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Connecting Dialgizmo to Western Electric 554 (wall phone)

Started by fiddleplayer51, November 21, 2016, 08:05:40 PM

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fiddleplayer51

I'm so glad this forum is here! I've just hooked up a Dialgizmo to each of my three desk phones (WE 701, WE 202, WE 302) and they work flawlessly. My problem is I don't know how to hook up a DG to my WE 554 (wall phone) since it's mounted on a wall mount jack as shown in photo. Any help anyone could give would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

(The photo needs to be rotated right so the line is coming from the bottom)

AL_as_needed

Now I don't have a dialgizmo myself, but is there anyway you can sneak it into the 554 itself? Behind the dial of 554s there is some "dead space" that may fit the device, then simply plug the dialgizmo lead into the wall jack, or the wall adapter for the 554 used for wall jacks. May have to open up the dialgizmo and use just the guts to get it to fit.
TWinbrook7

poplar1

I assume you have a VOIP line, or cable modem, or Magic Jack.
You need only one Dialgizmo for your entire house. Just plug the pigtail from the Dialgizmo into the output jack of the modem, then the cord that feeds the rest of your house into the Dialgizmo jack.
Now, all your phones, including the wall phone, will work with just one Dialgizmo.
I'm sure there are some collectors here that would be interested in purchasing your 3 extra Dialgizmos.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

fiddleplayer51

#3
Thanks for your replies.
Actually, I have neither VOIP, Magic Jack, nor cable modem. I have a standard landline setup from Verizon with the typical jacks ( baseboard jacks for each of the 3 desk phones and the 1 wall mount as in the uploaded photo from my original post). Therefore, I need the DGs for each of the rotary phones.
The modular jack on the back of the WE554 wall phone doesn't permit attachment of the DG. If I could convert the modular jack on the phone into a pigtail, I could plug the pigtail from the phone into the DG and plug the DG pigtail into the baseboard jack which connects to the wall mount shown in my original post (thanks for rotating that photo for me, AL).
The baseboard jack to which the wall mount jack is connected is shown in the photo here along with the modular jack on the back of my wall phone.

poplar1

(1) You could get a second jack like the one on your baseboard. Terminate the wire coming from the wall phone jack to the inside terminals of the new jack.
(2)Then, plug the Dialgizmo pigtail into the already existing baseboard jack.
(3) Use a standard modular cord (with plugs on each end) to go from the jack on the dialgizmo to the jack you just installed.

Or--

You could install a plug on the end of the wire coming from the wall jack. Plug it into the Dialgizmo and plug the dialgizmo into the existing baseboard jack.

Or--

You could install a cord that is modular on one end and hardwired (connected to L1 and L2 inside the wall phone). This cord would plug into the dialgizmo, and the original wire going from the baseboard jack to the jack for the wall phone would be disconnected. The Dialgizmo would then plug into the baseboard jack.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

poplar1

If you have a Verizon landline, then doesn't it recognize rotary dials? If so, why do you need a Dialgizmo, except for "Press 1 for English" etc.?

Still, you need only one Dialgizmo for all your phones. Is the demark (where Verizon terminates their line and your wiring begins) inside or outside your house? If each jack is "home run" back to a central point, you can still make it work with one Dialgizmo.
                                                                                                        <===========Jacks
Central office (Verizon) ------------------------Demark<------DIALGIZMO<====jacks
                                                                                                       <-------jack
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

Slal

Quote from: poplar1 on November 21, 2016, 10:32:36 PM
I'm sure there are some collectors here that would be interested in purchasing your 3 extra Dialgizmos.

I might be one of those interested in a Gizmo, but will create own topic about POTS.

Hope I'm not horning in, but "Fiddleplayer51's" wall phone brings up a question.  Were 554's polarity sensitive or just 2554's?  Forget where I may have read that & just curious.  (Considering one for a gift)

unbeldi

Quote from: Slal on November 23, 2016, 04:14:13 PM
I might be one of those interested in a Gizmo, but will create own topic about POTS.

Hope I'm not horning in, but "Fiddleplayer51's" wall phone brings up a question.  Were 554's polarity sensitive or just 2554's?  Forget where I may have read that & just curious.  (Considering one for a gift)

Only telephones with touch-tone pads, and perhaps some others with amplifiers in the handset, require correct polarity, because of the transistor in the key pad, and then also only the early ones until the 1970s.  At some point, later, polarity guards were installed in the sets, and finally, keypads contained a guard in the dial.

fiddleplayer51

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

Poplar1, I had dispensed with my landline about seven years ago after my husband died and I no longer was using it for faxing his medical stuff. And, because of mobile phones, I was very seldom using it to make calls. But, landlines are wonderful and there's nothing like the feel of a telephone receiver when making calls so I decided to get out my old rotary phones and have a landline set up again. They had worked fine seven years ago for both rotary dialing and receiving calls. I was very disappointed to discover that in that seven year period I can no longer dial out with my rotary phones. I am so grateful for devices such as the DialGizmo and RotaTone.

Having a landline is also a safety issue in the case of cell towers getting knocked out for some reason as they did in the area of an earthquake which occurred several years ago 80 miles from where I live.

I worked with my wall phone for the better part of the day on Tuesday and then decided to contact the Old Phone Guy about installing a RotaTone in my 554. After reading the instructions on his website, I decided to just send my phone to him to install it for me so it would be sure to be done correctly. His site for the RotaTone is:

http://www.oldphoneworks.com/rotatone-pulse-to-tone-converter.html

He stated on his site that he is again installing RotaTones so I sent my phone off to him on Tuesday. Here's the link for his page stating he is installing them again:

https://www.oldphoneworks.com/repair-and-upgrade-services.html

Again, thanks to everyone for your suggestions and interest.




poplar1

I am really surprised to hear that a traditional copper-wire "landline" from AT&T/Verizon/Frontier/etc. no longer supports Rotary Dials. In fact, here in GA, BellSouth was charging an extra $1.30 per month for Touch-Tone until recently.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

fiddleplayer51

Yes, it was quite a surprise to no longer be able to use my rotary phones since it had not been an issue at all previously here my town in VA.

unbeldi

Quote from: fiddleplayer51 on November 24, 2016, 10:26:27 AM
Yes, it was quite a surprise to no longer be able to use my rotary phones since it had not been an issue at all previously here my town in VA.

Who is the provider there?  Is it Verizon ?
I don't know whether they still do this, but at one time Verizon did not reinstall copper lines once a line had been terminated. Instead they installed FIOS fiber and an OTN at the house. In that case it may well be that the specs of your telephone are just off, and the OTN does not decode pulses properly.  I believe Verizon now seems to use a narrow dial speed window.  Not too long ago, I measured a Verizon line that could not dial slower than 9 pulses per second.

fiddleplayer51

Yes, Verizon is the provider. I suspect your theory about not being able to dial slower than 9 pulses per second may be correct. I tried dialing a number before getting the DGs. The number was 540-9~~-11~~ (I'm omitting some of the digits to protect number). The emergency dispatcher answered so the pulse was picked up for the 9, skipped the next two digits, and then picked up the pulses for the two 1s. I had to assure the dispatcher that I had no emergency!

kdpezz

So I just am wondering...I have an refurbished phone with internal converter that still isn't working with my system....purchased a dialgizmo as I heard it will work with my Comcast modem....doninneed to somehow disconnect the internal converter on my rotary wall phone to have it work properly?  Someone on here seemed to think so and that makes sense....just seeing if anyone else has had experience with this

Phonesrfun

-Bill G