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Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
I am thinking of buying an old rotary dial phone.
I understand that I need to have it set up for pulse dialing vs. the more modern tone dialing. So can one jack be set up the old fashioned way with the phone company or does the entire account need to be set up one way or another? Thank you. It is easier to post here than to try and call the phone company itself. J. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialingin the house as well?
So can one jack be set up the old fashioned way with the phone company Most of my phones are touch-tone (even that term is dated) but I still have a rotary dial phone. I don't use it often enough to bother replacing it, and I rarely dial out on that phone. It takes nothing special, account-wise. The jacks are super-easy to install. Your local borg or Radio Shack will have everything you need. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Oct 8, 9:10 pm, Robert Barr wrote:
So can one jack be set up the old fashioned way with the phone company Most of my phones are touch-tone (even that term is dated) but I still have a rotary dial phone. I don't use it often enough to bother replacing it, and I rarely dial out on that phone. It takes nothing special, account-wise. The jacks are super-easy to install. Your local borg or Radio Shack will have everything you need. Oh, so it would require installing a special jack? Do you mean the kind of jack that's the modern cord fits into -- with the plastic thingee that you press to get into the jack? This phone I'm thinking of is already adapted for a modern jack. I was more worried about the pulse vs. touch tone sound issue... have I confused you? I'm getting confused... Thanks. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
In article .com,
JLF wrote: I am thinking of buying an old rotary dial phone. I understand that I need to have it set up for pulse dialing vs. the more modern tone dialing. So can one jack be set up the old fashioned way with the phone company or does the entire account need to be set up one way or another? Thank you. It is easier to post here than to try and call the phone company itself. J. It might be easier to post here, but we can't tell you what your phone company can: Do they still support pulse dialing, and if so, is there a surcharge for users. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
wrote in message
.net... In article .com, says... I am thinking of buying an old rotary dial phone. I understand that I need to have it set up for pulse dialing vs. the more modern tone dialing. So can one jack be set up the old fashioned way with the phone company or does the entire account need to be set up one way or another? You can't have just one jack set up differently, but it's common to have the phone system accept both tone and pulse dialing. Common, but not universal, some newer systems have dropped support for pulse dial. Personally, I have VOIP at home, and can't take pulse dialing. The old rotary phone still works fine for answering, I just can't use it to dial out. And if I leave its ringer turned on, caller ID doesn't work on the modern phones. Also, some old rotary phones were setup for party lines. In order to get them to ring on single lines you have to make a small wiring change inside the phone. It's easy to do but I haven't done it in awhile and don't recall where on the internet I found the information -- a bit of Googling was all it took. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
In article .com,
JLF wrote: I am thinking of buying an old rotary dial phone. Go for it. :) I understand that I need to have it set up for pulse dialing vs. the more modern tone dialing. Nope. Just take it home, plug it in ANY outlet/jack and USE it. No special arrangements or wiring are needed. It may, or may not, ring properly depending on how the old rotary set is wired, but that is usually a non-issue. This, of course, assumes you subscribe to "conventional" telephone service as opposed to VoIP (Vonage, etc). Have fun! -- :) JR Mean Evil Bell System Historical Society |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On 8 Oct, 23:58, JLF wrote:
I am thinking of buying an old rotary dial phone. I understand that I need to have it set up for pulse dialing vs. the more modern tone dialing. So can one jack be set up the old fashioned way with the phone company or does the entire account need to be set up one way or another? Thank you. It is easier to post here than to try and call the phone company itself. J. One additional item: You might have to dial extra digits depending on what features you have on your account. For example, if you have privacy turned on, so that your number is not displayed, you might have to dial something like 1177 to turn privacy off if the called party doesn't accept private calls. i.e. *xx on pulse dialing becomes 11xx on a rotary phone. While you're checking with your phone company to see if they still support rotary phones, ask about using 11xx to toggle features on and off. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
It'll work. just plug it in.
