Import 2500 Set is Actually Pretty Nifty

[Dave F]

In the 1980s, following the breakup of the Bell System and the demise of Western Electric, AT&T began importing phones from Asia and selling them in their U.S. retail stores.  While these inexpensive imports are obviously not even in the same league as the quality phones usually associated with collectors, they are nonetheless interesting in their own unique way.  I recently ran across this specimen, which is of a model I had not seen before:

This is a 2500DMGJ (1987), "Custom made in China for AT&T", as is molded into the plastic bottom.  This set is one of a few similar models with an illuminated dial.  Unfortunately, my camera does not properly capture the pale green LED glow of the dial so I can't show it to you.  Other features include Tone/Pulse selection (on the bottom), Flash, Redial, and Mute.  Most interesting however, this phone includes a self-contained phone-line-powered speakerphone which (quite surprisingly) works remarkably well.  Pushing the Spkr button (top right on the dial) turns on the speakerphone, lights the red LED to the right of that button, and permits on-hook dialing.  Due to the assumed fragility of this phone, I have not taken it apart to look inside, but I assume that the two small slots at the lower right of the faceplate are for the microphone.  The speaker output is on the bottom, and there are additional grille slots along the sides of the base to allow the sound to escape.  Even as a hardcore Western Electric collector, I must admit that this phone is pretty cool.  One can only wonder how nifty it would have been if WE had produced such a set.

[Phonesrfun]

That's a nice phone you have there.  I think we have really gotten used to speakerphones.  My phone at work is a digital phone, but has a speaker, and I use that feature all the time.  I have a WE 4A speakerphone at home that I use while talking to people while I am either working on other phones or surfing the web and need my hands to be free from holding the handset.