My first American telephone is not a rotary

[dsk]

  I have some field telephones, this is my first real telephone a W.E. 2500D from 1973.
Growing up in Norway with America as some remote fairytale country, black and whit films from the 1930ies, with candlestick telephones, (never commonly used here) and by some reason noting before the 2500 with push buttons.  :just great! Experimental testing with push button phones started here in 1975, and the first standard push button phone came in 1980!

This is just great for me.


Impressingly good condition, great sound even with the carbon granulate transmitter.

No touch tones here before 1980, but dynamic transmitter capsule from 1967.

dsk

[Dave F]

That's a pretty nice specimen.  The 1973 sticker is a refurb date.  The phone was actually made a few years earlier than that.   Nice hardwired handset cord, color-matched line cord, and the word "operator" spelled out on the dial button are indicative of a more desirable older set.  Looks like you've got a winner there!

Dave

[dsk]

Nice to hear, is it something I should look for to get more info about my new phone?

The polarity sensitivity of the dial joked me when I got it, and I had to clean the contact for the 7-8-9 row.

Is this ringer a 1 REN ringer?  To get a nice spot to put it (bed table(??)) I had to stow away my Siemens modell 1936.

dsk

[Dave F]

The early Western Electric Touchtone phones did not have a polarity guard, and therefore the transistorized dials were polarity-sensitive.  If you get dial tone but can't dial out, just reverse the red and green line cord wires.  Also, those dials were notorious for developing dirty contacts.  Be careful when cleaning the contacts, as they are fragile and easy to damage.  Don't use anything too abrasive.  Sometimes, all that is necessary to clean off the oxidation is a simple strip of plain paper.

Yes, the ringer REN is 1.

Information on the 2500D can be found in the TCI Document Library.  You can download it from here:

http://tinyurl.com/2en9jtb

Dave

[dsk]

Thank you again, this makes the telephone more and more interesting.
Under the label it is stamped 10 72 direct on the metal base, will that be the date of production?

dsk

[Phonesrfun]

Thank you again, this makes the telephone more and more interesting.
Under the label it is stamped 10 72 direct on the metal base, will that be the date of production?

dsk

Yes, most likely.  Also check the dates on inside components, such as the receiver and transmitter elements (which may have been replaced during refurbishing), and the dates on the dial, the network housing, and the ringer.  The network is likely to be the original network that came with the base, since it is riveted to the base.  It may be a few months before or after the base, due to the fact that all the parts were individually manufactured, then brought together for assembly.

[JorgeAmely]

dsk:

How did you obtain this phone?

[dsk]

dsk:

How did you obtain this phone?

I got it on Etsy,

I have been looking for a 2500 type, with a 1 ren ringer and without modular plug cords. This one was reasonably low prised, but I was not sure of i the technical condition. Some how I was sure I could get it ringing, and probably working, maybe not dtmf???

The text was:

Sun Shine Yellow Vintage Western Bell Push Button Phone

The Vintage push button phone is in perfect condition. Doesn't event look was it was used. It's a perfect vintage 1970 yellow.

Could be used as decoration or used in you home or office.

Could even get it for your kids to play with. My kids LOVE it!!!

It happend to be a real scoop for me. Normally postage would be $ 40 and I got it home for less than $50. I do not know how somebody may get the postage down, but now, I'm just happy.

dsk