s "JLF" wrote in message oups.com... I am thinking of buying an old rotary dial phone. I understand that I need to have it set up for pulse dialing vs. the more modern tone dialing. So can one jack be set up the old fashioned way with the phone company or does the entire account need to be set up one way or another? Thank you. It is easier to post here than to try and call the phone company itself. J. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Oct 9, 7:20 am, "Steve Barker LT"
wrote: It'll work. just plug it in. s "JLF" wrote in message oups.com... I am thinking of buying an old rotary dial phone. I understand that I need to have it set up for pulse dialing vs. the more modern tone dialing. So can one jack be set up the old fashioned way with the phone company or does the entire account need to be set up one way or another? Thank you. It is easier to post here than to try and call the phone company itself. J. I like this answer the best. I want the phone just for nostalgic/style reasons -- a light blue princess phone from childhood. And it would be nice to have a landline phone that works during a power outage. Thanks for all your ideas. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
In article .com,
JLF wrote: On Oct 9, 7:20 am, "Steve Barker LT" wrote: It'll work. just plug it in. s "JLF" wrote in message oups.com... I am thinking of buying an old rotary dial phone. I understand that I need to have it set up for pulse dialing vs. the more modern tone dialing. So can one jack be set up the old fashioned way with the phone company or does the entire account need to be set up one way or another? Thank you. It is easier to post here than to try and call the phone company itself. J. I like this answer the best. I want the phone just for nostalgic/style reasons -- a light blue princess phone from childhood. And it would be nice to have a landline phone that works during a power outage. Thanks for all your ideas. You like that answer because it's simplistic, and doesn't involve you having to think. If you'd paid the slightest attention to the other posts, you'd not be so confident that it will work during a power outage. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Oct 9, 7:39 am, Smitty Two wrote:
In article .com, JLF wrote: On Oct 9, 7:20 am, "Steve Barker LT" wrote: It'll work. just plug it in. s "JLF" wrote in message roups.com... I am thinking of buying an old rotary dial phone. I understand that I need to have it set up for pulse dialing vs. the more modern tone dialing. So can one jack be set up the old fashioned way with the phone company or does the entire account need to be set up one way or another? Thank you. It is easier to post here than to try and call the phone company itself. J. I like this answer the best. I want the phone just for nostalgic/style reasons -- a light blue princess phone from childhood. And it would be nice to have a landline phone that works during a power outage. Thanks for all your ideas. You like that answer because it's simplistic, and doesn't involve you having to think. If you'd paid the slightest attention to the other posts, you'd not be so confident that it will work during a power outage. Yes, I wanted a simplistic answer. I admit. My feeble understanding is that an older phone whose 'base' does not need to be powered into the wall for electrical power, will work since those old phones 60's/70's just rang as long as the phone service was working. j. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
only because phones sometimes go out with the power. Not because it's a
rotary phone. s "Smitty Two" wrote in message ... If you'd paid the slightest attention to the other posts, you'd not be so confident that it will work during a power outage. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Oct 9, 9:45 am, "Steve Barker LT"
wrote: only because phones sometimes go out with the power. Not because it's a rotary phone. s "Smitty Two" wrote in message ... If you'd paid the slightest attention to the other posts, you'd not be so confident that it will work during a power outage. That's what I meant. Thanks. I like the idea of the option to not worry about electricity. Like the laptop.org laptops which have the pull-cord option to charge it. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
JLF wrote:
I am thinking of buying an old rotary dial phone. I understand that I need to have it set up for pulse dialing vs. the more modern tone dialing. So can one jack be set up the old fashioned way with the phone company or does the entire account need to be set up one way or another? Thank you. It is easier to post here than to try and call the phone company itself. J. No, most, not all, phone lines will accept either rotary or tone. Some of the more modern offices won't recognize rotary dialing though. And if you don't have it now, it's unlikely the phone company can give it to you, but it never hurts to ask. To test for rotary capability, pick up your phone and press the buttons in the cradle quickly (not the tone buttons, the ones the phone presses when it's hung up), say up to ten times. If dialtone goes away, your line is definietly capable of rotary dialing: That's all it is; just breaks in the on/off hook pattern when you dial a rotary phone. If dialtone doesn't go away, it's either not available or you were too fast or slow for the office to accept the pulses you created; experiment some more. You'll have to call to find out. Back in "the day" I used to be able to actually dial phone numbers that way; can't do it anymore thoughg. HTH Pop` |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
Jim Redelfs wrote:
In article .com, JLF wrote: I am thinking of buying an old rotary dial phone. Go for it. :) I understand that I need to have it set up for pulse dialing vs. the more modern tone dialing. Nope. Just take it home, plug it in ANY outlet/jack and USE it. No special arrangements or wiring are needed. It may, or may not, ring properly depending on how the old rotary set is wired, but that is usually a non-issue. Good point; and often fixable by reversing the two wires at the telephone side of the connection. Pop` This, of course, assumes you subscribe to "conventional" telephone service as opposed to VoIP (Vonage, etc). Have fun! |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
