My Rotary-Dial Phone Is Working!

[BMalion]

I needed to get landline anyway, for my Aler1® emergency button (I've fallen and I can't get up!). So I asked AT&T if they still accomodated rotary phones. "sure, we'll put in 2 phone-jacks".

I haven't had a landline since 1999, and I haven't had to "dial" a phone since I was a little kid.

I found a heavy, black bakelite, antique office-phone at a swap-meet in 2004. It cost me $3 and still had the old 4-prong wall plug. I got an adaptor and plugged it in, viola!

"One ringy-dingy..."

[bot3]

My son has a phone like that in his house. It actually has better sound quality than the cell phone.

[PlainJain]

Originally Posted by Norm201

My son has a phone like that in his house. It actually has better sound quality than the cell phone.

Don't most land lines?

[johnpost]

sure the dial still works. and the bell will get your attention, no wimpy sound.

i'm still waiting for that dial picture phone.

[bot3]

Originally Posted by PlainJain

Don't most land lines?

Not necessarily. They problem is stuffing it your pocket when you want to go to anther part of the house.

[Musicat]

It's not surprising. POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) connections, which all (at least in the USA) are, works just fine with technology that has roots in the 1870s. That's 1870s for you younguns. It's a marvelous example of compatibility.

[davidm]

My rotary cellphone works fine! http://wp7applist.com/app/30113/rotary-dialer-free

[Emtar KronJonDerSohn]

I dunno, I'm surprised it works. I thought we had to replace all our rotary and pulse phones when we ordered touch tone service in the 80's. Maybe it was just a clever pitch to sell touch tone phones?

[Musicat]

Originally Posted by Emtar KronJonDerSohn

I dunno, I'm surprised it works. I thought we had to replace all our rotary and pulse phones when we ordered touch tone service in the 80's. Maybe it was just a clever pitch to sell touch tone phones?

What made you think that? Even modern electronic phones have a pulse mode (or at least the last one I bought does). Touch Tone was always an option, not a requirement. You can even "dial" today by breaking the connection in a regular manner with the on-hook switch. Did you know that?

[Eve]

Aren't they great? I have two (working) rotary phones, bought ages ago from a company in the Midwest that saves and resells old phones.

In my office, a 1919 brass candlestick phone: http://p2.la-img.com/1225/28916/11134563_1_m.jpg

And in my bedroom, a French-style 1930s phone: http://zapprops.com/home/wp-content/...ht30sphone.jpg

[aceplace57]

I have a rotary wall phone in the kitchen. Also a cordless phone with two charger stations.

The only problem I have is the appointment reminder calls from my dentist and doctor. They want you to press 1 to acknowledge the appointment. if I happpen to answer in the kitchen, then That's when I have to run to the living room and use the cordless phone to press the 1. That only happens a few times a year.

[Senegoid]

Originally Posted by Emtar KronJonDerSohn

I dunno, I'm surprised it works. I thought we had to replace all our rotary and pulse phones when we ordered touch tone service in the 80's. Maybe it was just a clever pitch to sell touch tone phones?

Kinda hard to figure just what Ma Bell was thinking in those days (ETA: Meaning, as far back as the late 1960's). Touch-tone was fairly new, and all the (significant) phone companies (all ONE of them, to-wit Ma Bell) were heavily pushing it in their advertising. And yet.... And yet ....

When you actually ordered a touch-tone connections, it cost MORE per month than a pulse-only connection. (This was true at least as late as 1971 or 1972, when I got my very own phone account for the first time.) So I order a pulse-only connection. I asked the customer rep on the phone the obvious question: If you're so pushing to move everybody to touch-tone, why do you charge more for it?

Customer Service rep: (mumble)

Note, in those days, you didn't get any useful value (that I knew of anyway) out of having touch-tone. This was long before you could do any sort of data-by-telephone activities, like phone banking or bill-paying or trekking your way through Og-awful phone menus, etc. Although certainly, the phone companies knew and intended that this would be the future of telecommunications.

