Commodore 1983 Phone: Canada-Only VICModem Bundle from Hardwired Telecom RulesCommodore 1983 Phone: Canada-Only VICModem Bundle from Hardwired Telecom Rules

In 1983, Commodore partnered with Northern Telecom to release a specially branded rotary dial telephone bundled with the VICModem — but only in Canada. Canadian telecom regulations required all Bell Canada phones to be hardwired, meaning handsets were permanently attached to their bases. This made the standard VICModem strategy — intercepting the line between a modular handset and base via an RJ-9 jack — impossible. Commodore's workaround was to bundle the modem with a Northern Telecom rotary phone built specifically for the Canadian market, creating one of the rarest pieces of Commodore hardware ever released.

So Commodore's VICModem worked by splitting the line between a phone's handset and base — easy in countries with modular phones. But in 1983 Canada, Bell Canada's exclusive supplier Northern Telecom only made hardwired phones, meaning the handset was permanently attached. Commodore's fix: bundle the modem with a branded Northern Telecom rotary phone, sold only in Canada. It's now one of the rarest Commodore hardware pieces out there.