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Author Topic: payphone for gameroom...  (Read 75822 times)

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Ken Layton

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #120 on: September 25, 2012, 12:33:49 am »
I know on Elcotel payphones there is a couple of programming options that would be handy here. One is called, "Use Payphone as Extension" and the other is "Time Off Hook". I'm wondering if Protel boards have anything like that in their programming?

MaximRecoil

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #121 on: September 25, 2012, 09:20:28 am »
I know on Elcotel payphones there is a couple of programming options that would be handy here. One is called, "Use Payphone as Extension" and the other is "Time Off Hook". I'm wondering if Protel boards have anything like that in their programming?

Interesting. I'll bet they do. I'll call G-Tel and ask them about it.

I think that with the default programming (which you get when you initialize the phone), it works as a normal extension; but I'm not entirely sure. I did some testing of the phone before it was programmed by G-Tel, and I know I switched from phone to phone during a call without issue, but I can't remember specifically if I switched from a home phone to the payphone or if it was the other way around.

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #122 on: September 25, 2012, 11:23:50 am »
I called G-Tel, and he said that Protels can't work as a normal extension; they have to detect the incoming call. He also mentioned that Elcotels can work as a normal extension.

Ken Layton

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #123 on: September 25, 2012, 11:40:50 am »
I know Elcotel's will work with extension phones. Several of our tavern payphone accounts were setup that way. Elcotel software starting with series 3 phone boards had the "Use Payphone as Extension" added to the software.

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #124 on: September 25, 2012, 02:45:06 pm »
If the option is available, I wonder if that will require another $25 programming charge.

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #125 on: September 25, 2012, 07:44:49 pm »
If the option is available, I wonder if that will require another $25 programming charge.

I don't think it would (they programmed mine 3 times before it was the way I wanted it, and they only charged me once), but according to Alfonso at G-Tel, the option to use as an extension isn't available on Protels (but he said it is on Elcotels, like Ken said). Also, I looked through the options on the Protel ExpressNet software ("Edit Options & Registers"), and I didn't see any option relating to using the phone as an extension.

It would be a nice option to have, i.e., if someone else in the house answers one of the home phones and it is for you, you could take the call on the payphone if you wanted; but I guess if it is a must-have option, one would need to replace the Protel chassis with an Elcotel chassis (and then it would definitely be another $25 to program it).

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #126 on: September 28, 2012, 07:55:23 pm »
Hi MaximRecoil:
I'm sorry it took me so long to respond to your request for my phone's behavior, but I've been tied up.  I finally got to it tonight and here's what I found:
1). Incoming calls with only the payphone - No issues
2). Incoming call: payphone picks up first, then an extension: payphone hangs up - call continues, speak/hear to extension OK
3). Incoming call: extension picks up first, then payphone: extension hangs up - call continues, speak/hear to payphone OK
4). Payphone receiver off hook for 20-25 seconds: beeping then "error 6" then line appears dead as you mentioned.  If you make a call to the phone at this time, the phone rings (even when off hook).  When you depress the switch hook, the call is connected.

I didn't notice any inability to be heard when one of the phones (extension or payphone) hung up from a call.
Did I miss something?

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #127 on: September 29, 2012, 07:19:22 am »
Hi MaximRecoil:
I'm sorry it took me so long to respond to your request for my phone's behavior, but I've been tied up.  I finally got to it tonight and here's what I found:
1). Incoming calls with only the payphone - No issues
2). Incoming call: payphone picks up first, then an extension: payphone hangs up - call continues, speak/hear to extension OK
3). Incoming call: extension picks up first, then payphone: extension hangs up - call continues, speak/hear to payphone OK
4). Payphone receiver off hook for 20-25 seconds: beeping then "error 6" then line appears dead as you mentioned.  If you make a call to the phone at this time, the phone rings (even when off hook).  When you depress the switch hook, the call is connected.

I didn't notice any inability to be heard when one of the phones (extension or payphone) hung up from a call.
Did I miss something?

