How offer did WE refurb there telephones ???

[Vern P]

Here is a 500 base that was made in 4-52, then spent a lot of time in the refurb shop staring in 2-62, then in 7-65, 8-65, 3-69, 10-71, 1-72, 7-72 and one more, can't read. Network replaced in 1-64, ringer replaced in 1-60.
Vern

[tubaman]

Interesting that it has multiple refurb marks.
The GPO in the UK would refurb phones many times too but you generally only have the label from the final refurb, the previous one being removed each time. Often, but not always, the original manufacturing mark would be covered over or removed during refurb too.

I think it's such a shame that we have gone away from repairing and refurbishing equipment to just throwing it away when it breaks. Some call it 'progress', but I do not.

[TelePlay]

I think it's such a shame that we have gone away from repairing and refurbishing equipment to just throwing it away when it breaks. Some call it 'progress', but I do not.

Not progress, corporate economics driven by the need for a competitive selling price and the item's production cost, the bottom line.

Here are two bases I found easily in my files. We all have these. They are not uncommon.

[Jim Stettler]

I was told  they went to the refurb shop for testing/upgrading, every time they were removed from service. They would cycle the multi-refurb sets thru the apartments in poor neighborhoods.
If a subscriber lived in a house in a nice area, they would likely get a new phone.
Jim

[Key2871]

So if it got damaged or stolen, no big loss I presume.

[poplar1]

According to someone who worked at the WE Service Center in Atlanta, it also depended on how much money was left in the new vs. remanufactured accounts at the Bell operating company. They once converted round button Trimlines to LED square buttons once Mr. Williams @ Southern Bell decided no more round buttons. The bill was about $74 per phone, which reflected a $1.00 credit for the only part they reused -- the T-1 transmitter.

Earlier (about 1974), the installer-repairmen in NE Atlanta carried round button ones on their trucks, which at the time required 2 side-by-side 625A blocks. The square button ones went to the Phone Center Store at Northeast Plaza for customer self-installs.

[guitar1580]

To me, that makes it an interesting phone just because of all of the action it has seen.  I like seeing the multiple dates, rather than having them painted over or covered with the new sticker.  I'd rather see its documented history than not.

Josh