# The Telephone -- Old School **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 25, 2011, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639 "2011-04-25T12:52:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/81 "2011-04-27T02:25:26Z")
> [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > Sorry, didn’t mean to forget this thread. > > But my parents bedroom had… (and this wallpaper went down within the first month, but not before the telephone guy came) some kind of dot-matrix type grayscale shades of women with bare breasts doing…things… I really can’t remember much but I think there were three images, one of a woman on top, one being done doggy style, and one where she was possibly performing oral sex on a man? I really am not sure, but I know my mother was HORRIBLY embarrassed by it and did not want to be seen as a “lonely newcomer leading phone guy into her bedroom with the porno wallpaper”. > > So I got to stay home from school that day. So instead, she was the lady who invited the phone guy up into the porn room… with her kids there! I forgot about this - my mother was a young nun from Pittsburgh (long story) and took a teaching job down in Columbus, GA in the mid 70’s. She drove down and went to call her parents when she arrived and got a “We’re sorry, this number has been inactivated” message - it took her a week to ask somebody and find out that there was no direct dial long distance in Buttfuck, GA at the time! She had been a big city girl her whole life and had never considered that she was really going down South! ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/82 "2011-04-27T03:00:09Z")
Hello, you have a collect call from “_hidadcanyoucomepickmeupfromfootballpracticethanks_”. Do you accept the charges? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/83 "2011-04-27T04:35:06Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Did you ever unscrew the speaker/microphone covers from the old rotary phone handset just to see what was in there? Of course you did. 🙂 I made the mistake of doing that, with a friend, to a pay phone in a local department store. The security guard was not amused, and neither were our parents who were called to take us home. And yeah, I remember exchanges, until our FAirmont-1 became 321. And party lines. There were about six neighbors on the same line, and you had to count the number of rings. And there was always someone eavesdropping on your calls. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Conqueror\_Worm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@The\_Conqueror\_Worm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Conqueror_Worm)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/84 "2011-04-27T04:46:30Z")
Maybe I missed it in this thread, but you can buy [rotary cell phones.](http://www.sparkfun.com/products/287) Back in the 60s and 70s (and perhaps still today) there was a number that the phone techs could dial and it would ring back to the calling station. That was fun if you wanted to be annoying to your family. To this day still, you can “flip” the wires in a phone jack (typical wire colors for residential service are red and green.) What you will have is a phone that will ring, can be answered and is capable of talking with the incoming caller, but can not be dialed out on. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/85 "2011-04-27T05:36:48Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > You bet your bippy! Helloooo? It’s Edith Anne phhhhtttttttbbbbbb!!! ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/86 "2011-04-27T05:59:48Z")
Two relevant videos: [I have to dial my own phone? part one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zjlLb0tqGs&feature=related) [I have to dial my own phone? part two](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4v-crPSrj0&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/87 "2011-04-27T06:22:10Z")
I remember my dad having to change the 6 volt battery on the phone. You picked up the phone listened to see if any one was on the line if you heard no one talking you asked “Line busy?” If no was on the line and you were callling someone on the same line you would turn the crank to ring the phones. So you would ring the propper rings for who you wanted to talk to. If it was another line that you were callling it was one long ring for the operator. Our phone number 23F11: twenty third farmers line 11th phone. our ring was two short rings. When we got our PT&T phone about 1955 or so, it was a party line serving 16 homes. Dad always insisted we keep any phone calls under 3 minutes incase someone else needed to use the phone. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/88 "2011-04-27T09:12:02Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Yeah, thanks. I’m just old enough that I now have the phrase “one ringy dingy” stuck in my head. > > If you are too young to understand where “one ringy dingy” comes from, GET OFF MY LAWN! An’ that’s the TRUTH! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/89 "2011-04-27T09:17:45Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Remember when you used “codes” to cheat the phone company, by placing fake person-to-person calls and collect calls. Like this? [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JxhTnWrKYs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JxhTnWrKYs) ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/90 "2011-04-27T12:44:42Z")
