Grudge Match: 2002 Cortelco vs. 1954 W.E.

[McHeath]

Here for your edification are some photos to compare a 2002 Cortelco 2500 and a 1954 Western Electric 500.  I don't have a late production Cortelco 500 to compare, which were made until Jan 1, 2007, so the 2500 will have to do.

A short history of Cortelco.  Used to be Kellogg Switchboard and Supply, one of the big phone makers in the old days, bought by ITT, sold, sold again, now calls itself Cortelco and is based in Cornith Miss, where they still build most of their phones.  Built a clone of the W.E. 500 starting in the late 50's, and continued until the end of 2006.  Still builds clones of the 2500 and 2554 and even the 3554. 

This particular Cortelco phone was made in Feb of 2002 in Cornith Miss.  The Western Electric 500 was made in 9/1954, while the G1 handset and cord are from 1960.

[McHeath]

Some handset details.  Note the Cortelco microphone, with the transparent blue moisture barrier, still says "ITT" but it's mostly blocked out.

[McHeath]

The handset has a volume control wheel and a circuit board for control.  Also note the back of the microphones, there are no dates on any of the Cortelco parts.

[McHeath]

Pretty good shot of the bottoms, notice how the bottom of the Cortelco has almost the same indentations.

Also a shot of the label on the Cortelco.  This is the only date code on the entire phone.

[McHeath]

Okay we pop the tops and go inside.

A shot of the hookswitches and ringers on both.

[McHeath]

Dials pulled off.  An awful lot of similarities in the chassis.

Then a shot of the networks on both.  The Cortelco is a pretty simple board with push on connectors.  It still has familiar labels like "RR" and "L1".  The W.E. has a 425B.

[McHeath]

Now the ringers.  Cortelco came up with a new design in 1990, it's a lot cheaper cost job, uses a little steel ball that is magnetically moved.  Rumor has it they break often.

Also a picture of the ringer out of the 500.

[McHeath]

Final few shots.  Inside cases, pretty similar as well.  The screws on the Cortelco are self-tapping right into the plastic.  The switch buttons on the Cortelco are taller and slimmer and molded in white, kinda odd looking really.

[McHeath]

Last pic, really.  A side view of the handsets. The G15 on the Cortelco has sharper defined edges than the old G1.

Overall the Cortelco follows the pattern laid down by the 500 in 1949 pretty faithfully.  Cheaper build quality is notable when you pick them up, my scale says the 500 weighs 5 pounds, the 2500 weighs exactly half that, 2.5 pounds.  Everything on the 2500 is thinner, lighter, and there is a lot of plastic used.  You can pick up a new made Cortelco for around $50, one of the more expensive of current day phones for the feature set you get, geesh you can get a ultra cheapo China made Trimlineish phone at Wal-Mart for 5 or 6 bucks. 

[Mark Stevens]

I'm speechless. That's great work McHeath, thank you for sharing the photos and info with us! It's easy to see the logic behind their differences, given the move from company-owned to consumer-owned telephones... it no longer makes sense to make them too durable! Classic corner cutting.  I'm particularly intrigued by that ringer!

[rp2813]

I just opened up a couple of 2500's I have lying around and found one to be made in Korea and the other Taiwan.  The Taiwan one has a white WE case and "not for sale" handset.  Korean is beige and has similar handset elements to the Cortelco but they both, like the Cortelco, are very faithful to the 1949 chassis.

And hey--that nice clean 9/54 is my birthday phone! 

[mienaichizu]

one of my 2500, my latest purchase were also made by ITT, the other by Stromberg Carlson with an early touch tone dial

[Steve]

Thanks for the very thorough comparison McHeath. I see a lot of similarity's, but the transistors, receiver,bell assy., would keep me from buying one of those. now I know I'm on the right track in my pursuit of the good old ones.

[Konrad]

No doubt WECo is the better phone.  Although a side by side of a WECo and an ITT of the same vintage would be interesting. I thinking when my small business needs phones I'm going to buy American and give the workers at the Corinth Telecommunications Corporation some business.  One question seems like you could drop a rotary dial in the 3554 

I was surprised that Graybar is still in business without a name change.  But I'm easy to amaze, who would have thought the WECo leasing business was still in business (as QTL) leasing the model 500.

[McHeath]

Even more amazing is that Western Electric is still in business:

http://www.westernelectric.com/

Or at least one part of WE is still out there, but they seem to have ownership of the name, the symbols, the font, and some of the goods. 

Certainly the modern Cortelco phones are nowhere near the quality of the old timers.  Yet it amazes me that a 1940's era phone, with early 60's upgrades to touch tone, is still being made in America by one of the old phone makers.