Hello,
I just purchased a "bright orange" ITT SlimLine phone. I think its from the 70s. It has the big funky looking jacks for the line cord and handset cord, and the handset cord is the thick round cord. The phone's base is metal, and the phone is VERY heavy for a small phone. I cant dial out on the phone. I know that some older analog phones, like 500, 2500 sets, a lot of times will not break dial tone, because they are analog. I have a VOIP phone system, Vonage, and ALL my old 500, 2500, WE trimline, etc... will dial out. this one will not. you cant even hear the tones when u press the buttons on the keypad, which makes me think there might be something wrong with the phone itself. the keypad in the handset doesn't light up either, but it will ring in, and you can talk on it, has dial tone. the light could be burned out, if its a bulb, and not a LED, or it needs a separate transformer for the light. what do you guys think. Its a real pretty phone, would like to make it function like it should.

Bob

try reversing the polarity on the jack (swap the red and green wires )

Moved topic to the Antique Telephones forum.

hi,
I was thinking that! tried it, it worked!! thanks for jarring my memory!!! now, the keypad light issue. it has a tiny bulb under a small plate under the phone number card. so, I need a transformer for this to work? a small WE 6-8v trans? would I attach the trans to the yellow and black, on the wall jack, assuming the y and bk are not being used for another line, etc..?

bob

Yes, the yellow and black were traditionally used for the light.

WOW....it just hit me...the phones I installed for years are now considered "ANTIQUE???"

Oh, man...am I having a bad day!

Rcaman

I prefer the term,"vintage"

Sad side question....With the decline of landlines, what will become of all of these vintage/antique telephones?

"With the decline of landlines, what will become of all of these vintage/antique telephones?"

C*NET

This is where they all go, along with the systems that drive them.

If it has a five-conductor hard wired line cord, the light power is sent in over the white and black leads. The yellow and green are connected together in order to enable the ringer.

Ok Ed,
The line cord is modular, with a BIG modular connector that plugs into the base of the phone, and is held in place by a retainer clip of some sort. Does the transformer for the lamp have to be AC? I have a 7V, 500ma DC trans, will that work? Its only powering the lamp, right? The bulb is probably 6.3v?

AC or DC will be just fine. You just send it in on the black/yellow pair of the line cord.