Interesting, and thanks for doing the test. Your payphone behaves the same as mine except for number 3, which is really strange (especially considering what the G-Tel guy said). In my case it goes like this:

3). Incoming call: extension picks up first, then payphone: extension hangs up (or not; doesn't change the results either way) - can hear caller but caller can't hear me; payphone "thinks" it is simply off the hook and starts beeping after 25 seconds and then goes silent.

I wanted to make sure that it wasn't the phone line wiring that was responsible, so I disconnected the payphone and hooked a normal home phone (Western Electric model 554) up to the line cord that I ran for the payphone, and it worked as a normal extension without issue; so there's nothing wrong with the wiring.

Is your phone service ordinary telco POTS? Also, what numbers do you hear when you dial *#62? This is supposed to be the firmware/software revision, and may be a little hard to catch the first time you try, but mine says: 8822000001 (before it says the numbers it says something that sounds like "dollar dollar"; no idea what that's all about [Edit: I believe that simply stands for DD, since Protel 8000 firmware revisions start with either CD or DD; DD being newer]).
« Last Edit: September 29, 2012, 07:43:14 am by MaximRecoil »

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #128 on: September 29, 2012, 08:59:18 am »
My work used to have a payphone cabinet without a phone, that would have been great in a gameroom if I'd of thought of that :(

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #129 on: September 29, 2012, 11:46:09 am »
 MaximRecoil:

Try reversing the red & green wires of the incoming phone line inside the payphone to see if that helps with your problem.

Also, it might be possible your keypad assembly (a.k.a. "coin dial unit" ) may have a wiring error.

Jim Clark

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #130 on: September 29, 2012, 08:12:27 pm »
MaximRecoil:
I was uneasy about the difference between your phone's behavior on #3 on my previous post, so I performed the test again this morning.  I apologize because the results of my 2nd test was identical with yours.  On an incoming call, if the extension picks up the call first, the line is dead to the payphone.  I could not hear (although I'm not 100% sure my wife was speaking during the test, but it really doesn't matter anyway) or be heard.  The line appeared totally dead. So I guess the final proof is that these protel phones truely can not act as an extension. It's too bad because everything else acts as expected with the added advantage of making money for outgoing calls.
The response to *#62 was also: dollar dollar  + 8822000001 (same as your results)
Did you buy your phone from ebay from a guy in Alabama?  That's where I got mine.  They seem identical, but I'm sure there were thousands installed across the country.

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #131 on: September 29, 2012, 09:10:41 pm »
MaximRecoil:

Try reversing the red & green wires of the incoming phone line inside the payphone to see if that helps with your problem.

Also, it might be possible your keypad assembly (a.k.a. "coin dial unit" ) may have a wiring error.

Yeah, this morning I was thinking about reversing the tip and ring wires, but rather than doing that, I entered diagnostic mode and did the loop current test as described in the manual:

Quote
Loop Current Test..........Dial [ * ] [ 3 ], if tip/ring properly connected, Voice = "Thank You".

(Failed)..........Warble tone in receiver = tip/ring are reversed or loop current from C.O. not detected by phone.


The voice said "Thank you" when I did the test. I also tested voltage and amperage of the loop current with a multimeter; it showed ~49 VDC @ 60 mA.

Also, I have two keypads; the one that came installed in it, and a standard 61C. The one that came installed in the phone doesn't have any alternate wiring options, not even for the handset, because it is all modular:



Both keypads produce identical results.

MaximRecoil:
I was uneasy about the difference between your phone's behavior on #3 on my previous post, so I performed the test again this morning.  I apologize because the results of my 2nd test was identical with yours.  On an incoming call, if the extension picks up the call first, the line is dead to the payphone.  I could not hear (although I'm not 100% sure my wife was speaking during the test, but it really doesn't matter anyway) or be heard.  The line appeared totally dead. So I guess the final proof is that these protel phones truely can not act as an extension. It's too bad because everything else acts as expected with the added advantage of making money for outgoing calls.
The response to *#62 was also: dollar dollar  + 8822000001 (same as your results)
Did you buy your phone from ebay from a guy in Alabama?  That's where I got mine.  They seem identical, but I'm sure there were thousands installed across the country.