We still had a rotary phone in the house until about 1989 or so (this was in NZ, incidentally)- not for any particular lack of technological advancement, but simply because it was in the house when we moved in and it worked perfectly well, so why spend money on a new (and not particularly cheap, IIRC) touch-tone phone when there was nothing wrong with the rotary phone that was there? I had a friend in high school who had a rotary phone in their house (this would have been around 1996 or so) for much the same reason, and none of us thought it was particularly unusual. Besides the computer related “having to get off the dial-up internet/modem game connection so people could use the phone” thing, I recall that making/receiving international calls was still An Event (_“Your aunty’s on the phone from London!”_ being announced in much the same voice you’d use to indicate that the Prime Minister was calling). When my Dad and I were in the UK in the late 1990s, we’d be phoning the rest of the family back in NZ and even though there was direct dialling available, it wasn’t especially cheap and the connections invariably sounded like we were trying to talk to people on the far side of Mars (with similar transmission delays, it seems)- Yet in recent years when I’ve had to phone people in Europe or the US or wherever, the quality is good enough and the transmission delay slight enough that they might as well be on the other side of town instead of thousands of kilometres away. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/91 "2011-04-27T13:29:15Z")
> [@The\_Conqueror\_Worm](#): > > Maybe I missed it in this thread, but you can buy [rotary cell phones.](http://www.sparkfun.com/products/287) Cool! I want one. I can get a big discount if I buy 100 or more. They have two in stock. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/92 "2011-04-27T14:13:35Z")
i would buy one but Verizon does not use SIM cards, I like my Verizon. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/93 "2011-04-27T14:24:35Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > … Remember how long it used to take a rotary phone to go back to its starting position after you dialed a 9 or 0? Like watching grass grow. I tihnk that’s why more “important” areas like DC and NY got lower area codes: DC being 202, NYC being 212… ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/94 "2011-04-27T14:57:54Z")
I remember a joke on MST when the character was dialing a number and Mike asked, “How many hours have rotary phones added to movies over the years?” ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/95 "2011-04-27T16:32:08Z")
You know how you could get a rep as a ballsy anti-corporate rebel in the Ma Bell days? You could buy and hook up a knockoff non-AT&T phone. You see, the _whole network_ was an AT&T/Western Electric monopoly, and attaching non-standard equipment could _corrupt the network_! You could do it, but if you got caught–like if a Ma Bell tech came to your house and discovered the ersatz equipment–something bad would happen to you. No one exactly knew what, but the rumors were pretty awful. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/96 "2011-04-27T16:37:09Z")
Did the breakup of AT&T coincide with the emergence of novelty phones? ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/97 "2011-04-27T18:04:38Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I remember until around 2000, touch tone dialing cost about an extra 50 cents per month, something that my grandmother found to be wastefully extravagant and refused to pay for. I feel the same way about paying extra fees to text on cell phones. Total rip-off. I won’t pay extra, thus I don’t text. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/98 "2011-04-27T18:04:53Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Did the breakup of AT&T coincide with the emergence of novelty phones? No, they came a few years earlier. The AT&T equipment monopoly was broken by the [Carterfone](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2008/06/carterfone-40-years.ars) ruling, in 1968. (Although the effects took a few years to become apparent, and well into the 1970’s people with off-brand equipment felt like anarchists.) After the equipment monopoly was broken, first competitors and then AT&T themselves got a lot more creative in handset design. This was before divestiture, in 1984. ---
**Author:** ![Cell\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Cell\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cell_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/99 "2011-04-27T18:49:30Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I tihnk that’s why more “important” areas like DC and NY got lower area codes: DC being 202, NYC being 212… “0” maybe a low number but it’s the longest wait on a rotary phone. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639/100 "2011-04-27T19:59:54Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Perhaps the worst part. > > You had no idea who was calling. You’ better rush to answer it before they hung up because if you missed it you had no idea who had just called. Even worse than that, when you did answer you had no idea if it was your best friend calling to see if you wanted to go fishing or your boss wanting you to work this weekend. > > Yous answered yous phone and yous took yous chances back then. Did callers customarily let the phone ring longer in those days? It sure seems that way in old movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telephone-old-school/579639.md?page=6)