Nortel payphones are the type of Payphones used in Canada.
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Nortel has manufactured several types in Canada:
Early payphones
Series 200/ QSD-3A
Northern Electric, Nortel's previous name made chrome payphones in the 1950s. The same phone was also made by Western Electric.
Centurion
Nortel Centurion were made in the 1970s-1980s and used coins only. They came in black, brown, or green cases. Initial units used a rotary dial system and later units were touch tone key pad.
Centurions had a coin return button.
Centurion 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
The Nortel Millennium were introduced in the 1990s and allowed the use of coins and cards (credit card or phone cards as well as "smart" chip cards.) These units came with touch tone key pad only. A display screen allowed user to view the number dial and change between two language, where the phone-operator has a choice of any combination of English, French, Spanish and Japanese
These units were used by:
For coin return, Millennium users must hang up the receiver first.
The copyright to this unit was sold to QuorTech when Nortel moved away from manufacturing phone devices.
The whole basis of the Millennium Payphones was to introduce network control. The control center can be configured to monitor many things such as how full the cashbox is, is the coin validator jammed, and specific jam alarms indicate where these jams are likely to be. Area Codes can be blocked from specific phones on the phone itself if specific fraud scenarios are being targeted. There are sensor options for the vault area which determine if the set is being pounded (like a hammer and chisel) so that campus or other types of local security can be dispatched.
A Mondex version of the payphone was also produced. It has a special larger display with navigation keys. There is also an inmate version of the card only set.
Vista 350 with card reader
Nortel made a variant of their Vista 350 with a card reader attached to the right side of the device. Users would insert a credit card or phone card to make calls. These types of phones are found in malls, hotels & hospitals in Canada & The United Kingdom.