Thanks for doing the test again.

I did some more tests of my own. I have 3 extensions in my house, plus the payphone. To add the line cord for the payphone, I simply connected its red and green wires to the red and green screw terminals within the modular jack that is on the wall beside my computer (then I ran the line cord under the floor and inside the wall that the payphone is hanging on). I also have a home phone (Western Electric model 2500) plugged into that same modular jack that is beside my computer. This results in the payphone being wired directly in parallel with the 2500.

My previous tests were done strictly with the 2500 and the payphone, and resulted in being able to hear on the payphone, but the transmitter was inactive and the phone would start beeping after 25 seconds and then go totally dead. However, this morning I did the test by first answering other extensions in the house (a Western Electric 554 in the kitchen and a Western Electric 500 in my bedroom), and I simply got a totally dead line when I then picked up the payphone's handset; i.e., I couldn't hear anything and it never started beeping; the same as you described.

I have no idea why it makes a difference which extension I answer first. Even though the 2500 is wired directly in parallel with the payphone; electrically speaking, the payphone is in parallel with all of the extensions; given that ultimately, I only have one phone line in the house. And like I mentioned earlier, when I disconnect the payphone and hook a normal home phone up in its place, it behaves as a normal extension no matter which other extension I answer first (which is exactly how one would expect it to behave).

I guess it doesn't matter though, because either way, the payphone doesn't work as an extension (unfortunately); I just can't imagine why it makes a difference which extension I pick up first, and that sort of bugs me in and of itself.
« Last Edit: September 29, 2012, 09:25:46 pm by MaximRecoil »

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #132 on: September 29, 2012, 10:04:00 pm »
Maximrecoil;
My payphone is ~125 feet from the house in a detached garage, but is wired into the same single "bundle" that all of the extensions are connected.  This would imply that there is no preference to any of the extensions.

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #133 on: September 29, 2012, 11:03:27 pm »
Electrically speaking, there should be no difference in any of my extensions either, but there is (though it is a meaningless difference in this context, because the payphone doesn't function as an extension either way).

For an incoming call, all 4 of my phones ring simultaneously (3 home phones, 1 payphone), and I can pick up any one of them and properly connect to the call. I can also make outgoing calls from any one of them without issue. This alone proves that they are all electrically in parallel with each other, given that there is no other way to make multiple telephones work on a single phone line than wiring them in parallel with each other (they all have to ultimately connect to the same single loop current from the telco). So as to why the [meaningless] difference that I described in my previous post exists: it is a complete mystery to me.

Edit: I figured it out; or at least narrowed it down. The difference has to do with the Western Electric 2500 itself. I disconnected the 554 in the kitchen and connected the 2500 in its place and then did the test on an incoming call by picking up the 2500's handset first, and then picking up the payphone's handset. I could hear the caller on the payphone but the transmitter was inactive (meaning they couldn't hear me), and then after 25 seconds it started beeping and then went completely silent, just like in my original tests; so that "feature" followed the 2500 to a different phone jack. When I put the 554 back in its place and tried again, it was just a dead line on the payphone (the same as when you did your most recent test).

The old Bell System Western Electric home phones, like the 2500, 554, and 500 all have networks in them with point-to-point wiring and terminal screws, so the wiring is changeable (unlike in "phone-on-a-chip" modern phones). There are various ways to wire their networks and still have them work properly, so the 2500's network is probably wired differently than the networks in my 554 and 500 phones, thus accounting for the [meaningless] difference.
« Last Edit: September 29, 2012, 11:25:38 pm by MaximRecoil »

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #134 on: September 29, 2012, 11:32:57 pm »
MaximRecoil;
I agree.  There should be no behavioral differences when all phones are wired in parallel.  I will try a test from a different extension hopefully tomorrow.  We actually have an old analog rotary dial extension and I will try with that one. All testing to this point was done from a remote handset extension. 

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #135 on: September 30, 2012, 12:07:04 am »
MaximRecoil;
I agree.  There should be no behavioral differences when all phones are wired in parallel.  I will try a test from a different extension hopefully tomorrow.  We actually have an old analog rotary dial extension and I will try with that one. All testing to this point was done from a remote handset extension.

