atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems XBlue Networks Telephones & Systems Wall mounting warning

The wall mounting is a dingbat operation.

Normally on most anything out there, you screw on a wall mount plate and hang the phone.

On Friday I had to wall mount an X-16 in place of an old single line phone where there was wood molding on both sides of the plate.

I put an A&TT extra depth plate over the regular plate. This unit gives you an extra RJ14 jack on the bottom for answering machine etc. The mounting holes lined up, the jack lined up and everything was fine until I tried to put the phone on the extended depth wall mount.

The top hole fit but the bottom hole was way off. I took the AT&T mount off and the mounting pins on the standard plate were the same as the AT&T plate.

Tech support was very nice and explained that the X-16 wall mount is meant to have screw in pins where you would normally secure the wall plate to the wall and not use the top and bottom pins that are riveted.

I've never been to Taiwan to wall mount a phone so it came as a surprise I would have to search out a wall mount bracket that had screw buttons you could place in the wrong place to make it the right place for an X-16.

I understand that people are making phones for a world market and America is only part of the world but then they could make the base bracket fit both the American standard and the standard of the manufacturing company.

The X-16 base could easily be manufactured to fit both some asian standard we have not heard of and also the American standard. They put in a short wall cord and expect you to go find a specific type of wall mount.

The system is affordable and works but this wall mount lack of forethought in manufacturing is just plain dingbat.

Bunnie, I am afraid I must agree with you on the wall mount thing....get the old GTE wall plates....some manufacturers use the double bottom mounting hole ...but not X-Blue.

:shrug:

Yep, I had the same problem. Just used the template and mounted it to the side of the jack. You'd think they'd make them fit a standard wall jack.

I've never seen a wll jack that had adjustable pins. I'm pretty sure that's what the installation manual said to use. I'll try to find that and post back.

I was assured by Ernie Meadows that these phones can be used with standard US wall mount jacks; the problem is that GTE came out with their "Phone Mart" wall phone jack along with their own set of standards. Many Asian manufacturers still haven't figured out which is correct.

So are you saying that there aren't two "bottom holes" for the mounting lugs? From what Ernie told me, all you should have to do is engage the bottom lug in the bottom hole, slide the base down about a half-inch, then engage the top lug into the top hole and lock it down. Am I wrong?

Yes page 16.

"When mounting a Digital Telephone endpoint be sure to use the inner posts on an adjustable wall mount plate."

I couldn't make it work Ed and that's not what the manual says.

Standard is not the standard we know...PLUS....the thickness of the material of the set makes it tight on the lugs...jam and slam....

From what tech support told me, Iwatsu and others use this weird standard.

You can hang the phone on the top pin, but the other slot is off and the phone will not be secure. One bump and the X-16 is on the floor.

The Abrivo phone I use here is the same as the 45P phone and that has two standard holes. Somewhere in the development of the 45P they had everything right and then the wall mounting development team on the X-16 got drunk and decided the Americans would only use the X-16 on a desk.

I took a closer look this am. The phones are meant to mount on the screws of a standard single gang electric box or LV plaster ring. At least that's how they line up. I searched the internet for "telephone adjustable wall mount plate" and found nothing. Also searched "wall Jack" and "630A jack" and found nothing that would work. So I guess, at least for now, I'll continue to mount them off to the side or above or below the 630a on screws into a stud. I suppose if it were over a plaster ring or single gang box you could just put a 42a mod jack in the box or wall and mount it that way too. Probably one of those things that should be looked at instead or doing a Rube Goldberg type install. Once again not a show stopper though.

Missed that part of your question Ed. No there are not.

thats what the old , GTE wall jacks did

it was two turned metal pieces you put behind the mounting screw's of a standard jack to turn it into a wall jack


if you could find a source of them you would be all set or spend some time in a hardware store and see what you could come up with

thinking about it Xblue should be able to have something made pretty cheaply that they could supply with the phone, probably be cheaper , easier than retooling the current phone plastic

Skip....hmmmm, wall mounting kit????
Many other brands used to do that.

Bill, call Graybar and ask for the "plastic" wall universal AllenTel screw type wall plate. No stainless steel here...but where the normal inner screws that hold on the cover plate there is a replacement "stud" to hang the sets on and hold the cover on...all in one. Without the studs it is a replacement for a surface mount plate (down low). I've taken a ton of them out...(Junk as far as I'm concerned).

Think I'll let X-Blue find a fix. Until then I'll just continue as I have. Thanks for the info Ken.

I was thinking more along the lines as a free item if needed , packed with new phones

it used to really get to me that the customer has just paid upwards of 200 for a phone and then you had to buy a 20- 30 dollar kit to hang it on the wall

I just got this email From Mike Sandman regarding the wallmount problem

ITT Corinth has made 554 and 2554 single line wall phones for decades.
They're now called Corteclo. I would imagine that's what they're talking about?

At a minimum, I'd never mount the phone next to a jack. Leave the wall jack off, and put a surface mount jack inside the wall. I would personally just crimp on a mod plug to the cable, bring it through a small hole, and plug it into the back of the phone before I hung it on the screws. You may have to crimp it twice to get the polarity correct (then write down the way to crimp it on the cover of your manual for that system).

That's been the standard method for mounting many wall phones since the Merlin days. Some wall phone kits gave you space to mount the surface mount jack in the wall base.

If you have a single gang box in the wall, just leave the surface mount jack inside the box and use a cord to connect to the phone when you hang the screws.

You may find that the screw spacing is the same as that on a single gang outlet box if you hold a regular flush jack to the back of the phone?

If it's some kind of Chinese phone, they don't really follow standards until someone complains (they copy, but not necessarily exactly). They've never really used phones in China (not much copper plant there), so the guy who designed it probably had no idea.

It's expensive to change a mold, and if they already have phones out there it makes them incompatible with what's out there, if they change it now.

Have fun... Mike

Also got an email from Paul Lynch vp product development Xblue

When we first started working on this system we could get these wall mount plates almost everywhere, but now I too am having problems find them. I am working with some plastic manufacturers to see if we can get them or an adapter manufactured.

Paul