I still have about 8 phones from different periods (all working of course). a small collection from the rotary, to the generator, even a old english police call-box phone (a’ la tardis). I personally wish I had the call box to go with it most have never broke, but the ones that have, only take a minor repair or 2 to fix, amazingly simple devices.
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now quick story to go with the old generator phone. mine was mounted in the kitchen on the wall, it rang and I answered it (it was my grandfather). had my conversation and hung up. My godson then 5 years old wanted to use it, I asked him why and his reply was to call his grandad (his grandfather died when he was 3, he was also the one who gave me the phone in the first place.). I then asked why he thought that. his answer was it was a ‘grandfather phone’ to talk to any grandfathers out there living or dead. we told him no he couldn’t use it. an hour later we found him picking up the ear piece and speaking softly into the mouthpiece ‘grandad are you there?’. had a great laugh after that.
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I buy my phones at Phoneco, so I have two rotary phones (and a pushbutton one in the kitchen, for those pesky “if you want to reach . . .” messages). In the bedroom, I have this chic little number, and in the living room, an old-fashioned candlestick phone.
My parents(where i live) have only one hpone, a rotary.
Its no fun calling places and waiting for the touch 1, then I have to wait to be hooked up with info.
And some places will disconnect you if you don’t press a button.
My parents still have a rotary-dail. Even better, the phone in their bedroom is one of the older push button phones. When you dial a number you can hear it clicking the number. If you dial a long distance number with lots of nines you have to sit and listen to the clicking for a few seconds after you are done dialing until it catches up with you. It acts like a rotary dial phone if you are calling a automated menu (ie it doesn’t).
The prev. owner of our house left a rotary phone in the basement - I love it! When someone calls, it rings immediately, as opposed to our cordless which seems to get the clue a bit late.
The rotary sits on the floor, in the corner like something out of a horror flick. To dial it you have to dial the number to the right and THEN back to the left, as it’s lost its spring-mechanism.
I think we have four rotary phones in our house (including a pink one), but one of them has been perhaps temporarily replaced by a new phone because it was giving us trouble. My dad doesn’t like the new one though, so he’d like to find a solution that allows us to continue to use the rotary phone (it was our main phone). Of the three that are currently in use, I believe only one actually rings.
Oooh. That link is pretty cool, Eve. We have a phone in my house that looks like this , but it’s black, and definitely not plastic. Also, because my roommate’s family is from France, it has a french plug, so alas, we will not be using it. My parents had a rotary phone until about 2 years ago, when they switched right on up to cordless.
My folks have two of them in their house, and even the modern push-button phones are set to pulse because my Dad refuses to pay the extra for touch-tone.
Have you ever watched someone establish a dialup connection with a modem set to pulse? Yes, they have email but not touch-tone service.
I used a pulse line up until a year ago when I got DSL (quite the change!). Most push button phones have a switch for tone or pulse, so it’s possible to dial in pulse, then switch to tone to use a touch-tone menu system.
Because I haven’t gotten around to buying a battery for my cordless, I’m currently using a rotary phone, and it’s a bugger, can’t check voice message or even make calls to companies, everyone wants touchtone. It makes a godawful ring too. Thanks for the reminder, I think tonight I’ll make the purchase.
My dad’s got an antique store. He has several old rotary phones including a couple of old oak phones that have rotary dials in them (aftermarket) He has a really nice one at home w/ brass bells that works, even though he quit using it some time back.
quote: Cap. XEX
“2/3 cups butterscotch flavored morsels
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
8 1/2 ounces 2 cans chow mein noodles
7 ounces miniature marshmallows…”
What the hell was that?
My mom has a working rotary phone in her bedroom … hooked up to a caller ID box, of all things.
And as to “dialing a phone” where I work we page someone with “please dial (ext.)” so I don’t think it will die away, just become one of those phrses people use but don’t know the origin of (a la Tin Pan Alley)
Thanks for reminding me of that link, Eve. A little pricey for a starving not-a-college-student, but nifty. Also, they sell the converters to turn the four-pronged cords into something that fits a modular jack. I need to get one of those and carry it in my pocketbook so I can test any phones I find at antique stores.
This is the sort of thing I’m looking for. But at this point I’d take any big, heavy black phone I could find. They make such a satisfying sound when you hang up on someone. The “beep” of hitting the “talk” button on a cordless phone is just not as cathartic.
most have never broke, but the ones that have, only take a minor repair or 2 to fix, amazingly simple devices.
