Protel 7000 phone disables dialpad during call?

[Famicoman]

Hello all!

I recently got an old payphone of mine with a Protel 7000 partially working after consulting many threads from this forum! It had been sitting for at least 10 years, which is when I got it, and after replacing the onboard batteries and re-initializing, I now get a dial tone.

Now, I haven't done any programming further than the initialization but want to eventually make it so all calls are free. As a simple test, I dialed 1-800-444-4444 and the call connected as expected, but if I try to press any button on the keypad during the call to answer a menu option I get no audible tone and my key-press doesn't seem to be registering at all. To be clear, I can dial the number just fine but as soon as the other end picks up the keypad seems to be disabled.

I consulted the manual for the Protel 7000 and haven't come across anything that would indicate there is an option to disable the keypad, but it's possible it could be labeled as a feature with a not-so-obvious name and I overlooked it.

Has anyone come across anything like this?

[Famicoman]

Just to follow up, I found out a while ago that keeping the dialpad active is part of the programming that can be done for different call types. I was able to set the dialpad as unrestricted for 1-800 calls and have not had an issue since!

[MaximRecoil]

Just to follow up, I found out a while ago that keeping the dialpad active is part of the programming that can be done for different call types. I was able to set the dialpad as unrestricted for 1-800 calls and have not had an issue since!

How did you do that?

Edit: Nevermind, I found it. In ExpressNet it's in the cost bands section. Change the default number for the relevant cost band (which is usually a 2, but it's a 3 for the default 1-800 cost band, AKA: cost band #104) to an 8.

I also added a cost band for 1-888 through 1-833 numbers - https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/what_is_a_toll_free_number_and_how_does_it_work.pdf - which are a group of toll-free number area codes that presumably didn't exist when ExpressNet was created. Those numbers are restricted by default unless you assign your own cost band (I made them toll-free same as the default 1-800 cost band).