ETA: Modern-day automated phone answering machines with those voice menus are high on my list of inventions the world didn't need.

[Musicat]

Originally Posted by Senegoid

Kinda hard to figure just what Ma Bell was thinking in those days (ETA: Meaning, as far back as the late 1960's). Touch-tone was fairly new, and all the (significant) phone companies (all ONE of them, to-wit Ma Bell) were heavily pushing it in their advertising. And yet.... And yet ....

When you actually ordered a touch-tone connections, it cost MORE per month than a pulse-only connection. (This was true at least as late as 1971 or 1972, when I got my very own phone account for the first time.) So I order a pulse-only connection. I asked the customer rep on the phone the obvious question: If you're so pushing to move everybody to touch-tone, why do you charge more for it?

In 1971, Ma Bell was still a monopoly, I believe. Charging more for a technological advance was just part of the pricing game plan and easier to force if you have no competition.

Heck, I paid a couple of dollars more per month for Touch-tone in 1960 just because I liked the way I could dial fast (and I was a geek). And that was when long distance numbers were rarely used.

[BMalion]

Originally Posted by davidm

My rotary cellphone works fine! http://wp7applist.com/app/30113/rotary-dialer-free

Oh yeah, a cartoon of a REAL LIVE rotary-dial.

[An Gadaí]

Brian, I must get your number so I can give you a call one of these evenings.

[BMalion]

Originally Posted by An Gadaí

Brian, I must get your number so I can give you a call one of these evenings.

Not a chance!

takes me 5 - 10 rings to answer it, and it's always been a stupid robo-call. I ignore it now.

Unless we work out a precise time.

[An Gadaí]

Originally Posted by BMalion

Not a chance!

takes me 5 - 10 rings to answer it, and it's always been a stupid robo-call. I ignore it now.

OK I'll post you a letter telling you what time I'll be calling at. Or I could just semaphore you.

[fubbleskag]

Originally Posted by BMalion

"One ringy-dingy..."

somehow, this makes you seem older than either the need for an alert system or the desire for an old phone :P

[BMalion]

Originally Posted by fubbleskag

somehow, this makes you seem older than either the need for an alert system or the desire for an old phone :P

Well, I am 51 years old.


I guess I'm part-Amish, in that I love old technology.

[An Gadaí]

Aye, I've seen your claymore. And I'm not talking mines here folks.

[Sunspace]

Originally Posted by davidm

My rotary cellphone works fine! http://wp7applist.com/app/30113/rotary-dialer-free

An app?!! What are you trying to pull? You want a real rotary-dial
cellphone.

[BMalion]

Originally Posted by Sunspace

An app?!! What are you trying to pull? You want a real rotary-dial
cellphone.

I would have got one of those, but Verizon doesn't use SIM cards.

[peedin]

I always wanted a Princess phone (in pink of course). Damn it, I miss the old-fashioned telephone ringer sound!

[elmwood]

Originally Posted by BMalion

I found a heavy, black bakelite, antique office-phone at a swap-meet in 2004. It cost me $3 and still had the old 4-prong wall plug. I got an adaptor and plugged it in, viola!

Old Western Electric phones are my secret vice. I'll pick them up at estate sales, where they're usually underpriced. There's a serious collector scene, mostly comprised of quirky/Etsy/Deschanelese crowd, and old men, many of whom seek out rare, all-original examples, colors, variants, prototypes, Autovon dials, and so on.

A while back, I found an all-original WE 1500 -- a ten-button touch tone phone from 1967 -- in a thrift store. Paid two bucks for it, and sold it on eBay for $130 after a good cleaning and polishing, and documenting dates of all parts to certify it's not a "frankenphone".

At home, though, I've only got one of the old phones plugged in; a rotary Trimline in my bedroom. Rotary phones work perfectly on Time-Warner's phone service.