"JLF" wrote in message ps.com... On Oct 9, 9:45 am, "Steve Barker LT" wrote: only because phones sometimes go out with the power. Not because it's a rotary phone. s "Smitty Two" wrote in message ... If you'd paid the slightest attention to the other posts, you'd not be so confident that it will work during a power outage. That's what I meant. Thanks. I like the idea of the option to not worry about electricity. Like the laptop.org laptops which have the pull-cord option to charge it. You don't have to go back to dial phones for that. There are a lot of touch tone phones that operated off the phone line power. Older ones at least. Just look for phones with no power connector. (Thrift shops, etc) Bob |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
In article .com,
JLF wrote: I want the phone just for nostalgic/style reasons -- a light blue princess phone from childhood. That's Princessr grin In that case, be sure to install the separate, external power supply so that the dial lights up. The dial light is user-settable to go completely dark when the handset is hung-up or to emit a nice, muted glow for a night light. Western Electric sure could build some nice stuff. sigh -- :) JR Climb poles and dig holes Have staplegun, will travel |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
In article ,
Smitty Two wrote: you'd not be so confident that it will work during a power outage. The worst part is that, during a "grid" failure, the DIAL LIGHT wouldn't work! HORRORS!! g Just remember that, even though it's a (not so) "plain" corded phone, a power outage may still silence it depending on how the telco's line is powered. It's a non-issue anymore. -- :) JR |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
In article , h wrote:
Since when does a phone NOT work during a power outage? Since telcos began installing remote terminals and pair gain systems, some of which depend on the grid to provide dial tone to the lines they serve. -- :) JR |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
|
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
In article PrROi.4685$8F.426@trnddc05, "Pop`"
wrote: Some of the more modern offices won't recognize rotary dialing though. And if you don't have it now, it's unlikely the phone company can give it to you I respectfully disagree. (Oops! This is usenet: Your muther wears combat boots! g) There are still PLENTY of working, rotary dial (pulse) telephones in service "out there". With the possible exception of internet-based telephony (VOIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol), I am confident that all PUBLIC telco central offices still accommodate pulse dialing. (PBX, etc, probably not.) Western Electric 5ESS and Northern Telecom DMS10/0 are easily the two, most popular switches and they support pulse dialing. Back in "the day" I used to be able to actually dial phone numbers that way; can't do it anymore thoughg. Yeah, I'm not sure I'd want to try these days, either. It takes a quick hand, fer sure. -- :) JR |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Tue, 9 Oct 2007 06:06:08 -0400, "The Streets"
wrote: Also, some old rotary phones were setup for party lines. In order to get them to ring on single lines you have to make a small wiring change inside the phone. It's easy to do but I haven't done it in awhile and don't recall where on the internet I found the information -- a bit of Googling was all it took. This is way off topic, but it is funny to me. We were on a party line when I was young. I picked up the phone one day and a neighbor was ranting to the phone company. He said........If I can't talk to my mother on Mother's day, you can just come get this GD phone! It will be in the front yard when you get here! |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialingin the house as well?
|
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialingin the house as well?
|
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:07:58 -0500, dpb wrote:
wrote: On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:45:04 -0400, Terry wrote: springs so sprung had to manually turn them back. All that rent paid over the years and didn't even ask for new ones when those wore out--I suppose because the old square black units probably weren't available And........they weighed a ton. I lived in Watts Bar TN in 1980. You could still get your party by dialing a 4 digit number. It might still be that way. Actually the town is called Ten Mile. http://maps.google.com/maps?num=100&...-8&sa=N&tab=wl I just looked at the overhead using Google and not much looks changed. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialingin the house as well?
Terry wrote:
On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:07:58 -0500, dpb wrote: wrote: On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:45:04 -0400, Terry wrote: springs so sprung had to manually turn them back. All that rent paid over the years and didn't even ask for new ones when those wore out--I suppose because the old square black units probably weren't available And........they weighed a ton. I lived in Watts Bar TN in 1980. You could still get your party by dialing a 4 digit number. It might still be that way. Actually the town is called Ten Mile. ..... Kewl!! I was in Oak Ridge for about 26 years, last 8-10 working at EPRI I&C Center built in conjunction w/ TVA at Kingston Fossil. Just met a gal here from Harriman who moved out w/ her husband a few years ago w/ Seaboard (pigs). Hearing her TN twang was music... :) -- |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
In article ,
Terry wrote: We were on a party line when I was young. I picked up the phone one day and a neighbor was ranting to the phone company. He said........If I can't talk to my mother on Mother's day, you can just come get this GD phone! It will be in the front yard when you get here! Hehehehehe! That almost sounds like some of the customers I have dealt with. Mother's Day was, and probably still is, the busiest day of the year, long distance-wise. It was, and may still be, often difficult to get a direct-dialed call to "go through" on the first attempt on Mother's Day. You would be surprised to learn the number of folks that call their mother on Mother's Day - and make the call COLLECT! -- :) JR |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialingin the house as well?
