New to the forum. Looking for converter advice.

[Mark S]

I currently have a Western Electric 233G payphone, a 302, and a candlestick.  Unfortunately my carrier is Comcast and I am unable to make any rotary calls.  Can anyone recommend an affordable yet reliable pulse to tone converter.  Plug to plug installation is not a problem and I wouldn't care if I was unable to use the # and * tones, I would just like to be able to dial out.  I'm sure many of you are in a similar situation and are pleased with your solution.
Thanks for your advice!

[dsk]

Welcome to the forum!
I have tested some, and the safest is the Panasonic kxt 308 or 616 PABX.  Everything works, and you get your own exchange.
Smaller and usually OK is the DIALGIZMO.  Works for 1-0 for all my rotaries, but not for an old Ericsson PABX.
The last one is the Mitel Smart-1 with 4 lines. Pretty tricky programming, done from a DTMF telephone, but when it is up and running it cause no trouble at all. 

The very easiest and most compact is the Dialgizmo, just plug it in your ATA, or first telephone jack and it works. If you have polarity reversal on answer it will send a 1 digit before the other party has had time to move the handset to his ear. (so it is no problem)

dsk

[andy1702]

I'll second the recommendation for the Panassonic PBX. By far the best way to go in my opinion.

[Fabius]

I have two Panasonic 616 working in two locations and can recommend the 616.

[Sargeguy]

I have a 308 for sale in the Classifieds.

[TelePlay]

Lot of information about the Panasonic 308 and 616 in this forum board.

     http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?board=62.0

There are many topics about these units but I always liked this one for having something about everything.

     http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=7160.0

[Jim Stettler]

I recommend a 616.

However,  I was at a Phone show a couple of weeks ago and a collector had an xlink (around $100.00 new). The x link connects to your smartphone via bluetooth.  It allows you to make and receive calls (thru your smart phone)  on any telephone connected to the x-link . It does support rotary dialing. This device can be used in conjunction with a 616.
JMO,
Jim S.
There is also cellular device that allows you to plug a phone into it. These don't support rotary. These devices can also be connected to a 616.

[Mark S]

Thanks for the quick and informative responses.  While I have much research to do based on your recommendations, it seems like most agree of a central system, which I was unaware existed.  I was thinking the only option was a modular dongle which attached to each rotary and plugged into a modular jack ( like the Gizmo).   My Comcast set up has the triple play with TV, phone and Internet.  I have an office fax and several hard wired phone jacks, plus a few AT&T wireless satellite phones without a telephone line (except for my master phone).  If that changes anything regarding recommendations please let me know.
Happy to be a member with such helpful folks!

[poplar1]

I was thinking the only option was a modular dongle which attached to each rotary and plugged into a modular jack ( like the Gizmo).   My Comcast set up has the triple play with TV, phone and Internet. 

If you choose the Dialgizmo, you probably need only one, which would plug into your Comcast voice jack. Then, the house wiring would plug into the Dialgizmo jack. You would not need a Dialgizmo for each phone. However, there may be a limit on the number of ringers that can be connected to one Dialgizmo.

The Panasonic KXT-61610 (and KXT-30810) Key Systems mentioned allow multiple phones to be connected. Ideally, each room would have its own extension number, but this would require "home runs" for the wiring, rather than all the phones connected in parallel. That way, you can call from one extension to another by dialing a 2-digit number, make an outside call by dialing 9, answer an outside call from any extension then transfer it.

[Alex G. Bell]

Another possible reason for using a KX-T unit is the possibility of getting into complex programming.  For example if you live in an area where there has been an area code overlay introduced and you are forced now to dial 10 or 11 digits even for numbers in your home area code which were 7 digits before the overlay, I believe you can probably circumvent this by fancy programming in a KX-T unit. 

You can definitely do it with a Mitel Smart-1 dialer, which is another alternative for pulse/tone conversion which has not been mentioned in this thread.  A Smart-1 will not allow you to do room-room dialing within your house though so a KX-T would be generally more fun in that respect.

Maybe someone knows more about complex dial translation options in a KX-T: whether it could be used as I described above.  But I think so.

[dsk]

My Panasonic has pretty limited programming but it is the first version.
I do not use the Panasonic at this moment.
I use dialgizmo on my sipura PAP2T, and the Mitel Smart-1 and some homemade equipment to connect my mechanical switch to another ATA.
My x-link supports rotary, but I do not like it so that one should I have traded with something else, I have just not did that yet.

dsk

[Mark S]

Poplar1,
Curious about that install.  My Comcast xfinity modem/router  hooks to my office modular plug.  I'm fairly sure the three other modular phone extensions in my house are home runs from my demark.  Is your scenario for a daisy chain install?
Thanks!
Mark

[poplar1]

By "home run" I was thinking of a dedicated wire from each room to the Panasonic system. Except where 2 or more phones share the same extension number, each will need to be connected to a unique extension jack, which requires an individual pair of wires for each extension number.

Each wire already going to each room probably already has more than one pair. So you could use these spare pairs without having to install new wires  to each room. You would just need to rearrange the wires at the demark (assuming it is outside or in the garage?) so that the wire from the room with the Panasonic would connect to the individual pairs of the other two wires, rather than all 3 wires being connected in parallel to the first pair as they are now (usually blue-white/white-blue or red/green).

If you have room to put the Panasonic in the same place as your voice modem,  you could connect the fax, cordless phones, etc., directly to any of the 16 (or eight) Panasonic extension jacks (outputs). The voice jack on the Comcast modem would connect to the 1st of the 6 (or 3) "line" jacks (input).

Of course, there is more than one way to do this. Some people just have long cords with modular plugs on at least one end (the end that connects to the Panasonic 616).

[Alex G. Bell]

Adding to what Poplar1 said: if the existing wire runs go back to the demarc and you don't want to put the Panasonic unit there you do not need to run new wires from each location to the location where you do want to put the Panasonic.

Instead you can run a single cable with a pair per extension + CO trunk jack or a few parallel 4-pair runs if that's what's on hand, from the demarc to the Panasonic location.  Often much less effort to do this than run all new lines to various locations. 

So to fully support a 616 you would need 16+6=22 pairs or (6) 4-pair runs from the demarc to the Panasonic.  A 25 pair cable would be much neater than (6) 4-pairs.