older phone

[Maine04106]

Hello, I recently got an old 2554 series wall phone. When I plug it in I get a dial tone but can't dial out on the touchtone pad. I tried changing the polarity on the phone as well as the line coming into the wall jack. Nothing works. The phone looks brand new and I can't find anything wrong inside. Any suggestions? Thank you. Susan

[mdshunk]

Ah, the old 554 (err, touch-tone 2554). Yeah, it's been a while since I saw one of those. It's possible that the phone was not built for a loop start subscriber line. It's also possible that the phone took a lightning hit at some point. There are people who repair the old Wetern Electric style phone, but it's hardly worth it nowadays. They quit making these phones for the most part in the mid 80's, but ITT/Cortelco still makes the old Westinghouse style phones of all types still today for about 50 bucks. Here's the link to the schematic, if that interests you. http://www.bellsystemmemorial.com/pdf/502-533-405-2.pdf
If it was me, I'd make sure that all the terminals on the hook switch (a, b, c, d, e, f, g) were making and breaking, and burnish the hook switch contacts. That's a popular failure point.
http://www.bellsystemmemorial.com/images/2554_1.jpg