Jim Redelfs wrote:
In article .com, JLF wrote: I want the phone just for nostalgic/style reasons -- a light blue princess phone from childhood. That's Princessr grin In that case, be sure to install the separate, external power supply so that the dial lights up. The dial light is user-settable to go completely dark when the handset is hung-up or to emit a nice, muted glow for a night light. Western Electric sure could build some nice stuff. sigh The older Princesses needed the gray power cube for the dial light, but would work fine without. (Still have a few in the old phone crate, plus one the previous owner left hanging from an abandoned line in basement.) It was sometimes installed near the phone, sometimes in the basement, using Y-B to pass the power. The later Princesses were line powered. Great little cubes, damn near indestructible. Too bad phones are pretty much all they were good for. aem sends... |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
In article , h wrote:
"Smitty Two" wrote in message ... In article .com, JLF wrote: On Oct 9, 7:20 am, "Steve Barker LT" wrote: It'll work. just plug it in. s "JLF" wrote in message oups.com... I am thinking of buying an old rotary dial phone. I understand that I need to have it set up for pulse dialing vs. the more modern tone dialing. So can one jack be set up the old fashioned way with the phone company or does the entire account need to be set up one way or another? Thank you. It is easier to post here than to try and call the phone company itself. J. I like this answer the best. I want the phone just for nostalgic/style reasons -- a light blue princess phone from childhood. And it would be nice to have a landline phone that works during a power outage. Thanks for all your ideas. You like that answer because it's simplistic, and doesn't involve you having to think. If you'd paid the slightest attention to the other posts, you'd not be so confident that it will work during a power outage. Since when does a phone NOT work during a power outage? Ok, so I don't have cordless, cable, or cell phones, but all the phones in my house work when the power goes out. Why wouldn't an old phone attached to a wire work the way all old phones worked for years? I keep an old phone around for power outages. Still, it's a pushbutton tone dialer. We just lost power in my neighborhood for 13 hours yesterday, as a matter of fact. But a lot of phone companies have dumped pulse dialing compatibility. That was the OP's original concern, one which no longer seems as important as the sentimental aspect of the purchase. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
In article ,
"Steve Barker LT" wrote: only because phones sometimes go out with the power. Not because it's a rotary phone. s "Smitty Two" wrote in message ... If you'd paid the slightest attention to the other posts, you'd not be so confident that it will work during a power outage. argh. I disagree. The phone in question is a pulse dialer. It may well work, and may not. Depends on the OP's phone company. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:42:32 -0500, Jim Redelfs
wrote: In article PrROi.4685$8F.426@trnddc05, "Pop`" wrote: Some of the more modern offices won't recognize rotary dialing though. And if you don't have it now, it's unlikely the phone company can give it to you I respectfully disagree. (Oops! This is usenet: Your muther wears combat boots! g) There are still PLENTY of working, rotary dial (pulse) telephones in service "out there". With the possible exception of internet-based telephony (VOIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol), I am confident that all PUBLIC telco central offices still accommodate pulse dialing. (PBX, etc, probably not.) Western Electric 5ESS and Northern Telecom DMS10/0 are easily the two, most popular switches and they support pulse dialing. Back in "the day" I used to be able to actually dial phone numbers that way; can't do it anymore thoughg. Yeah, I'm not sure I'd want to try these days, either. It takes a quick hand, fer sure. If for some reason, your central office has pulse dialing turned off (this would be extremely rare), I recall seeing local rotary pulse--tone converters that you could buy. You'd have to do a search on the Internet for them, however. In the old days (and still for most POTS Plain Old Telephone Service), the CO (Central Office) supplied power via a big battery bank that was typically backed up with a diesel genset. Simple power failures rarely affected phone service unless the phone lines themselves were down or under water. Nowdays, some customers have advanced (they tell us) to fiber optics (or coax cable) and there is a conversion box either on the inside or outside of your house that requires AC Power and may or may not have a working battery backup. (If yes, then you typically would be responsible for the battery maintenance). The purpose of the box is to convert the digital signal from the fiber or coax to a simulation of Plain Old Telephone Service and a regular two-wire connection to your old traditional telephones. In some cases, your phones will not work during a power failure. In other cases, they might. It's worth it to check by temporarily unpluging this box and waiting a few mintutes to check the phone. It's one of the few instances of the phone becoming LESS reliable due to modern technological advances. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Oct 9, 9:12 pm, (Beachcomber) wrote:
