Northern Telecom Payphone (1980s)
Northern Telecom, known as Nortel from 1998, manufactured several different payphone models, most commonly used in Canada and the United States. Here are some of the notable models:
- Early Payphones (Series 200/ QSD-3A): Northern Electric, Nortel’s previous name, made chrome payphones in the 1950s1. These were also made by Western Electric.
- Centurion: These were made in the 1970s–1980s and used coins only. They came in black, brown, blue, or green cases. Initial units used a rotary dial system and later units were touch tone key pad. Coin slot accepted denominations of 5, 10 and 25 cents. Centurions had a coin return button. They were used by Bell Canada, MTS, Telephone Milot and other local phone companies in Canada. Additionally, Centurions were used by companies in the United States such as Embarq, and a number of other independent telephone companies.
- Millennium: Introduced in the 1990s, these allowed the use of coins (5, 10, 25 cents and 1 dollar for Canadian versions) and cards (credit card or phone cards as well as “smart” chip cards). They were equipped with an advanced electronic coin validator, which could detect slugs or coin blockages. These units came with a touch tone key pad only. A display screen allowed the user to view the number dialed and switch between two languages. The VFD display also allows the operating company to set scrolling messages and ads. The rights to Millennium phones were sold to QuorTech when Nortel moved away from manufacturing phone devices, and were subsequently sold to WiMacTel.
These payphones have played a significant role in the telecommunication history of North America.
We offer Daily and Weekly rentals of our Payphone we can also provide on set functionality should your production require a working phone.