I have an old bakelite one (about 1960) and it'd be good if it could be made to work on the new exchanges. Does anyone know someone that can do this?
d.snell,
Jan 15, 12:34am
You would need a decadic to tone unit to change the pulses from the dial to DTMF (tone) to allow you to make outwards calls, apart from that, it's an easy modification. If you want, you can disconnect the dial and use it for answering only.
lythande1,
Jan 15, 2:34am
1960? I have several. I can use them as is, you can't, obviously do the Press 1 for this or press 2 for that thing, but the dial out and ring just fine on Telecoms equipment.
pauldw,
Jan 15, 4:55am
As the telcos change their equipment any support for old dial phones is usually dropped. It's really only because Spark is keeping some really old exchanges running that lythande1 can use her phones.
nzmax,
Jan 15, 10:43am
I had a black Bakelite phone installed until recently, as I did away with a landline, which worked fine. Was converted to a modern plug about 15yrs ago, had no additions, just the wiring to the correct terminals inside.
moltenfire,
Jan 15, 7:22pm
Righto. To add, this is a dial type (not push button). I have seen them working on todays tone exchanges with a box between them and the wall socket. My question was/ is does anyone know who the NZ expert on this is?
pauldw,
Jan 15, 7:37pm
Telecom was putting keypads into dial phones in the early 80s. Maybe one of those could be used. The reality is that the old phone is past it. It should be left as an ornament.
duncanflett,
Jan 16, 4:16am
Hi, I sell the dialgizmo if you are interested. As long as the phone already get's dial tone, and rings on incoming calls - you will be able to plug the dialgizmo in between the phone and the jack point and dial out fine. It's the size of a match box. Thanks
d.snell,
Jan 16, 6:18am
Because it was only the numbers were backwards, technically they are all the same.
Where our dial had 0,1,2,3.4.5.6.7.8.9 overseas had 0.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1. That's why our emergency number is 111 and UK 999. They are exactly the same. Both 3 lots of 9 pulses, so if your number was 436789 in NZ it would be 674321 in NZ, that's all the difference was. On a tone phone 1 is equal to 1 on a UK Dial and 9 on a NZ Dial and so on.
pauldw,
Jan 16, 6:36am
I'm not sure what you're trying to say here.
On a tone phone the number/tone combinations are standardised. An NZ 1 is the same as any other 1.
-bookzone-,
Jan 16, 6:54am
What do you mean by that comment about 'really old exchanges'?
Telecom's entire exchange network uses digital exchanges, and began doing so in the 1980's. The 'oldest' would be from the 1990's now, but most are of that era and type, as they haven't yet done a major upgrade (as far as I know) like they did when they switched from electro-mechanical exchanges to digital. Last I heard, the NEC NEAX61 and it's variants were still the backbone of the phone system here.
pauldw,
Jan 16, 7:04am
Exactly. By 2000 there were already plans to replace the NEAX exchanges. The next generation network has seen a lot of delay, some just to put off spending money.
-bookzone-,
Jan 16, 7:07am
This is the type of telephone exchange you'll find throughout NZ now. Various spec NEAX61's, made by Nippon Electric Corporation.
Yes, but the NEAX has been constantly upgraded, and is a solid performer, even after all these years. Doing another nationwide upgrade will probably cost a few billion, which is why they'll be dragging their feet!
pauldw,
Jan 16, 8:12am
Upgraded or just kept running? I'm not saying that the old system didn't work well but it was never meant to still be here in 2015. When Telecom partnered with Alcatel the message was telco quality VOIP on a new Broadband platform not continuing to run a separate telephone network. Still waiting.
d.snell,
Jan 16, 8:14am
A tone 1 is the same as a pulse 1 everywhere except NZ In NZ a 1 was a 9 and vica verca. I can remember having to rewire the push button pulse dials matrix to allow them to work correctly in NZ and keep the standard button layout.
pauldw,
Jan 16, 8:29am
There are dtmf keypad "Tone" phones and decadic keypad "Pulse" phones. The tone phones didn't need modifying.
I see what you mean. Making a foreign decadic push button work here with the keypad layout still standard.
d.snell,
Jan 16, 9:55am
yep our current exchange is a NEAX and was installed in 1989 and it was secondhand then. It came up and running in 2 x 40ft Shipping Containers as it was supposed to be used in emergency situations as a temporary solution. Not sure who's bright idea that was, but it was scrapped and was un-containerised and installed as a replacement for our 10 year old Crossbar Exchange. Our NEAX is quite primitive and lacks a lot of basic features such as Automatic Number Identfication, Faxabitity (LOL FAX effectively died before Telecom caught up) , and the ability for remote control of Call Diversion to mention a few.
-bookzone-,
Jan 16, 8:06pm
That doesn't sound right!
If it was secondhand when you got it, it sounds like it was a NEAX 61K that came from another exchange that got upgraded to a NEAX 61E. However, from what I remember of the 61k, it had all the features you mention, as I was connected to a 61K and had access to them. Could be that you had a 61S, which was a cut-down version of the 61K for use in smaller centres with small populations?
Anyway, it's been over 20 years since I was a Telecom tech working on those systems, so my memory may be getting foggy! LOL!
d.snell,
Jan 16, 10:39pm
Yes, it's a 61S. It was originally built for emergency standby and actually built in 2 shipping containers. 1 had the exchange and the other had the power and airconditioning. If an exchange around the country burnt down or similar, the idea was to truck these 2 units in, splice it into the cable and power it up. This was probably the dumbest idea around and quickly someone realised this, so it was abandoned. And we were the mugs who got the job in 1989 of carefully dismantling it from the containers and rebuilding it into a CAX. Must have done a good job as, 25 years later, it's still there. Apparently Chorus say they are starting to run short of line cards for it, so that may be it's downfall and kill it in the end.
-bookzone-,
Jan 17, 2:05am
I would have thought Telecom would have at least replaced all the 61K and 61S exchanges by now, but I guess if they're still doing the job, Telecom are happy to leave them be!
That 61S of yours reminded me of the NEC TLX's, a complete crossbar exchange in a container! They were a neat little unit, but could be a pain in the butt when they needed maintenance!
d.snell,
Jan 17, 2:41am
It was stupid back then, Took a team of up to 10 Techs and assistants, two years to install our NEC NC400 xbar with a completion date of 1980, Ten years later, it took 2 guys with power cutting saws a week to remove it. We had built the NEAX in part of the control room of the old exchange. The old exchange took up 4 rooms about 500 sq m in total. The new one was in a room of about 25 sq m.
mrfxit,
Jan 17, 4:59am
LOL, a 61s .exchange. . yea thats what I would have expected for the South Island
d.snell,
Jan 17, 5:11am
Yep, went from being the oldest and last big manual exchange in NZ in 1980, to the newest leading edge automatic (NE400) in NZ from 1980, back to what is close to being the oldest again in 2015.
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