atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information ITT Phone System

I am an at&t repairman and have a question about an ITT phone system. I had a job where the customer(in a very small house)complained of a hum on the line. Test ok at interface, no hum or trouble. I listen at set in his "office" and sure enough there is a hum. He says I might want to see this piece of equipment in his garage. Expecting to see an old protector, low and behold he has a huge old phone system. The cover says ITT, lots of 66 blocks, etc. Something I would see in a nice sized business. Anyhow, as far as my job goes, I am finished. I informed him that he needs to get someone out who specializes in phone systems. He wants to know why I can't work on it, and I tell him I have no knowledge or expertise in this area. Just like he would not want me working on his car, he doesn't want me in his system. The hum sounds like an overbalance. I directed him to the page in the yellow pages for phone system experts. My question is......what kind of system might this be? Why a system in a small house(no basement). Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Welcome back. I would say it is probably a hobby as to why the system is in the house. But he has no knowledge of how to work on it so that cant be the case unless he is messing with you.

Your probably correct about the over balance. It could also be a wire pair that is too close to a transformer someplace. ITT / Cortelco is probably what it is. Do a search on them and plenty of links appear.

It sounds like a 1a2 key system.

I agree 1a2 key.
Why in the house ?????

Yes, most likely a 1A2.

I am glad that you realize your limitations and didn't touch the system.

The noise could also be a "ground hum" which is usually caused by a bad termination on one of the 66 blocks...such as a x-connect tail hanging and picking up interference from another pin.

Troubleshooting could be easy, or time consuming depending on the level of professionalism done while installed. :shrug:

The 1a2 equipment may no longer be in use. Does he have any multiline key telephones?

I am not sure what kind of phones he is using. One was an old green rotary. He has so much crap in every room, I could not see where the cabling went into the wall.

The 70s are calling and they want their phone system back.

On the 1A2 the Phone's are connected with Amphinol's, one of them may have gotten wet. or one of the 400 Line card's is going bad.

Hi guys,

I think a small business telephone systems from an online provider would not be having similar problems as in a hum due to wire problems.