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Panasonic 308 - second thoughts

Started by cnowalk, February 06, 2022, 05:36:02 PM

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cnowalk

Last November, I excitedly bought a Panasonic 308 in order to eliminate a Dialgizmo and make the wiring look at bit better.  With the Dialgizmo, I did not like the audible tones when dialing, plus people on the other end would complain about low volume.  Additionally, there was a slight hum on the line.  Switching to the 308 eliminated these issues, lines are quiet and people I talk to say I sound great.

It was pretty cool at first, and got a kick of out hearing all of my phones ring with incoming calls.  That was short-lived of course, it did not take me long to get tired of all the noise.  I disconnected ringers in all but 3 phones: one at each end of the house, and one in the garage.  Much more tolerable.

Now, I'm over the proprietary dial tone and having to dial 9 to get an outside line.  I read through the manuals and saw that you could program it for off-hook autodial, however the instructions seemed to indicate that the feature was not available for standard telephones.  I do not have a proprietary telephone to test the programing with, so I'm not sure if it would work.  Has anyone tried this?

Perhaps the Panasonic 308 is not the device for me.  I like the ability to connect a bunch of phones, and that the pulse-to-tone conversion is done with much quieter tones than the Dialgizmo.  Is it possible to program it to be how I'd like it, or am I better off with something else?

My home phone service is cable VOIP and the modem (customer-owned Arris T25) does not appear to support pulse dialing, so if I remove the 308 I'll need something to convert pulse to tone.

TelePlay

#1
The programming phone has a 4 conductor line cord and a digital display. A switch on the back of the phone toggles it between programming mode and normal telephone mode. The programming phone plugs into the first port of the 308.

The programming phone model numbers are in the Panasonic board.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=16290.0

along with programming manuals, if you need one.

The programming phones can be found on eBay for $40 to $90, or so, with the prices being untested to factory standards refurbished. That's the pricing from 3 or 4 years ago. Don't know what they are today.

Jack Aman

You might just put an XLink unit between your house wiring and your modem.  It takes care of pulse dialing seamlessly and even has adjustments in the firmware for slow or sticky dials, foreign dials, etc.  Being able to port your cellphone out to your house phones is a bonus.

Jim Stettler

Quote from: Jack Aman on February 07, 2022, 09:27:34 PM
You might just put an XLink unit between your house wiring and your modem.  It takes care of pulse dialing seamlessly and even has adjustments in the firmware for slow or sticky dials, foreign dials, etc.  Being able to port your cellphone out to your house phones is a bonus.



These are nice and work well about $50-$100 on eba for a basic model.
I think you can getn them to support 3 smartphones now.


It uses a mod connection for the  phone and  Bluetooth for your smart phone connection.


It is a nice solution for many collectors. and folks with 1 old phone they want to use.
JMO,
Jim

You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

cnowalk

Quote from: Jack Aman on February 07, 2022, 09:27:34 PM
You might just put an XLink unit between your house wiring and your modem.  It takes care of pulse dialing seamlessly and even has adjustments in the firmware for slow or sticky dials, foreign dials, etc.  Being able to port your cellphone out to your house phones is a bonus.

Thanks for the suggestion, I may just give that a try!