I trying to find an eighties (or earlier) style push-button phone, because I hate the way current telephones are designed. So far, the best (and only option) I have found is through the Vermont Country Store. Is there anyone out there still making tradiational telephones?
Any reason it has to be newly manufactured? I’ve seen plenty of old phones in antique malls, including many that can’t be older than the 80s (and make me want to be the Commissioner of Antique Enforcement, responsible for ensuring that only genuine antiques are allowed in the antique mall, but I digress…). I’m sure there are plenty on eBay as well.
I’d look on eBay for one made by Western Electric. They never seem to wear out.
Push button phones are the “traditional,” old-fashioned sort now? 
What is it about the 80s style push buttons that are different from today’s land line push button phones? There’s a smallish button there for each number, and you push it…I could see a debate about rotary v. push button, but push button v. push button? I don’t see it…
I don’t know, but I do know I don’t much like my phone, either. It has all of the buttons in the handset for one, which I am not too crazy about. It means that when you hold it to your ear you constantly have to worry about pushing buttons with your ear.
I’m sorry I bought it (or rather, had it given to me as a gift) and want to replace it.
What kind are you looking for, one with the buttons mounted on the base, or a Trimline style with the buttons in the handset?
The classic Western Electric phones were designed and built during the AT&T monopoly, when the phone company owned the all the equipment on its network and you paid to rent each handset in your house. If they broke, the phone company had to replace them. Therefore, they were built like tanks, out of the hardiest components, and remain unrivaled for service lifetime and build quality.
And a proper mallet ringer beats an electronic warbler any day.
I agree, but I got the impression from the OP that the buttons are different somehow. Yes, you could kill a person with a 70s/80s telephone, but how does that make pushing a button easier?
Too late for the edit, but this strikes me as probably being close to what you’re looking for.
What I want is something large that doesn’t look like a frakking cell phone with an obvious earpiece and mouthpiece that connects to a large base with a cord. Finding that (at least where I am at) has proven difficult.
That’s what I was thinking. This is traditional.
Yes! yes, that is exactly what I am looking for: a telephone that looks like a telephone. (And it’s half the price that the Vermont Country Store’s version is!) Thank you!
That is one of the many reasons I hate cell phones (and the many modern land lines that are similiar).
And you can’t hear anything anyway! Cell phones are really good for everything except actually talking on them. :rolleyes:
I hadn’t realized how much I missed a good old corded phone until you made this thread.
I have a 1960’s model, and several of the pushbuttons no longer trigger both DTMF tones reliably, so yes, they can wear out.
I have a 1970’s cordless phone with exactly the same symptoms. Maybe it’s because the pushbuttons are some of the few moving parts and those are most likely to wear.
Ring-a-ding ding!
I have several dial phones in the basement (as well as one actually in use–the Telco, actually cable company still accepts it) if anyone wants them.
They have old-fashioned handsets now that will plug into a cell phone. I don’t know how well they work, but I’ve been thinking about getting one.
Differences in Western Electric buttons:
[ul][li]Buttons were bigger, square, with more space between them, and concave toward the center of the button (self-centering if your finger hit at an angle). Result was that buttons were easier to press accurately.[/li][li]Buttons had a consistent resistance pressure, and a better touch feedback to indicate when they were pressed. Also better anti-bounce circuitry, to resist accidental double presses.[/li][li]Buttons were labeled on the button itself, not somewhere nearby on the phone. And the labels were in a large font & contrasting color, easy to read. Some were even lighted![/li][li]Buttons were mostly (except for trimline model) in the base, not the handset, thus avoiding these problems:[/li]- accidental ear presses while listening.
- ‘juggling’ between listening & looking when trying to respond to phone menus.
- handset was more comfortable to hold for long conversations.
[/ul]All this was in addition to the acknowledged high quality and legendary durability of the Western Electric phones of old.
AND those old “traditional” phones were heavy enough to stay put on the damn desk where you put them!
ETA: Yes, I have one, and No, it’s not for sale!