Differences among manufacturers of 500/2500 sets

[Argyris]

Is there any real difference in quality between Western Electric, ITT, and Stromberg-Carlson desk phones?

By "quality" I mean durability and voice clarity. In my experience they're about the same, but my experience is not all that wide.

[MMikeJBenN27]

About the ones made before the 90s, they are all the same.  For the later ones, probably not, as ITT became Cortelco and tried having them made in a foreign country.  The miniature ringer didn't hold up well, and Stromberg-Carlson came up with a combination Touch-Tone keypad/network.  Not sure how well that worked.

Mike

[RotoTech99]

I think the earlier SC, ITT, & NE sets plastics were all more durable than the present ones.

The networks were better, also.

I've noticed Cortelco's new handset is a 5 pc. design; two handle halves, two caps, and the bezel around the handset vol. wheel.

You can put older components in it,  but if you want it together better add epoxy resin before putting the halves back together.

I'm OK with their ball bearing ringers, but they should've used a more durable plastic for the frames of tbem.

RotoTech99

[Jim Stettler]

Long ago  the quality went:
Western Electric
Kellogg/ITT
Stromberg Carlson
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Prior to break-up the WE sets were built to last because they were Bell System property.

For independent telephone companies the WE 591 complete sets were the most expensive.
You could get them w/o ringers or dials if you wanted.

The Kellogg/ ITT sets were the next quality
The SC sets were a good set but was cheaper than WE or Kellogg/ITT

After the Bell System break-up January 1, 1984 , the quality of all telephones went down.
Jim

[HowardPgh]

I noticed that the Stromberg Carlson 500s have a hole in the base under the ringer. I think SC stamped the frequency of the ringer on the frame and you can see this stamp through the hole. The WEs and ITTs don't have the hole.