What PBX systems would work for me?

[Kmoody]

What is a good PBX to look for on ebay? I only have a few old phones that would be connected to it. I know to stay away from the IP ones. But there are so many different types.

[Doug Rose]

https://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3082.msg41297#msg41297

[TelePlay]

Not quite sure how an installation manual for a Panasonic 616 will help you decide which PBX will be best for you and even though I am familiar with and use a KX-T616, and have found it more than useful and dependable (identical but smaller unit is the KX-T308), I see there are only a handful currently available on eBay and they are listed in the $100 to $125 range including shipping.

I know there are other PBXs out there which other members are using and hopefully they will reply here with a helpful post for you.

[5415551212]

The Panasonic PBS's seem to be the top choice setup for a basic phone collection.
supports 16 extensions, 6 incoming lines. People on here have been using them for decades.
The cool thing about them is they just work in their default mode so you don't need a working Panasonic office phone to program them (though its recommend)
One thing you have to consider about the Panasonic system is it expects data on the 2nd pair, so if your not wiring an extension to an office phone make sure you use a 1-pair RJ11 cable when connecting to your old phones of your 66-punchdown or distribution block.
The 2nd pair on many old house jacks is often wired into a dial light transformer, and you would not want to accidentally feed 6VAC into the Panasonic data pair. Or yellow on the 2nd pair can be tired to ground etc. So you need to pay attention to your old POTS wiring when connecting one.

The achilles heel of mid - late 90's office/hotel phone switch / PBX's is the proprietary programing software and cables can be  unobtainable, so no matter what you buy look for how you program it.
 Make sure it will do what you want it to do.
 For the Panasonic I think you need at least one office phone to program. I have herd  possibly it can be done over a serial port with some old windows software.
 or not at all if it just does what you want after a factory reset.

Personally I have always wanted a PBX that took care of the entire analogue local loop and connected to a phone switch (Asterisk) over a T1.
My ideal setup is:
My Phone collection / Key 1A2  systems / Many Old phone extensions --->--->--->---> (Analog cards) PBX (T1 PRI card) ---> T1 <---> T1 card (Asterisk server) SIP <--> Ethernet cable <---> Router <--> Internet
Then I am not dealing with this and that manufacturers ATA's and their quirks (poor pulse recognition) and I can mix work and fun over the home PBX, route calls to the work office or get on the Collector net C*? or whatever it is if its still running.
happy hunting
let us know what you find.

[Kmoody]

Thank You

[Stormcrash]

Not quite sure how an installation manual for a Panasonic 616 will help you decide which PBX will be best for you and even though I am familiar with and use a KX-T616, and have found it more than useful and dependable (identical but smaller unit is the KX-T308), I see there are only a handful currently available on eBay and they are listed in the $100 to $125 range including shipping.

I know there are other PBXs out there which other members are using and hopefully they will reply here with a helpful post for you.

Add to that the Panasonic KX-TA824 or the variants the KX-TA624 and KX-TA308

Other options could be the AT&T/Avaya Parnter boxes like the Partner ACS but you have to make sure it's a processor module and not a peripheral module, so I would say Panasonic is the easist bet

[Kmoody]

Another stupid question, like all the others I have asked.
Is the output of the Panasonic PBX's KX-T616, KX-T818 and others, DTMF or pulse? Will my old phones work through the PBX to an OOMA VOIP I already have? The OOMA only accepts DTMF.

[HarrySmith]

I have been using the Panasonic 616 for many years without a hiccup. It works on DTMF and pulse just fine.

[Kmoody]

I bought a KX-T61610 unit, received it yesterday.
Should I be getting dial tone on it, when I pick up the receiver. Or just when I dial #9 for an outside line?
The small 2 volt battery is dead. Is that battery, only for memory backup? Which I don't need, since I'm running it on the default settings. Is it best to get a new battery "just in case".
On the default setting. Is there away not to have to dial #9 for an outside line? I'm not going to use the phones as an intercom in my house.

[HarrySmith]

Recently there was a member who was having an issue with his Panasonic, I do not recall the model, and replacing the batery fixed it. I have been running mine without a battery since I got it.

[TelePlay]

Did you try taking the battery out before powering it up?

Turn off the 616 power switch, disconnect the 616 power cord from the power outlet, take the battery out, let it sit for some time to allow internal capacitors to drain, put the power cord back into the outlet and turn on the power switch (no battery installed). After 15 or so seconds, plug a working phones line cord into any one of the 16 internal ports. If no dial tone try the phone in the other 15 outlets.

And, yes, a phone line cord plugged into any of the internal 16 ports should produce a dial tone when taking the phone off hook.

The ring cadence for internal phones is European, not US. If you had an outside line, the phones ringing from an outside call would be US cadence.

The battery is there to maintain programming during a power outage. Usually not needed except as Harry said, another member needed a good battery in it to get it to work.

[Kmoody]

I still don't have a dial tone, unless I dial #9. I will try to find a battery. It sounds like they are hard to come by, And see if that fixes my dial tone issue.

[TelePlay]

I will try to find a battery. It sounds like they are hard to come by, . . .

Yes, it seems that battery pack is no longer available. The 616 uses a 110 mAh 2.4 VDC NiCd pack (2x 1.2 V). You can still find 2.4 V NiCd battery packs but they are used mostly in cordless phones. As such, they have a much larger capacity and are larger in size, won't fit the 616 battery compartment. And not being a direct replacement for the TEL0710, the connector most likely will be different.

NiCd two cell packs are lower voltage than NiMH packs.

If you search Amazon for 2.4 volt NiCd, you get a lot to choose from but all over 1,000 mAh capacity, and larger sized.

Also, I do not have my 616 attached to a landline and if I dial 9, I do not get a dial tone. The dial tone after dialing 9 is the CO dial tone, the outside line dial tone.

[TelePlay]

I still don't have a dial tone, unless I dial #9.

Can you post an image of your 616 jacks with your phones attached? Show the line cord connections in the 616?

[Kmoody]

The wiring is a mess, I'll clean it up after I fix the dial tone problem. All my phones are just sitting on the floor near the unit. Also the battery is out, in this picture.
It works great as an intercom, but no dial tone from the 616.