Introduction and Question

[caltx01]

Hello to forum members.  My name is Cal Barton and I livein Tyler, Texas.  I have been big fan of old telephones (20's through 50's) for several years and have restored and rewired several sets for myself and friends.

About 10 years ago I obtained a WE 202-D1 with E-1 handset, and a WE 302.  I installed mini-networks in both of them and put a small in-line ringer on the 202.  Both of these telephones have been working fine with my telephone service ever since.

Just recently I noticed that both of the phones stopped ringing when a call was received.  Upon investigation I noticed that now when I pick up the handset on both phones and turn the dial, the dial tone returns after the dial stops.  If I depress the switch hook the dial tone stops as it should, but it seems the dial pulses are no longer being recognized.

Since this happened with both telephones I am pretty sure it must be associated with some change made by my service provider - Suddenlink.  However, I called their technical service line and they assure me that there is nothing that they are doing that should be causing this problem.

So, I am looking for advice from the forum as to how to tackle this problem and what to investigate.

In addition I am looking forward to continuing to learn as much as I can about these wonderful old telephones and I look forward to gathering a lot of very useful knowledge and information from this forum.

Best Regards,
Cal Barton
Tyler, Texas

[zaphod01]

Welcome to the forum!

I've never heard of the failure to ring symptom on a rotary/pulse issue. However, I have to cross green to yellow of the wall side to get anything to ring on my Verizon system.

There's plenty of experience on this forum. Someone should have an answer.

Robert
Garland, TX

[Dan/Panther]

Cal;
Welcome to the forum.
There are many other better qualified to answer your question then I am, but at least if I answer wrong, someone will correct me. Poor logic I know. 2 things, are you on a POTS service, Plain Old Telephone Service. Have they recently updated to a new system, as you know, it takes 48 volts line to operate the ringer, if your company has stopped that option, the ringers will not operate. I don't even know if they have the ability to do that, but I can't think of anything else.
D/P

[HarrySmith]

I would have to agree, the likelyhood of both phones failing is pretty slim. Do you have a multimeter? I would start by checking the voltage coming in.

[Weco355aman]

Hi
If you changed service providers and now using some type of VOIP service
then your service is being supplied to you by a device called a (ATA)
Analog telephone adapter. This is the unit that supplies the dialtone,ringing
and power to your phone. This unit will supply a lower d.c. voltage to your phone for talking, and it supplies at best maybe 45 v ac (ringing current).
The REAL telco supplies from -45 to-52 vdc  when the phone is on hook. (hung up) The phone company supplies any where from 82 to 105 v ac for ringing.  The line  voltage D.C. does not matter if it is 24 or 48 or even 72 volts
d.c.  Old type phones 302 or 500 type needs the bias spring set to the most sensitivity that you can get. Also you may only be able to ring 1 phone. 
The ATA was not intended to have any thing more than new phones connected
to them.  As a service provider would say is buy a cordless phone and be happy.