Oh yeah? What it is? A Western Electric 500? I love the old Western Electric rotary phones from the Bell System; I have two 500s and three 554s (554s are the wall mount version of the 500, same internals). The 2500 is essentially the same as the 500/554, except it is touch-tone; and they are still being cloned by several manufacturers to this day.

By the way, I don't know if you saw my edit to my previous post before you posted or not, but if not, the difference I described seems to be related to the individual phones themselves, not to the phone line wiring.

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #136 on: September 30, 2012, 11:08:19 am »
Maximrecoil:
I realize the wiring would not be in the picture, but I'm also surprised that the phone itself could play a part.  The phone I have is a 30 year old reproduction of a 1920's farmhouse phone.  We actually bought it in the ATT store when we bought our first home.  It is a rotary dial but after more thought may convertto digital pulses.  I will try with this phone as well as a Western Electric digital wall mount that I have also had for >30years.

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #137 on: September 30, 2012, 12:16:19 pm »
Maximrecoil:
I realize the wiring would not be in the picture, but I'm also surprised that the phone itself could play a part.  The phone I have is a 30 year old reproduction of a 1920's farmhouse phone.  We actually bought it in the ATT store when we bought our first home.  It is a rotary dial but after more thought may convertto digital pulses.  I will try with this phone as well as a Western Electric digital wall mount that I have also had for >30years.

All rotary phones send digital pulses natively; i.e., the dial simply opens or closes a leaf switch; two states; on or off; thus digital; specifically; binary digital. The dial mechanism has a cam that is against a leaf switch, so if you dial e.g. "7", the cam rotates 7 times as the dial is returning to its home state, thus opening and closing the switch 7 times. You can accomplish the same thing by pressing the hook switch 7 times at a steady and rapid pace (known as "switch-hooking"), assuming you do it within the margin of error that the telco equipment will accept. That margin of error seems to be a lot tighter these days than it used to be, making successful "switch-hooking" more difficult. The reason that works is because the dial mechanism's leaf switch and the hook switch are on the same circuit.

All of those rotary phones sold through the AT&T store back in those days had conventional rotary dial mechanisms, regardless of the exterior styling. The only attempt I've seen at updating a rotary dial mechanism is with some recent cheap Chinese-made knockoffs of Western Electric 500s (they are knockoffs only in a superficial sense, as they are very different internally), that use an optical system and a PCB to translate the dialed number to DTMF (touch-tone). These also include the * and # on the dial. See this thread for a review and pictures of one of those weird contraptions. These are not to be confused with other recent cheap knockoffs that sort of look like they have a rotary dial, but simply have ordinary pushbuttons where the finger holes would be on a real rotary dial fingerwheel.

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #138 on: September 30, 2012, 06:18:12 pm »
I tested all different phone models in our home by picking up an incoming call with the extension first.  Here are the results:
Panasonic cordless: payphone line totally dead.
ATT Rotary: payphone line totally dead
Western Electric push button wall phone: payphone could hear conversation but could not be heard.  After ~20-25 seconds received "error 6" message.
This confirms MaximRecoil conclusion that the type of extension phone causes the payphone to behave differently on picking up the call.  Unfortunately this scenario makes the payphone unusable.  The payphone works as expected for all other scenarios.

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #139 on: September 30, 2012, 09:44:43 pm »
This confirms MaximRecoil conclusion that the type of extension phone causes the payphone to behave differently on picking up the call.

Thanks for doing those additional tests. It is very strange that the type of extension phone could make a difference (though not a useful difference, unfortunately).

Protel is (or was) the most popular brand of smart chassis around. With hundreds of thousands of them out in the field at one time (during the height of payphone distribution in the late '90s / early '00s), it seems strange to me that there wasn't enough demand from payphone owners/operators for extension functionality for Protel to implement it. Elcotel obviously thought it was an important enough function to implement. I can see owners of bars in particular wanting their payphone to function as an extension. People often call bars asking to speak to a customer (or at least they often did prior to most everyone carrying cell phones), and instead of letting a drunk use your home phone that's behind the bar, they could tell them to pick up the call on the payphone.

