Have you ever used a dial (rotary) phone?

[monsoon]

[Cotuit]

We had the rotary phone that was hard wired into the wall by the phone company.

[it's just dave]

Well, uh, er, uh...sure. Your Picturephone Set came out the year I got my driver's license. When I was in elementary school, you'd state your phone number as "Cahal 8-11**, or whatever type of prefix you had. Some smaller communities only needed 5 digits to dial.

One funny thing I remember about the dial phones is that there was an old one in my folks basement. At 16, I'd carry it in the car and "talk" on it... to look cool. I guess I was a cool wannbe decades before cellular. That's almost as weird as rolling up all the windows of the car in the summer so people would think the car was air conditioned. Jeez, and they call those the good ol' days?

So, to answer your question. Dial? That's a soap, right?

[Brickell]

My dad had a rotary phone up until 3 or so years ago. It takes forever to through those numbers. He's out on a farm. They're just a little bit behind.

[BrandonTO416]

My mom and dad still own a light blue rotary phone identical to the first pic you posted, except of course for the color. We used it until I turned 10.

[BrandonTO416]

In 1969, how exactly did a picturephone work?? Microchips weren't even invented until the early 70's, so it must have been completely analog or non-digital.

[monsoon]

[BrandonTO416]

How does an analog picture phone work?

[monsoon]

[Spartan]

My dad told me that there used to be 5 digit phone numbrs around here until the 60s. We never actually owned a rotary phone, but my grandma had one. I thought it was cool. Recently we came a accross a "touch tone" phone that had a dial that really worked. It was a very annoying piece of equipment.

[monsoon]

[MathNerd05]

If both signals are analog, why is a dial-up connection so much slower than a cable connection?

Sorry for the unrelated question.

[monsoon]

[Aessotariq]

Does anyone here still get charged extra for having touch-tone service on their phone line?

As recently as 10 years ago I can remember that my local exchange carrier, BellSouth, would show a $1.00 monthly charge on our bill for having it. I can't recall it appearing as a separate charge lately.

I found it interesting that my grandfather's telephone line (his LEC is Ameritech) does not have touch-tone service on it (he refuses to pay extra for something he "doesn't need"), so when you pick up the phone, the switch ignores all DTMF signals and the dialtone just continues uninterrupted. It took me a few minutes to figure why I was having a hard time connecting to my ISP with my laptop.

[monsoon]

[ezcheese]

Does anyone here still get charged extra for having touch-tone service on their phone line?

As recently as 10 years ago I can remember that my local exchange carrier, BellSouth, would show a $1.00 monthly charge on our bill for having it. I can't recall it appearing as a separate charge lately.

I found it interesting that my grandfather's telephone line (his LEC is Ameritech) does not have touch-tone service on it (he refuses to pay extra for something he "doesn't need"), so when you pick up the phone, the switch ignores all DTMF signals and the dialtone just continues uninterrupted. It took me a few minutes to figure why I was having a hard time connecting to my ISP with my laptop. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My dad refused to pay that extra buck when we switched to touch tone phones. we still used the pulse setting until we got our first internet connection in 1996.

Also, We had a bright yellow wall-mounted rotary phone in the house I grew up in. The funny thing about all this is that I was born in 1977. My dad has always been behind the times. He still refuses to use a computer.

[monsoon]

[PghUSA]

They are making a comeback baby lol

just like leg warmers!

[dpbaker]

My mother-in-law in Japan STILL has one as her only phone, decades old, still works like a charm! She will not part with it.....it's kinda cool!

[GRDadof3]

I hated rotary phones when I was a kid. The one we had at home had a tight spring in it, and it would pinch your fingers every time you spun it

[facilities man]

My grandfather had a rotary phone in his house until he passed away two years ago. I think it was from the late 1940's or early 1950's. He lived in the same house for over 50 years and I think it was the original phone. They absolutely lasted forever. It looked like the black one first pictured on this furom, but the dial was black and made of steel. It must have weighed over five pounds and when I was a little kid the dial seemed very hard to turn.