Poor designs like that make me miss the well-made Ma Bell phones from
> the days of yore.
Why miss them? My desk phone is a 2565 set that I picked up at a ham flea market in the 80's. (If you didn't grab a few when they were really cheap they are certainly available on eBay. Either way they pretty much last forever.)
The other day I finally had to adjust the row oscillator in the DTMF pad because "6" was no longer working with an ISDN terminal adapter. (It still worked for POTS; it was just a little off.) It was quite difficult to turn the tuning slug. Eventually I used a triangular file held in a Vice Grip pliers. (Even after I broke it free I don't think any plastic tool would have turned it.) Using a metal tool I had to do a bit of tweak/remove/test, but once I had row #2 set all the others were correct to within the accuracy of my meter. The columns were perfect to begin with. I hope for another 20+ years of service before more maintenance is required. :)
Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com