The Vista 350 telephone and the birth of SaaS
Warning: this is a retrospective post… don’t worry, it concludes with a happy “today” message for the Software as a Service industry (SaaS).
In 1988, the top song was George Michael’s Faith… or Tracy Chapman’s Fast Cars – depending on the chart. Not a bad soundtrack to this post. I had just joined Northern Telecom’s lab – Bell Northern Research.
One of my first projects was to design a phone (correction: “consumer appliance”) that would enable third party interactive services to be delivered via ordinary analog phone lines. This project was sponsored by the Bank of Boston and BellSouth. We hacked up a data protocol, built a few hundred phones and conducted trials for the “home banking machine” in Nashville. That was 1992. The phone was code-named SESAME … as in “open Sesame”…a new portal to service. By the way, the awful acronym stood for Subscriber Enhanced Services Access Made Easy. The phone is pictured here – a three line bit-mapped display with softkeys.
The results were “OK”… but the phone looked just like a phone. There was no way the device could support a $250 price tag. 
Back to the drawing board. The next year we created the concept for the Vista 350… the market research was definitive: no one was going to pay $350 for a “phone”. So Northern (soon to be Nortel) compromised. We got to build the Vista 350 (with it’s large display and softkey interface.) We also build the Vista 250 – with a tiny display and hardkey interface. The 250 was going to sell for $250. Both the 350 and 250 operated on the same firmware. Common sense would dictate that the cheaper version of the product would prevail. So wrong.
The 250 didn’t see the light of day! The 350 took off beyond everyone’s expectations – eventually selling a couple million units. The analog protocol developed to deliver data over ordinary telephone lines ended up as a Bellcore standard (TR-1373).
But did people buy it for access to those third-party services that was the genesis of the project? No. The Vista 350 (branded in Canada), PowerTouch 350 (branded elsewhere) was just a great phone. It didn’t need a user guide. The softkey user interface was contextual… everything made sense. The industrial design was out of this world at the time. It’s still influences industrial design for current VoIP phones. Its design was even honoured with its own Canada Post stamp… The industrial designer was friend and colleague Cliff Read. We share a couple of US patents on that one.
The 350 began its retail life in 1995. At the same time, the web was catching fire – growing exponentially every week. Companies saw the web as the future delivery pipe for their services.
Despite it’s huge success as a product, the 350 failed as a services appliance. Despite its failure, we learned it was possible to open up the “fortress telco” to deliver third party services. We also learned that the quality of the user experience has a huge impact on margins and customer loyalty.
Ok – so the 350 wasn’t really the “birth” of SaaS. It was just another step towards Service Oriented Networks.
So, fire up your old “Minitel” and comment this post!
Hi, I checked out another receiver and it was fine so that appears to be my problem. Any idea where I could get a new off white receiver?
Thanx Fred
Anyone know where I can find a handset for the vista 350 in off white.
Fred
ebay?
Anyone know where I can get replacement transformers for my Nortel PowerTouch 350 single line?
i have vista 350, whose i-selsct services were working fine, since i moved to a new location ,every thing is gone. Can anybody guide me how to down load the services.
Your services were provide by your telephone company – did you switch to a different telco, or change your service package?
@Kim
Bonjour
Pour des pièces, tu peux me contacter par mon site
www3.sympatico.ca/giltech
Bye Gilles
I’ve owned the 350 since 1997, was living in Nashville at the time, had BellSouth, paid for it a little bit every month in my phone bill, it was an expensive indulgence, but I had to have it! Now I’m back in New York and I will never part with this phone (unless she quits me!) I love it.
I have had few problems with it over the years. The last 2 years I have noticed the display getting skip lines in several areas, like missing pixels, but seems to happen only when it is summer, humid and hot. It becomes unreadable then slowly comes back to “all good” after a few months and has been fine since last fall. Weird stuff.
My wishlist…only that I could add more than 50 names in my directory.
I called Verizon to get an update number for the phone, they didn’t know what I was talking about. I don’t think I even need it..Everything works great, my features all work, Caller ID, CW, Copy to Dir, Options,
everything, even with my DSL filter from Verizon, I got no complaints. A FINE design of electronic functionality, kudos!
Thanks Allison, we really appreciate that. The 350 was one of the first phones to use “brand-new” flash memory. This is the type that USB sticks use now. Back then it was pricey – but the benefit was that the memory would keep stuff without power. 50 names does seems low by today’s standards! LOL
How many electronic devices do people keep and use for over 12 years??
j’ai un téléphone nortel 350 mais j’ai un problème problème d’affichage de l’identité de l’appelant.merci d’aider à résoudre le problème.
