Abdy Retro Vintage Telephone Services

Telephone Ringer for Vintage Telephones ("Exchange in a Box")

Simple telephone intercom system a.k.a Stage Telephone Ringer. Dubbed "Exchange in a Box" . Amazingly easy to setup and use.

Behaves intuitively, exactly like making calls to and from a normal UK land line telephone, so no training or skills required and no embarrassing moments, like the telephone continuing to ring when it has been picked up.

Much better than any simple electronic "telephone ring generator". Designed for when you need to use ANY land line telephone in: Escape rooms, Films/TV, Museums Theatre productions, Vintage telephone collections, interactive art exhibitions etc.

Please note that our phone ring simulator system will work with both modern push button tone phones and vintage/antique mechanical dial telephones.

Why we developed plug & play "Exchange in a Box"

Ever since the 1970's I have been looking for a simple intercom solution that would work with standard land line telephones, one that did not require complicated setup or maintenance. Basically a system that you just plugged in and switched on. I could never find one, so a few years ago I designed and built my own. This simple system I have now named "Exchange in a Box" Unlike other solutions out there it has all the UK tones and the distinctive British telephone ring. The really good news is that this unique solution is now available at a very reasonable cost.

Initially I designed this system to show off my "vintage telephone" collection but soon realised it would be ideal as a stage prop in plays and on TV. For example it was used on UK TV in a television series called "Find it Fix it Flog it". More recently it has been used in escape rooms and in museums!

We are now selling a (plug and play) unit that will allow you to create an intercom system using standard British land line phones (this could easily include one or more of our vintage telephones). These units have multiple uses including Theatre and Stage telephone ringers (for ringing vintage phones onstage) and in house wired telephone intercoms using either modern or vintage land line dial telephones or a combination of both. Please see our Telephone Intercom page for more details and videos of them in actual use.

Bespoke Vintage Telephone Solutions

As well as the plug and play "Exchange in a Box" we also offer bespoke telephony solutions for all aspects of vintage telephone connection. This is particularly useful for museums and interactive art exhibitions that want to incorporate land line telephones.

We believe we are currently the only people in the UK offering these services. Our solutions are all based on "off the shelf" commercial grade telephony/computer hardware. We develop the software and provide telephony knowledge to make them work for our customers.

Our chief engineer has over 30 years experience in the telephony sector (including 25 years leading software development teams for BT.  He also has a degree in computer studies and over 20 City & Guilds qualifications in electronics (to Advanced level).

Our nostalgic solutions are guaranteed to bring memories flooding back from the 1970’s and 1980’s. In our opinion, no modern phone bell or buzzer sounds as good as the genuine mechanical bells used in these old phones. You might even start answering the phone by reciting your old telephone number as in days gone by!

Old fashioned telephones help you remember a time when life was more relaxed and British engineering was still the best in the world.