[BMalion]

Originally Posted by An Gadaí

Aye, I've seen your claymore. And I'm not talking mines here folks.

You'd be fine. I can barely lift it now, much less weild it.

These days a little girl-scout could kick my ass.

[gotpasswords]

Originally Posted by elmwood

A while back, I found an all-original WE 1500 -- a ten-button touch tone phone from 1967 -- in a thrift store. Paid two bucks for it, and sold it on eBay for $130 after a good cleaning and polishing, and documenting dates of all parts to certify it's not a "frankenphone"

I'm just going to glare at you for a while. I've got four or five 10-button phones, one of which is a lighted dial white Princess.

I also like the old real rotaries, but hit a snag when we upgraded the house to VOIP service. Sadly, the VOIP system does not understand rotary dialing, so I pulled more aging tech out of my bag of tricks and the house now has a Merlin Legend PBX that does understand rotary and can translate it to DTMF. Eventually, I plan to hook up my wood wall phone to the Merlin.

ETA: I've got a claymore as well.

[Mr. Miskatonic]

*shuck* tiktiktiktiktiktiktik
*shuck* tiktiktiktiktik
*shuck* tiktiktiktiktiktiktiktiktiktik
*shuck* tiktik
*shuck* tiktiktiktiktik
*shuck* tiktiktiktik

"awww man!"

*click*



Ahh, memories.

[doorhinge]

Originally Posted by Emtar KronJonDerSohn

I dunno, I'm surprised it works. I thought we had to replace all our rotary and pulse phones when we ordered touch tone service in the 80's. Maybe it was just a clever pitch to sell touch tone phones?

The phone company (ATT, various Bell companies) was still heavily regulated in the '60s. In exchange for a monoply to supply phone service, the companies had to provide the service that the regulators wanted. Touch-tone (dual-frequencie sent simaltaniously) service could only be added if it didn't disrupt or interfer with the existing pulse/rotary system. A single residence could have both rotary and TT phones and they were both expected to make and complete calls.

The current TPC landline switching equipment still has to be compatible with the olde phones.

[Kenm]

Originally Posted by aceplace57

The only problem I have is the appointment reminder calls from my dentist and doctor. They want you to press 1 to acknowledge the appointment.

You might be able to find on the net one of those '70s or '80s round, battery-powered hand-held phone-tone generators made to use with pulse-tone phones. They had all the buttons, and the user would hold it next to the pulse-phone transmitter.

[Sudden Kestrel]

Originally Posted by BMalion

I found a heavy, black bakelite, antique office-phone at a swap-meet in 2004. It cost me $3 and still had the old 4-prong wall plug. I got an adaptor and plugged it in, viola!

"One ringy-dingy..."

Our main phone is a black Bakelite rotary phone. It's over 60 years old and works better than any of our crappy cordless phones ever did. I love hanging up on people with it. We're prowling rummage sales and flea markets for more of them, maybe even one with Touch-Tone dialing.

That the ringer will wake me out of a dead sleep is a bonus.

[doorhinge]

Originally Posted by aceplace57

The only problem I have is the appointment reminder calls from my dentist and doctor. They want you to press 1 to acknowledge the appointment. if I happpen to answer in the kitchen, then That's when I have to run to the living room and use the cordless phone to press the 1. That only happens a few times a year.

Touch-Tone phone keypad combine 7 different frequentcies, 2 at a time, to indicate a particular number or symbol.

Sending 1209Hz and 697Hz indicates that the "1" digit is being sent.

Envío de 1336Hz y 697 Hz indica que se está enviando el dígito "2".

http://nemesis.lonestar.org/referenc...ling/dtmf.html

[Gorsnak]

Our local phone company discontinued support for pulse dialing a couple months back. Made me sad, though it has no impact on my life. I expect someone makes an interface box of some sort if I really want to hook up an old-timey telephone. I'm more likely to cut my land line entirely, since the only use it ever gets these days is when my mother calls, and it's not like she doesn't have my cell number.