I think I'll call Protel tomorrow and ask them about it. It is probably futile, but it won't hurt to try.

By the way, is your WE pushbutton wall phone a 2554? If so, it is fundamentally the same as my WE 2500 desk phone, which for me was also the phone that allowed me to hear but not be heard when picking up the payphone.
« Last Edit: September 30, 2012, 10:08:42 pm by MaximRecoil »

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #140 on: October 01, 2012, 09:30:37 am »
I stand corrected again.  The Western Electric phone was actually replaced by the payphone.  The extension in the house that I tested with is a lookalike but turns out to be an ITT Model 255444 MBA-20M.  Thanks for following through with Protel.  I am looking forward to their response but I don't hold out too much hope for a solution.  If you need any further info on my phone/setup, let me know.

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #141 on: October 01, 2012, 11:49:12 am »
I stand corrected again.  The Western Electric phone was actually replaced by the payphone.  The extension in the house that I tested with is a lookalike but turns out to be an ITT Model 255444 MBA-20M.  Thanks for following through with Protel.  I am looking forward to their response but I don't hold out too much hope for a solution.  If you need any further info on my phone/setup, let me know.

The ITT 2554 is the same thing as the Western Electric 2554; all parts are interchangeable. ITT was licensed to manufacturer Western Electric designs. Prior to the breakup of the Bell System, they were one of a few companies that sold phones to independent telcos which were then leased to subscribers. After the breakup of the Bell System, they sold directly to the public. They are still around, under the name Cortelco, and they still make the 2500 and 2554 phones. In fact, they even made 500 and 554 rotary phones right up until 2007.

Protel was useless by the way; they simply said they don't support payphones anymore. I said, "But you still sell payphones," and he said, "But only to distributors." I don't know why he thought that was relevant. Regardless of who you sell to, if you manufacture and sell something, you should be prepared to support it; period.

However, I did call a guy at Triad that I've already talked with a few times, and who seems to know his stuff, and he confirmed that the Protel can't work as an extension. He says the transmitter doesn't get enabled because it didn't detect an incoming call, and no money was inserted / no number dialed. He said there is no way around it. This is the same thing the G-Tel guy told me the other day, so I guess that's that.

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #142 on: October 01, 2012, 12:03:52 pm »
First I've heard of Protel saying they don't support payphones anymore. They still have payphone stuff on their website. Protel was one of the first companies to get into the deregulated payphone manufacturing back in the late 1980's.

You could convert the payphone to an Elcotel board. However, that would also mean swapping out the relay coil and keypad to Elcotel versions. With Elcotel, you can definitely use it as an extension with no problems. The only drawback with Elcotel boards is they don't have the double gong ringer, only a cheap warbler ringer. We got around that by connecting some Radio Shack mechanical ringers like these:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062696

http://support.radioshack.com/productinfo/DocumentResults.asp?sku_id=43-174&Name=Telephone%20Accessories&Reuse=N

And don't forget, with Elcotel boards, you can program alot of the options yourself at the phone if you have a copy of the software manual. You don't necessarily need the computer program to program some things with an Elcotel. Sure the program is nice to have and speeds up programming.

http://www.payphone411.com/elcoteldocuments/manuals/CompactFieldGuide_ser5.pdf

Intellicall is still very much in the payphone business:

http://www.intellicall.com/

UPDATE: Intellicall has gone out of business a couple of years ago.

You might try talking to the folks at Midwest Payphone Supply for help with any payphone board problems:

http://www.payphoneproducts.com/
« Last Edit: October 31, 2014, 08:13:35 pm by Ken Layton »

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #143 on: October 01, 2012, 11:34:39 pm »
First I've heard of Protel saying they don't support payphones anymore. They still have payphone stuff on their website. Protel was one of the first companies to get into the deregulated payphone manufacturing back in the late 1980's.

