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Posted By: dbcurrie AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/01/14 10:46 PM
My MIL has an old AT&T 5830 phone and we need to update her speed dial numbers and have no clue how to do so. She doesn't have a manual. Any ideas?

I've done a search, and there's a new phone with this number, but this is a much older model. She's not about to buy a new one unless this breaks, so that's not an option.
Posted By: justbill Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/01/14 11:08 PM
Manual click here you don't say how old, but this is copyright dated 2002. I saw no new AT&T phone with the same model number.
Posted By: dbcurrie Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/01/14 11:27 PM
The one we're talking about is definitely older than that. It's a putty beige color, no buttons on the base, no answering machine or other features, but apparently there's speed-dial. I should have taken a photo.
Posted By: justbill Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/02/14 12:11 AM
The AT&T manual site shows discontinued but it wouldn't surprise me if it came with a different base in a cheaper model also.

At any rate this manual show a phone book only, no one touch speed dial. I'd think playing around with the menu would tell you all you'd need to know.

If the hand set is the same as the manual provided I'd think the info would be good.
Posted By: dbcurrie Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/02/14 01:21 AM
It's definitely not just a cheaper model. I'm guessing the one she has is a 900mhz 1980's phone. It's ancient.

I didn't get to look at the handset because she was using another phone and I didn't want to pick up while she was talking, but my husband saw it on a previous visit and said that the screen was big enough for one line of text. No idea about the buttons.

Three people before me have looked at the phone and found the manual that you linked, and they gave up on it. No one wants to go with trial-and-error because she has numbers programmed in that she doesn't want to lose.

It would be easier if she just got another phone, but she's not going to do that.
Posted By: dexman Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/02/14 03:02 AM
The original 5830 is so old that even Advanced American Telephones (The division of VTech that deals with at&t branded telephones) won't have the owner's manual archived.

I'm afraid that this will end up being a lost cause. frown
Posted By: dbcurrie Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/02/14 04:49 PM
That's what I'm afraid of, but I'm hoping someone might still have theirs. This can't be the only one still in existence. Or maybe it is.

I wish she'd just get a new one, but as long as it works, she's not going to. She's still got a corded phone in another room.

Thanks for trying.
Posted By: Touch Tone Tommy Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/03/14 02:12 AM
You can use an app on your smart phone to decode DTMF digits, if you need to decipher those old speed dials. Then you will know the numbers programmed on the buttons, get a brand new set up, and put the numbers back in.
Posted By: dexman Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/03/14 08:44 AM
I think that the problem is that the procedure for updating the speed dial presets is unknown and that the owner refuses to purchase a new cordless phone.
Posted By: justbill Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/03/14 01:49 PM
Originally Posted by dexman
the owner refuses to purchase a new cordless phone.

That's the problem and we can't help with stubborn. I'd still run through the menu, there's nothing to loose and you still have the "get a new one" option if you can't figure it out, besides the menu will usually pretty much point you in the right direction.
Posted By: dexman Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/03/14 04:49 PM
It may not be that intuitive. I believe that the original 5830 predates Caller ID so there won't be a display and menu.
Posted By: dbcurrie Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/03/14 07:56 PM
If it was me, I'd get a new one, but this is my mother-in-law's phone and she's 80 years old and doesn't want anything with frightening digital displays or multiple buttons. So if I took a sledgehammer to this thing, she'd probably go to a thrift store and buy a similarly old phone. Or worse. Seriously, she's got a corded phone in another room that she still uses.

We just need to get some important numbers put into the phone, and dead people removed, and that's about it.

Meanwhile, I contacted AT&T on Facebook, they gave me an email address and and case number, and I've gotten a response saying they're going to put me in contact with someone. Probably some old guy in a basement who has a room full of ancient equipment and dusty manuals.
Posted By: dexman Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/03/14 09:53 PM
If she doesn't really use the cordless phone, and is willing to add another corded phone with lots of speed dial memories, I would suggest an AT&T 925 single line telephone. No display but 30+ memory slots.

The phone is also discontinued, but, examples sometimes appear on eBay. I think I have a few somewhere in the basement. The AT&T 922 is the two line version and more common than the 925.
Posted By: dbcurrie Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/04/14 05:46 PM
I think she needs to keep at least one cordless, so she's not chained to a wall or desk. It's hard with someone like her - she doesn't want a replacement because this phone still works and she knows how to use it.

I'm still waiting to see if AT&T is of any help with the phone. You'd think they'd have the documentation filed away somewhere, if only for giggles. We'll see.
Posted By: dexman Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/04/14 10:57 PM
I'm not sure who actually made that telephone. Starting with divestiture in the early 80s, telephones sporting the AT&T/Lucent logos have been manufactured by several companies including Panasonic, Phillips and...since 2000....VTech. crazy

There are so few of those vintage phones still in use today that VTech...if it has access to a copy of the instruction manual...won't bother to post it.

There is one other place to check...The company that currently runs the telephone rental program that used to be a part of the Bell System, leases old vintage telephones. They might have some leads.

The company is called QLT Consumer Lease Services. The 5830 is not a listed model, but who knows? They still lease rotary dial phones laugh
Posted By: dbcurrie Re: AT&T 5830 - old model - setup - 09/05/14 06:26 PM
Cool! Thanks!
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