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New customer moved to a new service provider. has 5 AT&T 4-line phones. He says since moving he now no longer has line privacy & calls placed on hold will only hang up from the original set and not from any other sets. Checked manuals & line privacy is not a programable option, other than doing a manual privacy release. Help?

When I scan the 954's User Guide, I do not see any direct references to a Privacy feature. There are a few indirect references. Here is 1 of them:

"Cannot Join a Conversation in Progress
The privacy feature prevents another set on the system from interrupting a
conversation. Make sure you press the line button to release privacy."

If I understand this correctly, a Privacy feature is automatic unless you press a line button in a certain way.

I believe later NoKSU units sold under the AT&T brand name (manufactured by VTech) have a dedicated Privacy button on the telephone.

All the feature stuff works off a signal on the first line. If you have DSL filters on the phones they will not pass the frequency used for this. This is what it sounds like you have to me. I'm betting intercom doesn't work either. You need a splitter ahead of all the phones.

My tech has been on site, I have not. These are working off an Adtran 608 T1 service which provides the dial tone. We will check on DSL filters. They were previously on pots lines. Thanks for the replys.

Remember that KSU-less phones are very dependent upon CO line voltages to be within FCC and Telecordia specs. This is especially true with line holding. Outputs on FXS ports from channel banks or IADs are typically 10-15 volts lower than a true CO line.

I'd take a few of the phones and connect them to some "real" phone lines to see if they behave.