Many apologies in advance if I'm posting in the wrong forum. Thought since I'll be discussing an 80's era ITT telephone, this would be the place to post.

Just quickly wanted to make mention of an extremely superficial analysis of a Cortelco 2500 versus ITT 2500.

From what I understand, ITT was not thought to measure up to Western Electric in terms of quality products, of course, this may entirely be a matter of opinion, but a very superficial comparison on my part of a Cortelco 2500 versus an ITT 2500 shows what looks like quite a dramatic "step down" from the ITT model.

My 80's era ITT 2500 just comes across as a "heftier" phone, by a long shot.

It is true that the Cortelco models are now made overseas, although they were made in Corinth, MS for many years. The ones labeled ITT were made at the Corinth facility pretty much since day one. They were not as rugged as Western Electric 2500 sets, but they were nearly identical from an electrical perspective. The new imported ones are very similar to the ITT models, but there are slight differences in quality and wiring designations.

From a visual perspective, ITT sets contained much more in the way of plastic parts than WE. Aside from slight differences in the wiring of some of the dials, they were electrically identical.

To be fair, most of the downgrading is due to the fact that there just isn't much call for the flexibility that was necessary in the older days. Things such as A leads, separate ringer pairs, etc. just aren't required in 99% of today's applications for a single-line set.

The 80s WE sets had a plastic cover over the contacts to keep the dust off so if nothing else, it was a better design to include that piece. Aside from WE being a tad more rugged, the ITT quality was pretty darn good.

On a side note - Are any phone sets even made in America anymore? I think Comdial and Cortelco were the last holdouts. Are any Tvs made in America? Anyone wonder why our economy is in the dumpster?

Couldn't agree with you more mndave. America used to build things, and build them well. Now the stability of the entire world's economy rests on Americans consumer habits. You have to buy everyone else's crap to keep the ship from going down...but I digress.

Thanks for the run down Ed!

I think a lot of it has to do with de regulation the design parameters went from building a phone that could be installed and rented with no service
to a phone that could be sold and would need to be replaced

you can look at some of the AE stuff and metal parts from the late 70's early 80's became plastic (and would break ) come the mid 80's editions

That makes a lot of sense Skip. Most of the old phones were the property of the telco before if I'm not mistaken, so they must have been built to industrial standards. And I'll take Ed's word that 99% of SLT's don't need the flexibility of the older sets, but at the smae time, electronic/electric appliances are not really built to last anymore overall.

A standard CRT television will last about 15-17 years if left on 24/7. An LCD or plasma TV will only last half that if left on 24/7.

My 1999 Cortelco sets have a plastic cover over the (hookswitch?) contacts too. I haven't seen any without one.

The plastic cover over the switch hook contacts has been present since the early 500 sets on all brands. Most items that were changed to plastic were the frame of the ringer assembly and the network. Instead of a network enclosed in a potted metal can, ITT, S/C and Northern Telecom switched to an open PC board with a plastic base to secure it.

These made the phones much less resistant to damage when they were dropped. WE kept their network in the metal frame/enclosure forever until very near the end of the manufacture of these sets.

This all had to do with saving money PLUS the fact that telcos didn't own the sets anymore, so they didn't care if they broke. When they were being rented, that was another story as Skip mentioned.

Thanks. I guess I was remembering the plastic cover over the back of the dial pads. Been awhile since I've opened up a WE. I mostly installed ITT 2500s on the old Siemens and Harris PBXs. I just remembered WE having some kind of extra dust protection over the ITT sets.

my refurbisher here gets me cortelco handsets and i find the seam on the side can be annoying comparted to the northern telecom ones

The ball bearing ringer design in the Cortelco 2500 is crap. Drop it once at the right angle, it's toast.

Opened the phone up. You could hear your echo in there. That's a thumbs down for craftsmanship.