I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

On Jun 12, 11:18�pm, Metspitzer wrote:
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. �She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. �I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

you could probably disconnet the touch pad to prevent outgoing calls,
think inside the phone.
there are outgoing call restrictors but most permt 911 calls

call your phone company but i bet they will charge a lot per month

On Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:48:15 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Jun 12, 11:18?pm, Metspitzer wrote:
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. ?She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. ?I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

you could probably disconnet the touch pad to prevent outgoing calls,
think inside the phone.
there are outgoing call restrictors but most permt 911 calls

call your phone company but i bet they will charge a lot per month
Being inside a convalescent center they LIKELY have their own PBX
system - MOST of which can be programmed not to accept outgoing calls
without a special code - or at all. SOME can even be programed to
allow only calls to specified numbers from a given extention.

wrote:
On Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:48:15 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Jun 12, 11:18?pm, Metspitzer wrote:
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. ?She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. ?I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.
you could probably disconnet the touch pad to prevent outgoing calls,
think inside the phone.
there are outgoing call restrictors but most permt 911 calls

call your phone company but i bet they will charge a lot per month
Being inside a convalescent center they LIKELY have their own PBX
system - MOST of which can be programmed not to accept outgoing calls
without a special code - or at all. SOME can even be programed to
allow only calls to specified numbers from a given extention.

And we have a winner! Other than places with independent apartments with
call buttons, most 'homes' do not have private lines, just extensions of
a PBX, as an 'optional' (aka profit center) extra. (Lotsa hospitals now
charge extra for a phone as well.) Talk to the manager there.

--
aem sends...

"Metspitzer" wrote in message
...
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

If your original question does not get a reply, you can easily disable any
push button phone from making outgoing calls by simply reversing polarity.
By this I mean that you usually have a red and a green wire that are in a
typical phone jack and if these leads are reversed, then the phone can ring,
it will give you a dial tone but the push buttons on the phone will not
work.


--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

On Jun 13, 2:35*am, "Roger Shoaf" wrote:
"Metspitzer" wrote in message

...

I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. *She has dementia..
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. *I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

If your original question does not get a reply, you can easily disable any
push button phone from making outgoing calls by simply reversing polarity..
By this I mean that you usually have a red and a green wire that are in a
typical phone jack and if these leads are reversed, then the phone can ring,
it will give you a dial tone but the push buttons on the phone will not
work.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

I wish I knew that 40 years ago, I hooked up extra phones and a few I
now know were backwards

Roger Shoaf wrote:
"Metspitzer" wrote in message
...
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

If your original question does not get a reply, you can easily disable any
push button phone from making outgoing calls by simply reversing polarity.
By this I mean that you usually have a red and a green wire that are in a
typical phone jack and if these leads are reversed, then the phone can ring,
it will give you a dial tone but the push buttons on the phone will not
work.


At least in this part of the country, only true for early Ma Bell
touch-tone. More modern ones don't care. Don't think it has ever been
true for the cheap throw-away phones like you buy at Wally World, since
all their brains are on a chip.

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the hook
lever as a telegraph key....

--
aem sends...

On 6/12/2010 11:18 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

I went through this with my father years ago. We took away his phone as
he could not differentiate between day and night and called at all
hours. Afterwords he used phones in facility and we even started call
blocking numbers. Somehow numbers rotated so even blocking 10 numbers
did not prevent calls. I wish I knew of this solution but doubt it
would have completely stopped the problem.

On 6/13/2010 3:35 AM, Roger Shoaf wrote:
wrote in message
...
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

If your original question does not get a reply, you can easily disable any
push button phone from making outgoing calls by simply reversing polarity.
By this I mean that you usually have a red and a green wire that are in a
typical phone jack and if these leads are reversed, then the phone can ring,
it will give you a dial tone but the push buttons on the phone will not
work.


That won't accomplish anything. TT phones will work normally if you
swap tip and ring.

In article ,
wrote:


You can find them pretty cheap on Ebay or in a garage sale. They are
bullet proof.

I never thought it hyperbole when they used to say Western Electric
telephones and cockroaches were the only things likely to survive a
nuclear war.

--
I want to find a voracious, small-minded predator
and name it after the IRS.
Robert Bakker, paleontologist

On Jun 13, 6:37 am, aemeijers wrote:

At least in this part of the country, only true for early Ma Bell
touch-tone. More modern ones don't care. Don't think it has ever been
true for the cheap throw-away phones like you buy at Wally World, since
all their brains are on a chip.

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the hook
lever as a telegraph key....



