (Gabe Wiener) writes:
> In article  dsacg1!dlscg1!drms3002@
> cis.ohio-state.edu (Andy Meijers) writes:
>
> >Designers: (including ATT, WECO, etc): Go back and look at the 500 and
> >2500 series desk sets again. There is a reason they lasted so long,
> >and were so widely imitated. They WORKED!!!
>
> 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 remember when a friend went to buy a 2500 set a few

    Yes, the following companies still make real 500 and 2500 sets:

ITT, Comdial (Stromberg Carlson), Northern Telecom?. Also North Supply (A
phone equipment distributor) imports a made in Korea clone called the
Premier.

    The Premier is not as robust as the others. It is cheaper, now you know
why.

    The 500 set is a standard desk rotary, a 2500 is a standard desk
Touch-Tone.

    The variations of these, wallphone etc have slightly different numbers
such as 2600.

    A standard 500 or 2500 has interchangeable parts: The ringer from one
will fit in the other. The handsets are interchangeable. The base from one
will fit the cover of the other. Yes, you can have old AT&T guts tarted up
with a new comdial plastic case and an ITT handset. All parts are available
from suppliers such as North, so any of these phones can be repaired or
reconditioned. In the telco trade, this is called R&R (repair and
restoration).

    AT&T phone stores used to offer thier old 2500 sets as refurbed at a
good price. This is a deal.

    As you can fix any of these phones, you can buy battered ones and repair
and clean them up. You can also convert old non modular to modular.

    These sets are really tough, they have to pass tests involving repeated
drops into concrete and voltage surges of 1,000V @ 1,000A.

    Automatic Electric (GTE) make versions of these sets that work fine, but
are not interchangeable with the others.

    Another phone equipment supplier that can supply 2500 set parts is
Graybar.

    No doubt about it. A 500 or 2500 will last forever. I just R&Red one for
a friend that had a manufacturing date of 1954. Still in daily use, I made
it modular and polished the plastic.

    If there is any interest, I can explain how to repair and tart up these
phones.

    The phones I use are all 2500 sets. I have a garage of phones from
around the world. Nothing matches the 2500. I have to admit though that the
old style handset used in the UK was the most comfortable for cradling. It
is longer and wider than the G2 (the standard handset on 500/2500). The UK
operators headset was also more comfortable than the WECO black monsters but
not as indestructable.

    Yours

Julian Macassey, n6are  julian@bongo    ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian
n6are@k6iyk (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495