sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Toshiba Telephones & Systems HELP! Inherited DK280. Now what do I do to make it work?

The small counseling office I work for just bought a new building, and with it we inherited a Toshiba Strata DK 280 system and about a dozen DKT2020-SD and other model station phones. Being the geek that I am, I was thrilled. This has gotta be better than the "fake phone system" GE phones we currently have.

However, this system is waaaaay out of my realm of experience, and I have no idea where to begin. I've found some of the manual downloads after spending hours with my good friend Google, but I'm still not sure where to start. I've even tried calling a couple of local (Atlanta) companies that "claim" to service Toshiba systems, but no one seems to want to return my call. I guess since the 280 is an older system they'd rather deal with new systems they sell and can make more money on. Heh... not to sound peeved or anything!

Here's the complete scenario (you may want to print this out, take it to bed, and read it as a sleep aid). First, a few pictures:

https://acesllc.org/images/phone_computer_room.jpg
https://acesllc.org/images/phone_cabinet.jpg
https://acesllc.org/images/phone_cabinet_label_blurry.jpg
https://acesllc.org/images/phone_dkt2020-sd.jpg

The boss had AT&T turn on a single phone line last week. I have no idea where that is hooked up -- just that it's somewhere in the stuff in the bottom of the first picture. Eventually we'll have the three lines from the current office (just a few doors down) moved here.

I grabbed one of the desk sets hand headed from room to room (dodging contractors armed with paint rollers) and tested several jacks. They all worked, and each jack displayed a different extension and name on the phone. This used to be a medical office, so there were things like "Exam 2", "Biomedical", "Breakroom" and the like. So it seems the system is, for the most part, working. The boss and I hooked up a couple of phones, and I was even able to call from one extension to another. However, when I press the "Line 1" button on the phone, I get nothing. I guess this is because that new line isn't really hooked up to to our stuff. Also, I haven't found the jack for the magical extension 200 -- but I didn't really look for it, since I didn't find out about it until after I'd left the new building.

I did notice a couple of jacks in the telephone room that were labelled "CO1" "CO2" and so on on this other box thing, and If I recall the wires had been cut on them. Actually, there were very many cables that had simply been cut, and I have no idea where they should have gone.

So here is my first big question: With the help of people here, can I get this thing working with the four lines (actually, three, one will be for fax) we'll eventually have? Or, do I need to keep calling around and pestering people until I can get someone to come out and hook us up? Really, given the stress of all that has to be done for the move, I'd rather have someone come out -- I have far more than enough to do as it is. But, of course, the geek in me wants to do it myself.

Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

PS: I downloaded this: https://telecoms.toshiba.co.uk/Support/Key%20strip%20templates.aspx Is there special paper I can get somewhere for printing these and putting them in the DKT2020 stations?

NM on that last part about the labels. Found www.desi.com

Well first off the dk280 and the phones you have
will probably give you many years of service.

Second the phone lines being mixed in all "that stuff on the bottom " Looks like fire ,burgler and god knows what.

So if I were in your position I would locate a local guy Toshiba dealer or some one who knows Toshiba or basic telephony to get you up and going with initial lines and basic programming.

You need to inventory the mystical cards in the box to see what you have and where you can go.
There are various plugins including voice mail.

I would also purchase installation and programming manuals {link above ]

Once this is working you have a better shot @ maintaining the system .

Desi are the people that sell the paper inserts
that are on the phone ,not exactly a priority
in the place you are right now.

Lastly any professional in this business is not looking at you as a pest. The people in this industry are well trained and respond to a call like yours everyday .

a pic with the cover off would be good, hopefully you got a stratagy in there and your good to go...

I agree a local dealer will be able to program that thing for you with his eyes closed ...

they will be able to hook you up with some blank desi's as well, always amazes me how desi's magically disappear..

thats your best bet

Woot! </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I knew the people on this forum would be able to point me in the right directions. Big thanks to everyone who has replied!!!!

Anyway, like I said, I'll try some more phone people. Actually, one of the manual links above is someone in metro Atlanta -- www.phonemanuals.com / www.phoneman4u.com -- I have this good feeling that he'll be able to help.

If not, I may be begging you guys for more help. I'm not looking for freebies/handouts --the company has no probs paying a qualified pro to come out and hook us up. It's just that I have 2 weeks to get this thing up and running before we move.

Again, thanks for everyone's help and suggestions so far!

Good deal

Hopefully a pro can get your dialtone from the big pipe on the bottom to the gray box on the top , make a few stops in between if your using fire/burg alarms

Hello woodega,

Welcome to the board!

Find a local Toshiba dealer to come out and spend a couple hours clenaing that mess up, as well as giving you a basic user training.

After the clean up and training, have the tech show you how to do some system admin stuff like change names/ basic ringing/ etc.

Clear pictures with the cover off, to see what cards you have, would be great too!

Again, you have a system that should give you years of reliable service.

(telcom1.net, is there a desi monster that eats those things?!?! they always dissapear!)

Thanks,
Tony

I'm happy to say that I've got someone local to help with my dk280. Today I talked to John at Manuals Plus / www.phonemanuals.com / www.phoneman4u.com (listed in the manuals section on this very site). I figured if he was listed here, he was probably reliable. Thanks y'all!

As for what's inside the cabinet, here's what I found when I pulled the cards one at a time (power off, of course!)

1x RCTUA3 (Why does this "Processor Card" have an RCA audio cable stuck in it?)
3x PDKU2 (24 digital desk sets, right?)
1x RCOU1 + RCOS1A (does this mean what I think -- 8 lines? Woot! Only need 3.)
1x RSTU2 (For 8 analog phones, yes?)
1x RSSU1A (Serial Port Interface Unit? What's this do?)

Here's a pic: https://www.acesllc.org/images/phone_cards.jpg (Sorry about the blurriness. iPhones do many things well; taking good photos is not one of them.)

No Stratagy VM, huh? GRRRR. There are these two small single-card cabinets that contain boards like I've seen in other telecom setups, so maybe, just maybe it's in one of those. I'll dissect those next.

Getting in and working on the system should be much easier now -- contractors should be done with paint & carpet tomorrow, Thursday at the latest. We still haven't set a move date, but I'm sure with John's help, we'll be ready! He also told be about something called "Dual Service" (I think), so maybe we can have the phone's going in both places with the same numbers. The new building, as I mentioned, is only a very short walk from the old place. Maybe AT&T can get us going.

Again, thank you all for your generous help! You have no idea how much stress you've helped relieve. Plus, my geek neurons are doing the happy dance because they're learning new stuff.

Audio cable is for MOH



Good luck and keep us up to date!

While the RSTU2 can be used for standard analog phones, it was probably used for an external voicemail box. Unfortunatly, one popular VM for this system was a PC based Stratagy, so if the former tenant got rid of all the "Computers", the VoiceMail may have gone away with them.