Hey Mitch,
It’s obvious that the Vista 350 needs its own community website! Perhaps entitled “Pimp my Vista”, or something along the lines of restoring classic cars.
IMHO, any product still in use 30 years later deserves its very own web presence.
Cheers, paul
You’re right Paul… the community seems to have found a home in this post! There something in the works for vista350.com
@hans rené
Help! After many, many years of flawless service, my 350 is on the blitz! The screen is working fine, but there is a distorting buzz on the line, when I pick it up. The buzz makes it impossible to hear the other party, though it seems that they can hear me a bit.
Is there someone who can repair my 350????
-Heartbroken in Atlanta
is the buzz just in the handset or on speakerphone too?
Can anyone tell me how to reset the message button on this phone. or a service number we can contact for the US West 350. Thank you for your help
With regard to the I-Select services from Bell Canada, I have discovered that Bell no longer supports these services and therefore all phone numbers have been disconnected. If anyone knows of a Canadian Telco still offering these services could you please pass along the number.
As mentioned in earlier discussions some of the first 350 models had a printer port. A US company made a thermal printer for the Vista 350. It sold for about $290.00US. This price would have been in affect when the Vista 350 became available. The printer was about 6″ wide X 4″ long X 2.5″ thick and came with 5 rolls of thermal paper, power supply, and cables. For a long time I kept the the company’s phone number on my 350 as I intended to buy the printer. The info about the printer manufacturer I got from a call I placed to Nortel’s head office.
Over time I have lost the name and phone number of the company that made the printer. I also had a picture of the printer that I downloaded from the company’s website. I am not sure if I still have the picture. If i should find it I will post here.
Finally, after the 350 was introduced another model came out with a separate infrared keyboard option. I think it was called the Vista 450 or Vista 550.
Update on printer for vista 350:
According to the user manual for the Aastra Power Touch 350 the needed cable is a RJ-11 to RS-232. I was able to locate such a cable at this address:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=A0980176&cs=04&c=us&l=en&dgc=SS&cid=39888&lid=1022061. However the web site is showing out of stock.
The cable is made by http://www.oneilprinters.com. For those of you who wish to connect a thermal printer to your 350 this might be the place to start. This info is new to me as of the posting date and is not the unnamed manufacturer I was referring to in my first post
I am once again using my Vista 350 screen phone (can’t believe it still functions). I have had this phone since 1995 – there is only “ONE PROBLEM” – “My DIRECTORY IS LOCKED”, therefore unable to unlock so I may enter “NEW PHONE numbers”. “I HAVE LOST THE USER GUIDE” – so have no idea how to perform this feature. SOMEONE OUT THERE PLEASE HELP, ANY SUGGESTIONS? Is there a user manual to be found online? Appreciate feedback.
Desperate,
Brynnlea
Desperate no more!
To unlock the directory
press options
press hold
press # key
cheers!
BTW – the sordid history of the directory lock feature. When I first suggested the idea of a directory (US patent # 5,590,189) – the main complaint coming back from product management was that it would be too easy to change, and kids could mess around with it. Yeesh. So we added a lock directory feature into the early Vista phones. With the Vista 350, the fear was that the entire directory could easily be erased. So – the lock came back.
Wow, I can’t believe I came across this post! I have had 2 Vista 350’s since they originally came out (1995 I guess?) and they are still my 2 main phones.
I have just moved over to an IP PBX system in my house (Asterisk) and I am having a problem where a DTMF tone of some sort seems to be sent down the line during a call. I have yet to fully troubleshoot the problem (it could be the Linksys PAP2T ATA that I’m using), but I’m wondering if there is anything in the phone that would cause a tone to be sent 20-30 seconds after the call has started.
Also, is there more information available on programming for the ADSI? I see I have an ADSI option available in Asterisk and it might be fun to play around with.
Thanks for making the most beautiful phone ever!
-Kai
P.S. the screens on both of mine are dying, but I see that new (refurb) units can be had on ebay for about $25.
Hello Kai! Thanks.
The tone you’re hearing may be a CAS (cpe alerting signal) which tells the phone to switch between analog voice and data mode. Could be ADSI services trying to kick in, or call waiting ID… But that is coming from your telco not the phone.
I’m impressed that Asterisk has an ADSI feature. Perhaps it’s to replicate call management features. ADSI documention is hard to come by unless you buy it from Bellcore. Maybe other SM readers can help.
I have kept messages from my grandkids for 12 years. Every two weeks up they come to be resaved.
Is there an easier way to resave them without going through them all or is there a way to archive them?I know I don’t have to listen to the whole message to resave. I can’t find any info on this or anyone who knows.