Andy comments:
Yes, I did that a lot as a kid. However, I was under the
impression that
if "tone" service is the one provided by the company, then pulse
calling
can't be done. Damn, I only have one phone line and am now using the
puter
on it, so I can't go and test this before I send this. But I'm going
to try in a
few minutes. I just haven't done that in 40 years......

I don't have a single phone, or modem, in my house that won't work
properly if the wires are reversed. In fact, I've never seen or used
one
that required definite polarity for operation, and I've been tapping,
installing,
wiring, and messing with phones since I was 10 years old --- a long
long
long time...... that being said, I haven't tried them all, so it might
be
accurate for specific systems....... somewhere.

Anyway, I'm off to see if my phone here can access the line with
pulses.
I suggest that others who endorse this method actually try it for
themselves , as there may be differences in the phone services......

However, even if it can, I doubt that a senile old lady in a
nursing
home would be able to figure it out.

Andy in Eureka, Texas


Eureka, where local law requires all foreclosed houses to be towed
back
to the lot withing 30 days.

aemeijers wrote:


And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....

Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you can't even
get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon

On Sun, 13 Jun 2010 09:35:28 -0700 (PDT), Andy
wrote:

On Jun 13, 6:37 am, aemeijers wrote:

At least in this part of the country, only true for early Ma Bell
touch-tone. More modern ones don't care. Don't think it has ever been
true for the cheap throw-away phones like you buy at Wally World, since
all their brains are on a chip.

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the hook
lever as a telegraph key....



Andy comments:
Yes, I did that a lot as a kid. However, I was under the
impression that
if "tone" service is the one provided by the company, then pulse
calling
can't be done.

I just finally switched my line from pulse service to tone - and pulse
phones still work just fine.


Damn, I only have one phone line and am now using the
puter
on it, so I can't go and test this before I send this. But I'm going
to try in a
few minutes. I just haven't done that in 40 years......

I don't have a single phone, or modem, in my house that won't work
properly if the wires are reversed. In fact, I've never seen or used
one
that required definite polarity for operation, and I've been tapping,
installing,
wiring, and messing with phones since I was 10 years old --- a long
long
long time...... that being said, I haven't tried them all, so it might
be
accurate for specific systems....... somewhere.

MANY electronic phones will not work with tip and ring reversed.

Anyway, I'm off to see if my phone here can access the line with
pulses.
I suggest that others who endorse this method actually try it for
themselves , as there may be differences in the phone services......

However, even if it can, I doubt that a senile old lady in a
nursing
home would be able to figure it out.

Andy in Eureka, Texas


Eureka, where local law requires all foreclosed houses to be towed
back
to the lot withing 30 days.

On Jun 13, 2:35*pm, wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jun 2010 09:35:28 -0700 (PDT), Andy
wrote:





On Jun 13, 6:37 am, aemeijers wrote:

At least in this part of the country, only true for early Ma Bell
touch-tone. More modern ones don't care. Don't think it has ever been
true for the cheap throw-away phones like you buy at Wally World, since
all their brains are on a chip.

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the hook
lever as a telegraph key....

Andy *comments:
* Yes, I did that a lot as a kid. * However, I was under the
impression that
if "tone" service is the one provided by the company, then pulse
calling
can't be done.

I just finally switched my line from pulse service to tone - and pulse
phones still work just fine.





Damn, I only have one phone line and am now using the
puter
on it, so I can't go and test this before I send this. *But I'm going
to try in a
few minutes. I just haven't done that in 40 years......

* *I don't have a single phone, or modem, in my house that won't work
properly if the wires are reversed. In fact, I've never seen or used
one
that required definite polarity for operation, and I've been tapping,
installing,
wiring, and messing with phones since I was 10 years old --- a long
long
long time...... that being said, I haven't tried them all, so it might
be
accurate for specific systems....... somewhere.

MANY electronic phones will not work with tip and ring reversed.





* Anyway, I'm off to see if my phone here can access the line with
pulses.
I suggest that others who endorse this method actually try it for
themselves , as there may be differences in the phone services......

* However, even if it can, I doubt that a senile old lady in a
nursing
home would be able to figure it out.

* * * * * * * * Andy in Eureka, Texas

Eureka, where local law requires all foreclosed houses to be towed
back
* * to the lot withing 30 days.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

As an AT+T retired employee, I can guarantee that the early Touch-Tone
telephones were polarity sensitive as far as generating signals to go
to the central office. Newer telephones have a diode bridge that
overcomes the polarity sensitivity problem.

wrote:

I am sure you will be able to break dial tone and you may eventually
call someone ("Moa'ula Iki Beach Side"?)....

Oh man, I always wondered what they were saying in that commercial.

Thank!