It may be a very recent thing, or it may depend on who you get on the phone. I have called Protel once before, a couple/few weeks ago, to ask some questions about batteries and programming. The guy answered my questions, but when I asked if they repair and program their chassis (because I didn't know if my payphone worked or not at the time), he said, "We're trying to get away from payphones," and he mentioned that there are various other companies that repair and program payphones. This morning when I called their technical support number, whoever answered wouldn't even answer the simple question about using their payphone as an extension. He simply said they don't support payphones anymore, and offered to give me phone numbers of places that sell Protel payphones; suggesting I call them.

Being able to use the phone as an extension isn't important enough to me to replace the chassis. My payphone is right in my living room and I live alone, so there really isn't any reason that I'd need to use it as an extension. It would be a nice feature to have, but not critical for me. I suspect it would be a more important feature for Jim Clark though, considering his payphone is in a detached garage and he doesn't live alone, meaning someone else in his house might answer a call when he's in the garage, and he'd have no way to pick up the call out in the garage.

Quote
Intellicall is still very much in the payphone business:

http://www.intellicall.com/

They seem to be in business judging from their website, but just try to contact them. I have another payphone that I got for cheap several years (Intellicall chassis in a Tidel housing) that I was thinking about getting to work about a month ago (before I decided to find a Western Electric payphone), and I tried to contact them quite a few times and I could never get anyone on the phone. I also sent an email and never got a reply. And according to Teresa Sanders, Inside Sales Coordinator, G-Tel Enterprises Inc:

Quote
Everyone in the industry knows Intellicall went out of business years ago.
« Last Edit: October 01, 2012, 11:37:14 pm by MaximRecoil »

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #144 on: October 02, 2012, 01:03:54 am »
From the Intellicall website:

 INTELLICALL HAS MOVED

New Address:
Intellicall, Inc
1333 W. Campbell Rd., #197
Richardson, TX 75080
 
NEW LOCAL PHONE NUMBER
214-635-4683

Toll Free 1.800.800.9091

Copyright © 2012 Intellicall Inc. All Rights Reserved

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #145 on: October 02, 2012, 03:57:02 am »
From the Intellicall website:

 INTELLICALL HAS MOVED

New Address:
Intellicall, Inc
1333 W. Campbell Rd., #197
Richardson, TX 75080
 
NEW LOCAL PHONE NUMBER
214-635-4683

Toll Free 1.800.800.9091

Copyright © 2012 Intellicall Inc. All Rights Reserved

Yes, those were the numbers I tried quite a few times about a month ago; no one ever answered (though at the time a voicemail recording identifying itself as Intellicall did answer). However, if you try either of those numbers right now, you get a recording which says:

"The seller of the 2007 BMW on AutoTrader.com is using Privacy Shield to protect personal contact information. We are calling the seller now ..."

Whoever owns those two Intellicall phone numbers has apparently repurposed them as contact numbers for selling his BMW.

So Protel is still around, but they are trying to distance themselves from payphones; Intellicall is MIA; and I can't find a site for QuorTech (Elcotel), aside from wimactel.com (the first result in Google for "QuorTech"), which doesn't even seem to be a manufacturer, but rather, a telephone services company.
« Last Edit: October 02, 2012, 04:14:01 am by MaximRecoil »

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #146 on: October 02, 2012, 11:10:46 am »
The people who would know anything at all about payphone manufacturers today is the California Payphone Association:

http://www.capayphoneassn.org/

California Payphone Association

1866 Clayton Rd Ste 213,

Concord, CA 94520

(925) 602-5367

It might be an idea to contact them.

Quortech (Elcotel) USA office:

Quortech Solutions, Inc.
3445 Seminole Trail, Suite 249
Charlottesville, VA 22911
« Last Edit: November 03, 2014, 03:52:21 pm by Ken Layton »

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #147 on: October 05, 2012, 10:53:39 pm »
Man, there are things that take me back in a good way....and there are things that don't. A payphone is one of 'em that don't.
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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #148 on: October 06, 2012, 05:04:44 am »
Man, there are things that take me back in a good way....and there are things that don't. A payphone is one of 'em that don't.

Why's that?

