I have a large collection of antique telephones, and have been looking for a PBX to run them as PAX extensions, for demonstration purposes.
There are several small Mitels (a 20 and a 50) on Ebay, and the price is right. A long time ago, I had experience, mostly bad, working on SX100 and SX200 systems for Ma Bell. I seem to recall that there is some kind of software license or some impediment to using a used Mitel PBX without licensing.
If I buy a small one, can I hire the experts on this forum to help me get one set up and programmed? Anything to avoid? Etc?
Thank you for your advice.
There is only one Mitel on eBay that I would ever consider buying and it's the SX-20. Any of the 200's have software transfer issues.
If you're just looking for basic dialtone, you might want to pick up a Panasonic KXT 61610 cabinet. It will get you 16 2-digit extensions at 24 volts with a 90volt ring generator.
Again, avoid the 1232 and the DBS. The former runs on magic smoke and the latter has no single line ports.
Carl
"Any of the 200's have software transfer issues."
you are refering to digitals ml's and el's
right?not the analog 200?
Correct. The only offerings on eBay were digital.
24 volts might not get you dial tone on antique phones - not sure.
Antique phones will work on 24 volts.
You can have an SX200 D/L, EL, or ML relicensed to you by your local Mitel distributor. It's mostly painless.
"Again, avoid the 1232 and the DBS. The former runs on magic smoke and the latter has no single line ports." I still have a 8 or more 123211d's
out there running like a champ!!
There are two kinds of 123211d's ones with dead poswer supplies and ones with power supplies that are going to die.
I had one in a school system that ran for about 10 years and was on a battery backup. I unplugged it to move it and it never came back up :-) Another customer had a permanent Molex connector on the battery backup port tied to an external power supply. I have a couple of dead cabinets in the warehouse that just house cards and spare parts because the switching power supplies are dead.
I guess that's what YMMV means.
Carl
Carl, P'sonic's aren't the only ones that 'die while off'! Mite SX20's are good/bad for that! And 100/200 analog! Truth be known, I'll bet all brands have at least 1 system that is notorious for that! I think the operative point here is 'ran for 10 years and was on battery backup'. That's when all old systems croak! Turn it off, and it's off for keeps!
John C. (Not Garand)