Man, I wish you had been there. Too bad, because I would love to know what acutally happened. 2,000 feet is REALLY pushing the distance limit of that system. Despite the very unprofessional installation, I don't think it was entirely the culprit. Yes, some stations worked, but I have seen situations where another ten feet of station cable was all that it took to kill a phone.
As for the mystery of the remaining pairs in the 25 pair, I can only speculate. I should keep my mouth shut though.
As for simple button programming and things like that, always come here. That's the whole purpose of this joint in the first place.