Phones to stay away from?

[Zombie Dave]

I'm in the USA and only at this collect rotary phones. I like them to be functional so my question is this.  Are there phones I should stay away from that won't work on our system? I hope this makes sense.

[Pourme]

I will let those more learned than me chime in but, as I understand it all rotary phones made in USA should still work here. Internet phone systems are subject to not allowing pulse dialing without certain adapters in place. There are threads that discuss this.
They should all work on land lines.

[Butch Harlow]

I have a few phones with harmonic ringers that only rang on their respective independent telco party line systems, but otherwise they work just fine. These are my wife's favorites. I still find them to be interesting and collectible. You can always swap out the ringers for straight line ringers, but I like to preserve the history so I generally don't. I collect mostly Western Electric phones, all of them do work still. Some of the AE, Kellogg, Stromberg, and ITT units were made pretty exclusively for independents so it's a 50/50 shot on the ringers, but the all work. As far as dialing I use either my Panasonic 616 or a pulse to tone converter on my VOIP line that doesn't accept pulse anymore. The only dial I have come across that flat out doesn't work is on my Kellogg Selectophone, the way it makes pulses is incompatible with any modern system because it was never intended to work on one.

[Zombie Dave]

Thank you for the replies. I'm still in that learning stage ( I'm sure I always will be though ) and was reading and came across a thread that mentioned something along a phone that wouldn't work and I wanted to read more into it. I couldn't find the post so thought I'd ask the question.

[FABphones]

For me, this is a hindsight 'phones to stay away from'...

...phones that need a part.

Because I buy the part, then find it needs another, usually small hidden part which I eventually find in a job lot, so then I have lots of parts I don't need (yet), and some I will never need.

And then I add up the total price and discover I could have waited and bought the same phone for a bit more money, that didn't need as much attention and that overall would have cost me less.

And my boxes of parts are still growing, they are like Tribbles.   

[Dan/Panther]

Fab;

That's what makes it all so much fun.

D/P

[RB]

Most of my collection is frankin phones.
Each one needed a little love...and a part or two.
Bummer? yes...show stopper? no
Opportunities to learn more 
But, for the most part, consistency helps bunches.
Too much mix-n-match, leaves too much room for impedance mismatches etc...
Which result in...can't hear the other phone...

[Zombie Dave]

For me, this is a hindsight 'phones to stay away from'...

...phones that need a part.

Because I buy the part, then find it needs another, usually small hidden part which I eventually find in a job lot, so then I have lots of parts I don't need (yet), and some I will never need.

And then I add up the total price and discover I could have waited and bought the same phone for a bit more money, that didn't need as much attention and that overall would have cost me less.

And my boxes of parts are still growing, they are like Tribbles.   

I can see where that's going to be my case as well. My biggest issue at this time is retention of the mind. I don't seem to be able to retain a lot of what I'm reading.... thus leading to a lot of note taking and a desire for easy access of said notes.

[Zombie Dave]

Fab;

That's what makes it all so much fun.

D/P

Totally agree! I don't mind a non working phone providing it's fixable or can be parted out. Seems like the thread I had read was referring to a phone that wouldn't work with the system and was just able to be looked at but couldn't be used.

[Zombie Dave]

Most of my collection is frankin phones.
Each one needed a little love...and a part or two.
Bummer? yes...show stopper? no
Opportunities to learn more 
But, for the most part, consistency helps bunches.
Too much mix-n-match, leaves too much room for impedance mismatches etc...
Which result in...can't hear the other phone...

I don't mind a Frankenphone. I just really enjoy using them. I get even more enjoyment at the difference in rings and dialing from makes and models. This is just really an enjoyable hobby/addiction. Hopefully I'll get lucky and find another today. I feel like I need to ground myself though and focus on getting what I have functional first. I just can't shake this feeling of missing out on whats available.

[LarryInMichigan]

The most obvious answer is the intercom phones, like the Kellogg Select-o-Phone, which were designed to work only on a specially designed intercom system.  They will not function on a standard telephone line line without major modifications.  Many European phones, especially, it seems, the eastern European phones, even though they will work on a standard North American telephone line, they will likely produce annoying crackling static because they were intended to work with a lower voltage.

Larry

[HarrySmith]

I just can't shake this feeling of missing out on whats available.

That seems to be a common problem for a lot of us!!

[Zombie Dave]

The most obvious answer is the intercom phones, like the Kellogg Select-o-Phone, which were designed to work only on a specially designed intercom system.  They will not function on a standard telephone line line without major modifications.  Many European phones, especially, it seems, the eastern European phones, even though they will work on a standard North American telephone line, they will likely produce annoying crackling static because they were intended to work with a lower voltage.

Larry

Ah! OK. Shouldn't be something I'll need to worry about then.

[andy1702]

Anyone in the US may find British phones are a bit tricky to get working so might want to stay away from them. The problem is the make/break ratio if the dials is slightly different and if using modern digital equipment like ATAs the difference could be more than the system can handle. I had this problem when using an American ATA with my UK phones. I had to adjust all the dial contacts very slightly. So unless you've got a lot of time to spare and want a fairly large amount of work, don't expect Uk thones to necessarily work on the US system.

[RB]

Thats good info Andy.
I have 3 uk phones, no dials to fuss with, but still need to connect to the rest of my collection.
almost all of my phones are complete, and work.
I enjoy hearing the different rings on each type too.