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Another PBX question (or using my 500 at work)

Started by Tribune, August 31, 2010, 10:17:04 PM

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Tribune

Ok, so, I'm still asking loads of newbie-type questions . . .  ::)

Anyway, tried to connect at Rotatone-fitted NE 500 in my office at work today - no joy. Just an ear-full of static when lifting the handset. Normally in my office I have a rather old looking Nortel Meridian set, connected to (I guess) a Nortel Meridian fully-digital PBX. Line-cord to the phone in my office is a six conductor one



So, how can I get my 500, or any vintage phone, to work in my office rather than the functional, but grossly ugly, Meridian set? Should the Rotatone work, or do I need another kind of adaptor unit?

Hope there's something out there as I'd really like to have a 'nice' phone in my office.
Mark Furze - TCI, ATCA

To miss-quote "Bones" McCoy . . .
                     "darn it Jim - I'm a doctor, not a telephone engineer!"

bingster

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if a Nortel setup accepted pulses from rotary phones.  The AT&T phone systems at places where I've worked did.  And since Nortel (which was Northern Electric) is also an old Bell System company, you just might find that you don't need a rotatone (unless you need it's # and * capabilities).  It certainly wouldn't hurt to try.
= DARRIN =



bellsystemproperty

Unfortunately I don't think you can connect it because the Meridian pbx is digital and all of our old phones are analog. Maybe there is some kind of digital to analog converter you can get though.

The other problem is that some pbxs that are analog do not support pulse dialing, the method rotary phones use to dial out on. This means you'd still be able to use the phone, but you would just have to dial on another phone and then pick up the 500. In this case it is irrelevant since the Meridian is digital anyways.

The rotatone would not work because it is designed to convert pulse dialing to touch-tone so you could use your phone on an analog line that does not support pulse dialing, but it cannot convert an analog to a digital phone which is what you need here.

What you can do is get an XLink and connect your 500 to it. The XLink connects to your cell phone via Bluetooth and the 500 would call out via the cell phone connection. This method  would totally bypass the Meridian pbx and let you use your 500 anywhere you wanted. Brinybay here has one and he likes it very much. I have one too and it works well. If you wanted you could even put batteries to connect to the XLink and then you would be able to have a rotary cell phone that you can carry anywhere with you and get all kinds of strange looks.  ;D
http://tinyurl.com/29vuzxs
C*NET # 794-5953 (KYLE)

AE_Collector

You just need a Nortel ATA to make your rotary 500 work on the Norstar system. I am not certain if the ATA will accept dial pulses but if you have the rotatone in it that will convert to tones if the ATA doesn't accept pulses.

The Nortel ATA or ATA2 has an in and an out jack so it can plug into the wall jack in your office and then you can plug your 500 into the ATA.

Terry

Tribune

Thanks Terry
I thought that there should be some kind of interface unit out there. Going to go hunting on eBay now  ;)
Mark Furze - TCI, ATCA

To miss-quote "Bones" McCoy . . .
                     "darn it Jim - I'm a doctor, not a telephone engineer!"

Tribune

Thanks Terry for the PMs sent and all the info.

Some research on ye olde Interweb suggests that to use a POTS phone on the Nortel Meridian M1 PABX system, I would need a Nortel NT2K68AA Analogue Terminal Adaptor (M2000 series). This also requires the Nortel plug-in transformer unit A0688664.

The unit would plug in the base of the NT Meridian M2006 phone and permit connection of dial-tone equipment in addition to the current M2006 which would preserve features such as voice-mail etc.

Anyone out there got these items that they'd be looking to sell?  ;)

Cheers
Mark
Mark Furze - TCI, ATCA

To miss-quote "Bones" McCoy . . .
                     "darn it Jim - I'm a doctor, not a telephone engineer!"

Doug Rose

Quote from: Tribune on September 02, 2010, 07:53:44 PM
Thanks Terry for the PMs sent and all the info.

Some research on ye olde Interweb suggests that to use a POTS phone on the Nortel Meridian M1 PABX system, I would need a Nortel NT2K68AA Analogue Terminal Adaptor (M2000 series). This also requires the Nortel plug-in transformer unit A0688664.

The unit would plug in the base of the NT Meridian M2006 phone and permit connection of dial-tone equipment in addition to the current M2006 which would preserve features such as voice-mail etc.

Anyone out there got these items that they'd be looking to sell?  ;)

Cheers
Mark
Mark...that is for accepting POTS lines. Most PBXs now have no need for copper trunking. Your system must have fax lines, courtesy phones or modems so there would be analog cards. Have a systems guy wire out an analog port to your location. Might cost you a lunch. Most of the older PBXs still had rotary capabilities into the early 90s. Up until 5 years ago when we got a new Avaya, our Alcatel let me use my rotary phones on it. Our NEC before that also let pulse dialing with no programing to the analog lines. Always amazes co workers when your 302 rings loud and proud ....Doug
Kidphone

Tribune

This issue is turning out to be a whole can of worms. Getting my head round it is starting to make overhauling a rotary dial look easy. OK, I know for some of you its, lol. :P
Will hopefully get a chance to pick the brains of the guys at network services at work and see what they suggest.
Mark Furze - TCI, ATCA

To miss-quote "Bones" McCoy . . .
                     "darn it Jim - I'm a doctor, not a telephone engineer!"

AE_Collector

They will know what can be done because they probably still had some "odd balls" using dial up on their laptops until fairly recently.

Terry

Doug Rose

Quote from: ae_collector on September 02, 2010, 11:21:18 PM
They will know what can be done because they probably still had some "odd balls" using dial up on their laptops until fairly recently.

Terry
Terry....we still have people at work who will not surrender their modems. Since we cannot get personal email at work and other forbidden internet sites, they cling too their modems....Doug
Kidphone

Tribune

#10
Well, after a little more research, it seems that the Nortel NT2K68AA Analogue Terminal Adaptor (M2000 series) will actually work and is the kit that I need. Old rotary phone into ATA, ATA plugs into base of M2008 office phone, office phone connected to Nortel Meridian PBX at work.

But, the network manager at my work says that they haven't had any analogue equipment on the PBX for a decade and that under no uncertain terms should I connect any "unauthorized" devices. So basically, they said no, because they couldn't monitor anything analogue. Really shows that Big Brother is watching you.

Anyway, was just wondering now if the Nortel Meridian ATA that I'm interested in would show up on the PBX network when it was installed? I.e would the network manager be able to see that I had connected it "illegally" to my Nortel 2008 office phone?

If they can't see it on the system, then what they don't know wouldn't hurt them!  Would this show up on the network as having been added or "modified", or would it just appear as my normal desk phone being connected and used?

If I can stealthily use my 500, a nice 302 or a GPO 746, that would be brilliant.

Mark Furze - TCI, ATCA

To miss-quote "Bones" McCoy . . .
                     "darn it Jim - I'm a doctor, not a telephone engineer!"