Rotary Phone: how do I set up?

[Maryannne]

Hi,

 I have an old rotary phone and I'd like to make and receive calls from it. It will not be secondary line, but it would share the line with my 4 station Panasonic cordless phone.

Does anyone know how to do this?

Thanks in advance!

[aviewer ACE - Wizard]

The simplest thing would be if it has a standard jack just use a standard phone base cord to connect it to a wall jack that has dial tone.

[Maryannne]

Thanx for your reply.  Sorry I wasn't clearer. I have it plugged into a standard jack into the wall. It gets a dial tone, but I can't dial out on the rotary dial nor can I answer the phone.  Does it have something to do with tone v. pulse switch? 

[aviewer ACE - Wizard]

If you have dial tone but you cannot call out or answer, the phone is probably messed up inside. The wiring inside the phone allows you to hear dialtone but is not connected correctly for letting you control it.

You can take it to another persons POTS and try it.

A pulse phone should work with POTS. Not sure about U-voice. Cannot find an answer on the web site. But, it should answer on u-voice, just not dial.

You originally said it was a dial phone - I assumed pulse. If it actually has a switch to do either tone or pulse, tone would be better. But, it would only affect outgoing dialing. It should answer on either.

Of course, when trying to figure out what is wrong, you have to try anything. If it works on pulse, but not tone the tone generator is fried. If it works on tone, you don't need pulse. If it works on neither (even answer) the internal wiring is really bad.

I believe you can buy these phones for less than $10/20. I think Target or Walmart is a good source. With caller ID, too.

[markwmsn]

I believe that U-Verse VOIP does not support pulse dialing. I just use my old rotary phone to answer calls.

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

I wondered about that, but she did mention a switch for rotary/pulse (must be a newer rotary dial)?

So if switched to Pulse, do you think that would work with UV Voice?

[jfw ACE - Czar]

Rotary dial phones are analog, Uverse voice is digital so the rotary dial won't work. If you really want to use the old rotary dial phone to make calls, you can purchase an analog to digital converter. Something like this.

http://www.dialgizmo.com/

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

There's a converter for everything!

I remember the true rotary phones and they never had a switch on them (no touch tones back then).  That's why I was thinking the OPs phone is a more modern one (with modular plug), and it was just a matter of flipping the switch.  But I don't have Voice.

[Maryannne]

Thanks for the DialGizmo solution. It says it works with ATT U-Verse!

 I found http://www.oldphoneworks.com/pulse-to-tone-converter.html but it states:

"Testing has shown that this Pulse to Tone converter will NOT work with Magic Jack nor AT&T Uverse. Some Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) solutions are powered through USB ports on a computer and this simply does not provide enough line power and ringing energy for vintage telephones (with or without the Pulse to Tone converter). The pulse to Tone convertor will work with many VOIP adapters that are specifically designed to power multiple telephone sets or provide a “whole house solution/service”.

It refers me to another product called the Rotatone converter, but it looks very complicated:

http://www.oldphoneworks.com/rotatone-pulse-to-tone-converter.html

I'll let you know what happens. Some may wonder why in the world I even want to do this. It's an old family phone and I like the tactile feel of it and it is much easier to cradle on your shoulder than my cordless phone.

[aviewer ACE - Wizard]

Maryannne - May I ask for specific answers to a couple of questions that we are sliding over -

You definitely have u-voice? Not POTS with U-verse?

You mentioned a pulse/tone switch - does the phone have a pulse tone switch?

In fact what is the make/model of the phone?

You have tried the phone on a POTS line? Even if you have u-voice you should be able to answer and talk on your phone. The only problem would be dialing & ringing If the phone is in working order. I hate to have you spend any money on devices until you are sure the phone is functional.