Prison Phone? Payphone? Brown Metal Wall Phone Works!

[John S]

Hello,

I picked up a metal phone made by Western Electric/Bell System.  I never seen anything like it.  The handset is brown also.  Its a very cool phone.  I did open it up and test the phone.  It works great! No coins needed.  The bell inside is nice and loud.  My question is-where was this type of phone used at? prison? did you pay with credit card?  Its nice and heavy.  Has a nice slick look to it. 

John S.

[poplar1]

These were often installed in locations that also had coin telephones. And yes, it was for credit card and collect calls only.

[John S]

Very cool!

Thanks for the info......

John

[Greg G.]

I tried googling "prison phone", but didn't really come up with anything.  There's lots about the prison phone system though, particularly the shady practices of Securus Technologies.  Modern prison phones are very plain-jane looking.

http://atavist.ibtimes.com/fcc-prison-telecom-industry

http://landginternational.net/Telecom-Systems.htm

[Weco355aman]

This is a model 10A Charge a call. They mostly came in blue. The brown was after the breakup.

[dsk]

Looks like a kind of payphone, and in nice shape. :-)
Does this have functions you dont have on a regular WE 2500, except for the mechanical strength?

dsk

[John S]

Here is the picture of the inside.  It was very simple to hook up.  There is a regular modular plug inside the phone.  Again very cool phone. 


John S.

[19and41]

I built handsets for the authority I work for for about 3 years.  The way the handset is set up is referred to as prison strength by the company selling the components.  The ones I made up had a 15 ft. extended coil cord for rail operators.

[Payphone installer]

The phone is a 10A charge-a-call used for credit card and collect calling. It was also used in jails for a collect call telephone. Yours is called a 10B as it is marked probably because of the custom paint. They also had a later one called the 11A which AT&T deployed. There was a early version that I do not remember the number of that took a 29A lock. They are very rare. The 10A had the same cradle and switch hook and dial as a standard 1C payphone which included a A,B,or C dial. The weak point of the phone was the switch hook and the handset knob which always came loose. Even as a jail phone it was substandard because you could kick it from the bottom and knock it off the wall.

[Jim Stettler]

I have a blue card phone in a panel enclosure. I have never seen another "panel" card phone. WE also made a panel enclosure for their last single slot pa phone style. the 3A payphone.
Jim S.

[Payphone installer]

The panel phone version was called the 20A,they are very rare often found in airports. They were expensive like all panel phones. That is why there are not that many.