Hello from Massachusetts

[esolomon]

I just signed up.  I have a WE 500D that I have on my computer repair bench.  I combined two phones to make this one work.  




I also have this phone from my childhood.



It has dial tone and rings when a call comes in but will not dial out.  Any help on that would be appreciated...

[Doug Rose]

Welcome to the Forum from a fellow resident of the Commonwealth....Doug

[paul-f]

It has dial tone and rings when a call comes in but will not dial out.  Any help on that would be appreciated...

Welcome.

Try reversing the line cord terminals (red and green).  Early touch tone dials were polarity sensitive.  (Search the forum for "polarity" for more info -- it's been a frequently-discussed topic.)

[HarrySmith]

Welcome! Paul is probably right, I had the same problem with an early TT dial.
Keep those 2 phones far apart! They will multiply quickly

[esolomon]

As much as I like the new caller id phones, there's something about the old hardware that just feels right...

[liteamorn]

As much as I like the new caller id phones, there's something about the old hardware that just feels right...

Welcome!! I keep my cordless phones hooked up for caller id and to dial through those annoying automated menu's but all of my conversations are on my classics.

[GG]

And I design & program "those annoying menus" for a living, as well as the rest of the stuff that makes the phones work in offices (PBX eng. here).  However I will not program menus for clients whose goal is transparently to annoy callers or make them jump through arbitrary hoops.

Anyway, my expert advice for dealing with voicemail menus is to use a phone where the keypad is on the base rather than in the handset.  Having to move the handset back & forth between "press a button" and "listen to what happened and what comes next" is highly annoying.  Best to keep the receiver on the ear whilst pressing buttons and waiting for Godot.