2500 DM does not dial

[Janeiac]

I don't remember if it worked before (got it relatively recently on Ebay). I removed the case, cleaned it lightly with a paintbrush and put in my phone number. It rings ok, and I have a dial tone, but when I dial there are no tones. The dial tone does go quiet. Did I jostle something easily put right, or is this more serious? Polarity? I thought, with a polarity issue, you hear the touch tones but but dial tone does not break?

[Phonesrfun]

Reverse the polarity by reversing the incoming wires connected to L1 and L2 on the network and you should be good to go.  At least for the jack your phone is plugged into.  Hopefully all the jacks in your house or apartment are all wired the same or you may have to reverse the wires each time you change to a different jack.  And with your last comment about hearing the tones, that is not correct.  When it is a polarity issue you might hear a faint tone trying to get started for a split second, but there is no tone at all when the polarity is reversed.

[Janeiac]

Hmmm...another WE phone I had made touch tones but did not break dial tone. I sent it to the wonderful Steve Hilsz, and he told me all it needed was a polarity guard, which he installed for a paltry sum. That phone, a Sculptura, works great now and I have it installed in my sewing room alongside various antique sewing machines. Is there something different about the 2500 that explains the different behavior? I really don't understand much about phones. I'm going to test different jacks, and try your suggestion. I'll report back, thanks .

[Janeiac]

Swapping the wires did the trick, thanks very much . Out of curiosity I checked another jack, it's the same.

Incoming call on my cell phone is pictured.

[HarrySmith]

Only the early touch tone phones were polarity sensitive. After so many years installers stopped caring so any jack in any location can be wired either way. It does not matter on all newer phones. The polarity guard Steve installed on your other phone makes it so it doesn't matter which way the line is wired.

[Janeiac]

I don't understand, really. Neither phone in question is early-- the 2500 is from 1976 and the Sculptura is from 1981 or so-- but they both seemed to have polarity problems that manifested differently. My home was built mid-1960's and is hardwired with phone company modular jacks through the walls (not screwed atop baseboards).   Maybe I'm missing something about what all this means, but it's all fixed now.

[andre_janew]

I've come across a couple of 2500 phones from the late 1970s that don't have a polarity guard or at least behaved like they didn't have it.  It may be possible for a polarity guard to fail.

[unbeldi]

A telephone set with the polarity guard installed was marked with the letter G in the type stamp, for example, 2500DMG.