On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:42:32 -0500, Jim Redelfs wrote: In article PrROi.4685$8F.426@trnddc05, "Pop`" wrote: Some of the more modern offices won't recognize rotary dialing though. And if you don't have it now, it's unlikely the phone company can give it to you I respectfully disagree. (Oops! This is usenet: Your muther wears combat boots! g) There are still PLENTY of working, rotary dial (pulse) telephones in service "out there". With the possible exception of internet-based telephony (VOIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol), I am confident that all PUBLIC telco central offices still accommodate pulse dialing. (PBX, etc, probably not.) Western Electric 5ESS and Northern Telecom DMS10/0 are easily the two, most popular switches and they support pulse dialing. Back in "the day" I used to be able to actually dial phone numbers that way; can't do it anymore thoughg. Yeah, I'm not sure I'd want to try these days, either. It takes a quick hand, fer sure. If for some reason, your central office has pulse dialing turned off (this would be extremely rare), I recall seeing local rotary pulse--tone converters that you could buy. You'd have to do a search on the Internet for them, however. In the old days (and still for most POTS Plain Old Telephone Service), the CO (Central Office) supplied power via a big battery bank that was typically backed up with a diesel genset. Simple power failures rarely affected phone service unless the phone lines themselves were down or under water. Nowdays, some customers have advanced (they tell us) to fiber optics (or coax cable) and there is a conversion box either on the inside or outside of your house that requires AC Power and may or may not have a working battery backup. (If yes, then you typically would be responsible for the battery maintenance). The purpose of the box is to convert the digital signal from the fiber or coax to a simulation of Plain Old Telephone Service and a regular two-wire connection to your old traditional telephones. In some cases, your phones will not work during a power failure. In other cases, they might. It's worth it to check by temporarily unpluging this box and waiting a few mintutes to check the phone. It's one of the few instances of the phone becoming LESS reliable due to modern technological advances. FOLLOW UP: I contacted my phone company (PacBellSBCAT&T) and after the usual voice mail maze, the nice lady said there should be no problem if I just plug in an older rotary pulse phone. Now I'll be hitting ebay and buying one. For all of you with classics in your basements, clean 'em up and sell them -- one rare gold princess went for $339! Thanks for your ideas and suggestions. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:34:25 -0500, Jim Redelfs
wrote: In article , wrote: The strange thing about phone companies and tarrifs is that they actually charged you an extra buck for touch tone. When I was a Service Representative for Northwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1977, Touchtoner was $1.25, plus tax, per month. Not many years later, the added charge for Touchtone was eliminated. I suspect that is the case virtually everywhere by now. Rotary dial is/was the default. It certainly WAS. It isn't anymore. Trivia: Did you know that you can actually call/dial a number by "flashing the switch hook"? It's true. This is 1876 technology, folks. "Make/break" 6th grade circuitry. The technique (spoof?) works to this day. You have to be really GOOD at it and get it right but, 3 "flashes" of the switch hook equal a "3", 5 flashes = 5 and so on really works. Not that difficult. You just need a bit of rythym. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:37:09 -0400, Terry
wrote: On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:07:58 -0500, dpb wrote: wrote: On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:45:04 -0400, Terry wrote: springs so sprung had to manually turn them back. All that rent paid over the years and didn't even ask for new ones when those wore out--I suppose because the old square black units probably weren't available And........they weighed a ton. I lived in Watts Bar TN in 1980. You could still get your party by dialing a 4 digit number. It might still be that way. It was 5 digits here (east Texas, in a small town where all numbers used the same "first 3 digits"). That changed to 7 digits around 1990 when they switched to ESS and 10 digits around 2004 with the new "overlay" area code. BTW, I still haven't heard of anyone using that new area code, but we still have to dial 10 digits. BTW2, I bought a washer and dryer last year in an old store. The salesman asked my phone number and wrote down 5 digits. Actually the town is called Ten Mile. http://maps.google.com/maps?num=100&...-8&sa=N&tab=wl I just looked at the overhead using Google and not much looks changed. -- 76 days until the winter solstice celebration Mark Lloyd http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com "I have found Christian dogma unintelligable. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies." -- Benjamin Franklin |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:13:59 -0500, Jim Redelfs
