Signature Princess (2703BMG)

[poplar1]

On a road trip yesterday, I got to talk to Bill again about the Signature Princess (2703BMG). He worked at the Western Electric Service Center in Atlanta during the time that they introduced this set. He said that this was the last type residential phone designed and assembled by WE in the U.S. He and his co-workers decided that the dial light should be LED, not incandescent, and that the receiver volume control should be on the front, below the dial. The parts were made in China, but the phones were assembled in the Atlanta WE shop. At first, the circuit boards would crack if the housing screws were too tight, so they modified the circuit board design. He had told me before that they had problems with the original ringers they were buying for this set.

They added two of the original Princess colors from 1959: Pink (code # -59) and aqua blue (code # -62). White (-58), Ivory (-50) and Peach carried over from the 2702 line. Next time, I will ask him how they decided to drop two of the "new" colors that were used on refurbished 2702s--cameo green and slate blue. I know that Bill doesn't like the cameo green color; I hope it was not a personal dislike that led to its "manufacture discontinued" status.

[poplar1]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/310684052150

[poplar1]

Bill said also that since the Signature Princess phones were introduced so late, not many were produced.

I would add because these phones were only leased---never sold---there are not many available.

[rdelius]

We sold them at Chicago Old telephone co. Most were ATT refurbs turned in or new. I think Paul Vaverchak scrapped lots of these because of no market for them

[poplar1]

Robbie, you are correct that these did turn up in the aftermarket. I should have stated that AT&T never sold them to *the public.* I agree that they are junk. However, I do wish that I had gotten a lot of the NOS pink handsets from ACI. The transmitters won't work with older phones but you can take parts from a regular G15 handset and put back in these. Paul V. probably got his from ACI. He and Bruce F. were frequent customers there.

[LM Ericsson]

I have an advertisement poster of this phone!

[HarrySmith]

Read this thread this morning and look what I found:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/330941746404
A beautiful Signature Princess in the "Original Rose Pink"