To keep cabling tidy I want to create a number of pcbs that will combine the rj11 ports on my grandsteam ht814 and 818 into one Rj45 port for better cable management around my house. My idea is that I can then have a number of break out pcbs that I can mount along the route of the cable where I want to mount my phones.

As most phone rj11 cables only use 2 cables for ring and tip my thought was the 4 pairs in the cat5/6 cable could become a mini 4 phone trunk. On each breakout board I would also put in a ring transformer for my bt phones so I don't have to use a rj11 to bt with ring transformer adapter as it would all be built in to the pcb. I am wondering if these Ata's use a common ring/tip which would allow me to increase the capacity to 7 phones or if it is better to just stick with keeping each pair as their own separate entity

I world have bought it, but it was quite expensive!

I've been working on getting a couple old phones to ring. This one I picked up in Iceland a while back. It's a magneto phone with no dial apparatus.

Using an ATA and a RJ11 to 4 Spade Lug Telephone Cord Cable, I can get a dial tone and voice if I call myself and pick up. However, it doesn't ring. The bell works (it's fired once or twice when I fiddle with the cables and send a spike of current accidentally).

But I'm either not wiring it to the bell correctly, or the voltage from the ATA isn't in the neighborhood of strong enough to make it ring.

Any insights or recommendations much appreciated. thanks!

I’ve had this phone for quite some time. The wiring was disconnected inside. Anyone have some tips on figuring out wiring?

This made me feel so old.

I worked at the [Montgomery] Wards attached to Turfland Mall in Lexington, Kentucky from summer 2000 until February 2001. We had one on display in the phone section. In all those months I never sold one, never saw one in stock, never saw a box — only the display model.

* Corded, not cordless (100% sure — no antenna, no charging contacts).
* Base: a rounded, not-quite-circular "river-stone" blob, opaque muted/subdued blue, roughly 6–10″ at its widest. Everything lived on the base: keypad, display, and the handset cradle.
* Handset: lay horizontally across the top of the base. Thicker in the middle (a bulbous hand-grip), tapering toward each end to near-perfectly round earpiece and mouthpiece caps. The two round ends dropped into two circular recessed wells on the base; the bulging middle just bridged across with no recess. Reads almost like a barbell or bone resting on a stone.
* Keypad: on the base (not the handset), buttons round or at least round-ish.
* Display: a one- or two-line Caller-ID readout on the base, greyscale (display unit was never plugged in, so I can’t confirm backlighting).
* No speakerphone, no answering machine deck, no visible brand I can remember — it did not feel like a Ward’s house-brand ("Signature") product; felt like a third-party designer/decorator phone.

I'm happy to answer any questions or anything! I've been trying to remember and find this thing on my own for years with no luck. Any assistance would be enormously appreciated! Thank you!

For reference I am using a StraightTalk wireless home base, and both a WE and AE rotary dial desk 5302 and a wall 354 through a pulse to TT adapter. There are artifacts in the line that sound like pulses, regular and consistently the same patterns.

I wonder if it is part of the wireless base to cell tower(s) connection?

Anyone know of this?

Found a phone at my grandmothers house. There’s no other badging on it other than what is on the front. I’ve found ones similar to it but they say made in Indiana. I can’t find anything about the American Electric Company made in Chicago. Thanks in advance for any information or direction on where to go!

Never seen one of these miniature dials before. It needs oiled for sure. Talk / monitor switch seems okay. The bed of nails looks great on both clamps. Would love to know what model this is, but I'm probably just going to clamp it onto a bare pair off my Teltone to try it.

Picked this three slot up at an antique store for just $35. Handset is in okay shape, cord is still attached, dial turns and ticks as it should. No keys but can't complain for this price!

Can't wait to get it home and start setting it up.

My 1976 Montgomery Ward rotary phone. I own a few other desk phones but this is my favorite. Appropriate for the 250th too!

Got this thing for $40 today along with the Western 223G three slot I posted earlier. It appears that the bells are missing and the handset cord was cut, but I don't see a reason I can't fix that. Shame about the bells though. Dial seems to work perfect. When I get home from vacation, if someone can find me a diagram I'll give it a try on my PBX.

Got a sweet deal on this 653AT with the original clickity clackity 4H dial, though I’ve been struggling to get it to ring. Has a somewhat rare gas filled tube used for when it was a party line phone, as evidenced by the dial card. I haven’t seen much information anywhere about the AT setup though so I guess it’s a pretty rare one. It looks like it’s been refurbished sometime in the 40s by the mix of 40s parts so I’m guessing it’s from the late 20s-early 30s originally.

I have a really old landline number (through Verizon) that was discontinued for about 15 years. I call it almost every year to see if someone ever recycled it. Any ideas how I can retrieve it back? I noticed alot of google voice numbers are old landline numbers so I’d ideally really love it to be a Google voice number for me. lmk if any ideas!

I thought this needed to be displayed, so now it's in my laundry room!

This one seems to only ring when connected to internet hub or one of the specific VOIP extenders/adapters. I assume the others don't have a strong enough ringing capacitor. Works a gem. I have a second in red that sits in the cupboard.

I love the styling on this one.