Using multiple old phones as an intercom system

[kirkblackberry]

Oh and I did take your advice and start to post pictures of the phones in my collection

[kirkblackberry]

Okay, I have a handset and a PBX on the way from eBay I will keep you posted on what my results are, once I get them I'll be sure to hook them up to a few phones to see what I can get working in the meantime I've downloaded the manuals so I can be familiar with a little bit of the programming. Thank you everybody for going above and beyond to help me out

[MMikeJBenN27]

When we bought our houses in 2009 and 2013, all the phone wiring had been removed, so, of course, I put it back in, and had regular telephone service with the regular telephone company.

Mike

[SUnset2]

Same for me, when we had our walls open about 10 years ago, I ran a cat 5 for telephone and a cat 6 for data to each spot that I thought I might want a phone or a computer.  In hindsight, I should have run to more places.

[kirkblackberry]

I will have to see if i still have that gizmo for terminating phone lines

[dsk]

Congratulations! The idea of using cat wires are good. All cat 5 or higher has 8 strnds (4 pairs) only 2 pairs are needed for the data network, and then you have 2 pairs for phones if you should happend to have forgot to run both data and phone to plase you need both. Ofcours the best will be to always have enough to all places, but it is not easy to plan everything, and sometimes tha money counts too. 

[HarrySmith]

Nothing like jumping right in A PBX already, and plans for wiring the house to use old phones. I guess you have already contracted a bad case of Phoneitis. Sit back & enjoy the ride! As already suggested if at all possible plan on over wiring. Don't think about what you want to do today, think about the future possibilities. You never know what you will want or need in the future.

[5415551212]

Thank you for all the ideas, I am definitely soaking all this up like a sponge, a funny side note when I bought my house which was built in 1956 there were Rumors in the neighborhood that it had been used has the local betting establishment, when we did some renovations we found this old pbx.

That looks to be an early key system, possibly a 1A1, you should bring that with you.
The power supplies are super handy.

[kirkblackberry]

That looks to be an early key system, possibly a 1A1, you should bring that with you.
The power supplies are super handy.

I am definitely bringing that along with me!

[compubit]

I'm getting in late on this discussion, but put my 2¢ in for the Panasonic KX-TA624/824 line of devices. They work with both analog and digital and have up to 6 or 8 outside lines (just be careful that you get a 6x16 or 6/8x24 setup, so you don't have to add cards later - I have 2 of them I use for testing, and once I get my basement renovated, I plan to run cables throughout my townhouse, replacing the existing Cat 3 wiring...)

[kirkblackberry]

well I received the PBX and it works fine with no programming needed, although I did buy the phone needed to program it should I need to.
The only issue was that some of my phones would not ring, so I moved the ringer wire to a different terminal and that has worked for the 3 phones that I have been testing with. most of the phones in my collection have missing or damaged line cords, so I am ordering some of those to so more testing.

[FABphones]

well I received the PBX and it works fine...

Excellent news.

Now we need photos. We love photos!
 

[HarrySmith]

COOL! Agreed, we need pictures. Not just the PBX but phones too 

[kirkblackberry]

COOL! Agreed, we need pictures. Not just the PBX but phones too 

The phone pictures are in my other thread.

EDIT: Link to the phone images

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=27301.0

[markosjal]

I think you should re-evaluate the IP PBX option.

First 3CX is NOT the best solution. It is not open source and the publisher could kill the free versions at any time and they have done those kinds of things in the past when they acquired other projects.

The absolute cheapest (assuming you do not have an old computer around to use)

Used Chromebox CN 60 running Mr Chromebox (to make it act just like a PC), and FreePBX (To connect to VoIP)
I buy these often times at $30 on ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/325577624333

Grandstream HT 802 (supports 2 extensions) $32.99 or less than $17 per phone
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175612841510
these support high ring power and pulse dialing

I sometimes wonder how people come up with things like $100 per extension when it is way cheaper than that.

I would also opt for a more modern VoIP system over an analog system any day of the week