Help and thanks.
Hi Lynne – the messages are stored by the telephone company’s voice mail service. I’m surprised you were able to keep them this long! If you are computer savvy, here are some options to download them to your PC.. http://www.soundfeelings.com/free/download_voicemail_messages.htm
If not, the simplest way is to record them with a tape player while listening to them on speakerphone.
cheers!
Thanks Mitch,
Yes , I am kind of ok on my computer and will try. Wish me luck.
I do have half of them recorded but wanted to do all of them again. I lent my recorder to one of my in laws (kids)and it dissappeared. I may just buy another. Thanks again for your help.
Lynne
@Mitch Brisebois
where can i download a user manual? thanks
http://www.florenceinc.com/docs/en/Vista350-e.pdf
I have the old 350 – the 3rd phone down at the top of this page. I had to move a desk and unplug the phone. It sat for a few months and now I cannot find the piece that goes from the phone to the electrical outlet. Any ideas where I can find one? Thanks, Sandy
http://www.telephonegenie.com/customer/product.php?productid=16151&cat=4&page=1 – pretty expensive though.
I have a Vista 350 phone. It does NOT pick up all of the caller ID’s. Sometime it does and others it doesn’t register that anyone is calling. Its not just long distance callers but it does this for calls whose names are entered into the directory on the phone. What is wrong with the phone to cause this? We just replaced our old phone with the Vista 350. The old phone picked up all caller Id’s no problem, but this one sometimes does and sometimes doesn’t. Can anyone help? Thanks!
Is this a used model or refurbished? Could be defective. Only other cause I can think of is interference with a DSL splitter (in case you’re getting internet via SaskTel)
We are getting internet via sasktel…its dial up. How would I check the splitter and interference? It was refurbished…any idea where I can buy a brand new one? Every website I go to its all refurbished ones. Paid $90 for it.
On dial-up, you won’t have a splitter – so that’s not the problem. The Vista 350 hasn’t been manufactured for about 10 years. Originally by Nortel, the product line was sold to Aastra. Updated models include the 390 shown here http://www.aastra.com/cps/rde/xchg/SID-3D8CCB6A-4D8B709F/04/hs.xsl/19584.htm
It’s likely to be much more $ than you paid though. I assume you’ve checked the cables – making sure the power adapter and line cord are securely plugged in. Perhaps try it on another jack. If you have other phones plugged in on the same line try removing them to see if the problem continues. I can’t say this has been a common problem with the 350, although the modem (component that interprets the caller ID) is susceptible to voltage spikes that could occur due to lightning strikes, etc. Then again, if it was damaged, the problem would not be intermittent.
Can the 350 be connected to 2 separate phone lines? I would like to put my exsisting phone and another line that i use for long distance on the same phone. Can this be done on this phone or do i need additional equipment?
The 350 is only a single-line set. One solution is buying a 2-line switching box (they sell for about $10) Search on Amazon or the Source.
Hi Mitch,
We’ve had Vista 350s for over 10 years and we love em. But in the last year they’ve started to malfunction, the red light is on even after we hang up the phone. Do you know how to fix this?
Also, what would you recommend as a good replacement for the 350? Thanks.
Hi Sammy, glad to hear you’ve enjoyed your 350! Not too many consumer electronic products these days would last 10-15 years! Not sure what’s up with your light. The phone thinks that an extension is in use. Try unplugging any other phones in the house and see if the light goes off.
Vista replacement? Good Question. Few companies have been developing high-end home phones (tragically!) Try Aastra.com for the Vista 390. This is the company that bought the Vista product line from Nortel. Good luck and let us know what you end up buying!
My newtel Screen is broken Or needs to change 350 Module 3 slot….any one can help
Hi Sammy, the red light may be on because the message waiting indicator is stuck on the switch with your telco company. They will have to reset it. Usually happens when you have listened to a message & then made an out going call before the switch reset & when it tried to reset your tel line was then busy. @Sammy
I am looking for help on making the display on the 350 show the name instead of gibberish. I have had the phone for so many years now & have long ago lost the manual. I did find the manual on line but it makes no referrence to this problem. Can anyone help. Thanks
I opened up a Nortel Vista 350 and I am having trouble reassembling it. Does someone a shematic of what the inside of the phone looks like?
I need a power unit to plug in my 350. Where can I purchase one or does someone have an extra for sale Thx
I am in need of a power plug for my AT&T 350. Is there any where in the Nashville, Tn. area that I can purchase it or any place on line that I can get one at a reasonable price. Look forward to hearing from anyone.