For me, even if I had no nostalgia for them, I would still want one, because of their iconic appearance and how tough they're built. For example, I've wanted one since I was about 10 years old in the mid '80s, and it obviously wasn't nostalgia then, since they were still everywhere at the time, and I wasn't old enough to be nostalgic about anything anyway.

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #149 on: October 08, 2012, 08:15:10 pm »
Man, there are things that take me back in a good way....and there are things that don't. A payphone is one of 'em that don't.

Why's that?

For me, even if I had no nostalgia for them, I would still want one, because of their iconic appearance and how tough they're built. For example, I've wanted one since I was about 10 years old in the mid '80s, and it obviously wasn't nostalgia then, since they were still everywhere at the time, and I wasn't old enough to be nostalgic about anything anyway.

Pay phones are a symbol of depravity for me, and were before I knew the word. And as child when I saw the old Dick Tracy cartoon, already decades in syndication, I wanted a watch phone. Or, what I have now, a smart phone.
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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #150 on: October 09, 2012, 06:39:48 am »
Pay phones are a symbol of depravity for me, and were before I knew the word. And as child when I saw the old Dick Tracy cartoon, already decades in syndication, I wanted a watch phone. Or, what I have now, a smart phone.

Payphones are a symbol of wickedness / moral corruption for you? That's odd. Would you care to elaborate?

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #151 on: October 27, 2012, 01:05:56 am »
I have scanned all of my Elcotel payphone manuals, product bulletins, Troubleshooter newsletters, and Payphone Network Manager manuals.

They are now posted here along with other brands/models of payphones:

http://www.payphone411.com/manuals.html

Additional documentation here:

http://www.payphone411.com/documentation.html


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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #152 on: October 27, 2012, 10:45:12 pm »
I know Protel 2000 and 7000 (not positive about 8000) can be used as an extension but it is kind of a hassle to do so.  There has to be a number programmed with no cost in the auto dial.  We used 211.  The procedure for it to work (has to be done in this order) is to answer a call on the extension, pick up the payphone, hang up the extension, dial 211 on the payphone.  The phone will then try to call out thus opening the microphone so you can talk.  This works 90 percent of the time and is only a workaround. 

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #153 on: October 28, 2012, 02:38:43 pm »
Interesting method. I never thought of that.

Of course with an Elcotel board, you just set it in the programming for "Payphone as Extension".

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #154 on: November 11, 2012, 12:20:53 am »
The G-Tel model 707 desktop style payphone. It looks like a bigger normal desktop telephone and it takes only quarters. This payphone plugs right into an ordinary phone jack. There is an "owner bypass key" that fits into the lock on the back of the payphone. Turning the key in one postion the phone operates strictly as a coin phone. In the other position the phone operates for free just like any ordinary telephone.

Attached is the instruction sheet that accompanied the phone and shows the dip switch settings.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2012, 12:25:08 am by Ken Layton »

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #155 on: October 31, 2014, 08:16:06 pm »
The manuals for the AT&T Private Payphone and Private Payphone Plus are now scanned and posted here:

http://www.payphone411.com/att/manuals/AT&T%20Private%20Payphone.pdf

http://www.payphone411.com/att/manuals/AT&T%20Private%20Payphone%20PLUS.pdf

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #156 on: November 26, 2021, 02:08:05 pm »
RIP Ken! He thanklessly helped hundreds over the years. He'll be sorely missed by many.

I picked up a keyless elcotel (GTE) payphone over the summer and had to break into the vault. This is how I did it with a 4" angle grinder. You can order a new "vault door" of ebay for less than $20. You'll still need a T-Key.

FYI: To get the upper phone open, I drilled a quarter inch hole about a half inch above the key lock and bent the lock cam over with a small drift pin and a hammer.

« Last Edit: November 26, 2021, 02:17:51 pm by MTPPC »
Pinball and Video Arcade Repair in Billings, MT USA
http://pinballmd.com/

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Re: payphone for gameroom...
« Reply #157 on: December 27, 2021, 04:41:19 pm »
Thought a payphone in the arcade would be an interesting mod until I saw the cheapest one I could find was $300 before shipping, and who knows what that would be if they are 45+ lbs.