wrote: In article , Terry wrote: We were on a party line when I was young. I picked up the phone one day and a neighbor was ranting to the phone company. He said........If I can't talk to my mother on Mother's day, you can just come get this GD phone! It will be in the front yard when you get here! Hehehehehe! That almost sounds like some of the customers I have dealt with. Mother's Day was, and probably still is, the busiest day of the year, long distance-wise. It was, and may still be, often difficult to get a direct-dialed call to "go through" on the first attempt on Mother's Day. I remember making a long-distance call from a party line phone (we had just gotten direct dialing for long distance. I'd get a busy signal after just dialing the "1". You would be surprised to learn the number of folks that call their mother on Mother's Day - and make the call COLLECT! Another busy time is just after a popular football game. -- 76 days until the winter solstice celebration Mark Lloyd http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com "I have found Christian dogma unintelligable. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies." -- Benjamin Franklin |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:34:25 -0500, Jim Redelfs
wrote: In article , wrote: The strange thing about phone companies and tarrifs is that they actually charged you an extra buck for touch tone. When I was a Service Representative for Northwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1977, Touchtoner was $1.25, plus tax, per month. Not many years later, the added charge for Touchtone was eliminated. I suspect that is the case virtually everywhere by now. When I moved here (in 1988), tone dialing was supported but not directly. After pushing the buttons, you'd have to wait through some "click-click click-click-click click-click". Rotary dial is/was the default. It certainly WAS. It isn't anymore. Trivia: Did you know that you can actually call/dial a number by "flashing the switch hook"? It's true. This is 1876 technology, folks. "Make/break" 6th grade circuitry. The technique (spoof?) works to this day. You have to be really GOOD at it and get it right but, 3 "flashes" of the switch hook equal a "3", 5 flashes = 5 and so on really works. -- 76 days until the winter solstice celebration Mark Lloyd http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com "I have found Christian dogma unintelligable. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies." -- Benjamin Franklin |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:24:15 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote: JLF wrote: I am thinking of buying an old rotary dial phone. I understand that I need to have it set up for pulse dialing vs. the more modern tone dialing. So can one jack be set up the old fashioned way with the phone company or does the entire account need to be set up one way or another? Thank you. It is easier to post here than to try and call the phone company itself. J. No, most, not all, phone lines will accept either rotary or tone. Some of the more modern offices won't recognize rotary dialing though. And if you don't have it now, it's unlikely the phone company can give it to you, but it never hurts to ask. To test for rotary capability, pick up your phone and press the buttons in the cradle quickly (not the tone buttons, the ones the phone presses when it's hung up), say up to ten times. If dialtone goes away, your line is definietly capable of rotary dialing: That's all it is; just breaks in the on/off hook pattern when you dial a rotary phone. A lot of phones (and AFAIK all POTS modems) can be switched to dial either way. If dialtone doesn't go away, it's either not available or you were too fast or slow for the office to accept the pulses you created; experiment some more. You'll have to call to find out. Back in "the day" I used to be able to actually dial phone numbers that way; can't do it anymore thoughg. HTH Pop` -- 76 days until the winter solstice celebration Mark Lloyd http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com "I have found Christian dogma unintelligable. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies." -- Benjamin Franklin |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:48:01 -0500, Mark Lloyd
wrote: It was 5 digits here (east Texas, in a small town where all numbers used the same "first 3 digits"). That changed to 7 digits around 1990 when they switched to ESS and 10 digits around 2004 with the new "overlay" area code. BTW, I still haven't heard of anyone using that new area code, but we still have to dial 10 digits. I was very pleased when we went to 10 digits. It was the first time I could dial out on a modem without it being a long distance call. They gave metro Atlanta our old 404 area code and surrounding areas took 770 and others. They should have given the business numbers 404 and residents 770. It was at least a year before people quit dialing the wrong area code. |
Can I use a vintage rotary pulse dial phone with tone dialing in the house as well?
On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:01:15 -0700, JLF wrote:
FOLLOW UP: I contacted my phone company (PacBellSBCAT&T) and after the usual voice mail maze, the nice lady said there should be no problem if I just plug in an older rotary pulse phone. I call it menu hell. I was trying to get the social security office this week and I had to call 4 times before I picked a combo of menu options that did not play an self help option and then hang up. |
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