The Met Set

[USWCboy]

I am curious about the apparatus known by Western Electric as 2991A/B-, 2992A-, and 2993A, commonly known as the MET Set (aka Multi-button Electronic Telephone), which would have been used with the Dimension and Horizon Digital Communication system(s). My question is whether or not these sets still exist?

I have been in the collecting side for as long as I have been in the business, and I have never seen the set or the PBX Control units out in the wild. It makes me wonder if all these systems were collected and recycled? I have only found the Dimension KTU out in the wild once (the big huge wood paneled console type controller). Generally, it is surplus from a technician who is/has gotten out of the business and is looking to downsize, or here and there on ebay...I can count with one hand how many times I have actually saw that console. However, the actual system (KTU) Dimension and Horizon, and especially the hoirzon in terms of the KTU and KSU, I have not seen once anywhere.

For me it begs the question, what happened to all the Dimension and Horizon KSU's and KTU's? If you have any insight or worked with one, I would especially like to hear some memories and theories on what happened to all of them.

Thanks for taking a look at my post!

USWCboy

[poplar1]

At some time after Divestiture of AT&T (1/1/1984), customers were allowed to buy the systems and phones that they had been leasing. At some point -- just as with older versions of computer software -- AT&T stopped supporting the legacy systems, but if you were still leasing, they would let you continue to pay monthly charges, even if they would no longer maintain them.  The State of GA purchased all the previously leased PBXs, Key Systems and telephone sets in the mid-80s, and hired techs to maintain them.

Dimension PBXs often had 1A2 Key Systems for the multi-line phones, because in order to use MET Sets, you had to have a separate cabinet (EKTS) to support the MET sets. At Clayton State College in Morrow, GA, for example, there was a Dimension 400 supporting mostly single line 2500 sets, while the Administration Bldg. had 1A2 Key Equipments with 620A panels and 2564 Keysets.

Dimension Attendant Console was designed only for Dimension.  Dimension is a PBX, not a Key System.

In addition to  the D400 at Clayton State College, we also had a Dimension 400  (also with some 1A2 sets) at Metro State Prison. Two 756A crossbar PBX were removed before I started in 1988. We had a Nortel Meridian 1 PBX installed in 1986 with 1200 lines (stations) for State Patrol, Ga Emergency Managment, and Ga Dept of Defense. In 2003, GA State Patrol got an Option 11 Nortel Meridian PBX. We  also two or more "Focus" PBXs. We installed Tie HK Key Systems, later Starplus and Comdial Key Systems. Mitel got the contract for new PBXs and ACDs (Automatic Call Distributors).  But mostly we installed single line Panasonic sets behind Centrex, since the lines were so cheap (about $10 per month cost to us and resold for about $22 per month), compared to $100+ per month for a business line from BellSouth (now about $350 per month for one business line from AT&T!). Also, single lines were better than key systems for customers  who wanted Direct Inward Dialing (rather than calls transferred to them by a secretary) and those who needed voice mail, since the calls could be forwarded  (through the Centrex) to voice mail systems that we owned (using an SMDI link to identify which mailbox to transfer the caller to).


Horizon:

Horizon was tariffed as a hybrid key system, not a PBX, even though it was similar to a PBX: Dial 9 for an outside line from a single line set, for example. Horizon Console was just a regular MET set, with maybe 40 buttons, although it could also have a DSS adjunct to save steps in transferring calls and to know the status of the stations (buttons lit up for station in use).

MET sets could be used with Horizon without an additional cabinet; you just had to have the right circuit packs. Originally, single line sets had to be rewired with an added diode in the ringer circuit, which was on a separate pair. (Later, with an LC94 circuit pack, you could use standard 2500s without modification.) Rotary phones would not dial out unless you had the "Hospitality Package" (for hotel/motel).

At the State of GA, Atlanta area, we had Horizons at the Governor's Mansion, at Community Affairs, and at Georgia State University in the "office of the future" in the Urban Life Building.

Before we took over the Henry County Goverment's telephones, they were still leasing several Horizons. These were returned to AT&T along with the phones, since they were being leased. McDonough, the county seat of Henry County, had the first digital central office in GA (Nortel DMS-100). However, our "analysts" (who made double what we techs made) failed to take advantage of the fact that we could install "Meridian Centrex" sets, which were multi-line sets that worked on one pair from the central office. Instead, we  initially installed single line, 2-line, and 3-line Panasonic sets, along with separate line status monitors for those secretaries who answered calls from the public and transferred  the calls (through the central office Centrex). There was one judge that refused to give up his MET set unless he could keep his private intercom between him and his secretary. I think we installed Meridian Centrex Sets ("P Phones") for those two locations. It is easy to program a new intercom group (or add to an existing one) on "P phones."  Also, with Meridian Centrex sets, you can have several incoming lines using one central office port, as with MET sets having multiple pbx lines. Later, we installed many "P phones" at both Clayton State and for Henry County government, as well as state government offices downtown, so long as they were in a DMS-100 area. (Most likely, all of these have now been replaced by VOIP phones.)