On Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:53:52 -0500, Jim Elbrecht wrote:

aemeijers wrote:

-snip-
online. Don't want anything that needs a wall plug or backup battery,
don't need caller ID (which I refuse to pay extra for on principal) or
speed-dial or anything like that. I have plenty of the old-time real WE
phones for the other rooms, but need the speaker and mute for conference
calls.

For any youngsters that aren't familiar with the WEs-- here's what
they look- and sound- like.

Ahh, I've got a 1940's-vintage 164:

http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/images/164_Black.jpg

.... but once I get it shipped over to this side of the Atlantic I expect
I'm going to have to build some kind of box of tricks to hook it up to the
US system (although I've not researched that in detail yet... maybe the US
system can still "look" like a Strowger exchange as far as the phone's
concerned and so is compatible enough)

I've got a 60's type 706 too, which looks almost identical to the
repro ones in your link - that one I used to have hooked up in my
house when I was living in England. Amazing how long it takes to dial a
number compared to a more modern push-button phone!

'splains why we 'dial' a number, and what a phone 'ringing' means]

There's no ringer in my 164 - it hails from the days where that was
typically done separately. I do have a wooden wall-mount bell-box though,
but the 164 lacks the necessary guts to drive it so I'd have to improvise
there...

cheers

Jules