Jon

Metspitzer wrote:
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

Does it have to be a land line? What about a children's cell phone like
Firefly? I don't know much about kids' cell phones, but apparently they
have "parental controls" that would allow her kids to restrict outgoing
calls to certain numbers, like theirs.

On 6/13/2010 9:33 PM, Lee B wrote:

Metspitzer wrote:
I went to visit my aunt in the convalescent center. She has dementia.
She seems very sharp minded, but sometimes she talks about things you
know are just not true.

Anyway, her children won't let her have a phone because she has been
known to call the local sheriff's office to complain about a relative
stealing from her (which no one else believes is true).

I was wondering, and will check Monday, if the phone company offers a
service where she would be able to receive calls, but not be able to
make them. I am sure there would be a way to disable the phone to
prevent her from making calls, but it would seem to me that if the
phone company offered such a service it might also be a lower cost.

Does it have to be a land line? What about a children's cell phone like
Firefly? I don't know much about kids' cell phones, but apparently they
have "parental controls" that would allow her kids to restrict outgoing
calls to certain numbers, like theirs.
Many nursing homes will not allow cell
phones because of loss and "theft" ....
theft being loss by a resident, but
telling that it was stolen. There are
probably 2 reasons for the no cell
phones, bother to the staff and as
someone mentioned, their phone is a
profit center for them. When my mother
was in a nursing home a few years ago,
they charged $25 per month for a phone
and you provide the phone. And, the $25
is whether the resident used it or not.

Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....

Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you can't even
get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon

Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area codes need to
be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording telling me not to use the
area code, they could have just as easily made it ring through either way!

On Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:29:03 -0400, Tony
wrote:

Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....

Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you can't even
get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon

Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area codes need to
be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording telling me not to use the
area code, they could have just as easily made it ring through either way!

I complained about that a long time ago.

Also the recording says......you need (or don't need) to dial a 1
before making this call. They could just ask to confirm you want to
make a long distance call, and put the call through anyway. It would
keep you from having to redial the number.

On 6/13/2010 5:42 PM, hr(bob) wrote:
On Jun 13, 2:35 pm, wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jun 2010 09:35:28 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:





On Jun 13, 6:37 am, wrote:

At least in this part of the country, only true for early Ma Bell
touch-tone. More modern ones don't care. Don't think it has ever been
true for the cheap throw-away phones like you buy at Wally World, since
all their brains are on a chip.

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the hook
lever as a telegraph key....

Andy comments:
Yes, I did that a lot as a kid. However, I was under the
impression that
if "tone" service is the one provided by the company, then pulse
calling
can't be done.

I just finally switched my line from pulse service to tone - and pulse
phones still work just fine.





Damn, I only have one phone line and am now using the
puter
on it, so I can't go and test this before I send this. But I'm going
to try in a
few minutes. I just haven't done that in 40 years......

I don't have a single phone, or modem, in my house that won't work
properly if the wires are reversed. In fact, I've never seen or used
one
that required definite polarity for operation, and I've been tapping,
installing,
wiring, and messing with phones since I was 10 years old --- a long
long
long time...... that being said, I haven't tried them all, so it might
be
accurate for specific systems....... somewhere.

MANY electronic phones will not work with tip and ring reversed.





Anyway, I'm off to see if my phone here can access the line with
pulses.
I suggest that others who endorse this method actually try it for
themselves , as there may be differences in the phone services......

However, even if it can, I doubt that a senile old lady in a
nursing
home would be able to figure it out.

Andy in Eureka, Texas

Eureka, where local law requires all foreclosed houses to be towed
back
to the lot withing 30 days.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

As an AT+T retired employee, I can guarantee that the early Touch-Tone
telephones were polarity sensitive as far as generating signals to go
to the central office. Newer telephones have a diode bridge that
overcomes the polarity sensitivity problem.

Some 15 years ago, I made a repair at the home of a woman and her
mother. The woman was 70 and her mother was 100 years of age. They
had a 1948 Western Electric rotary dial phone with cloth cords
that they were still paying rent on to Bell South.

TDD

Tony wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....

Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you
can't even get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon

Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area codes need
to be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording telling me not to use
the area code, they could have just as easily made it ring through
either way!

Beginning this year they made us add the area code for a *local* call!
Dialing my neighbor across the street I now have to punch in 10 digits.

*******s.

Jon

Jon Danniken wrote:
Tony wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:
And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....
Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you
can't even get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon
Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area codes need
to be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording telling me not to use
the area code, they could have just as easily made it ring through
either way!

Beginning this year they made us add the area code for a *local* call!
Dialing my neighbor across the street I now have to punch in 10 digits.

*******s.

Jon


That is why they invented "speed dial" Two or 3 punches and you have it
done.

On 6/14/2010 8:34 AM, Chuck wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:
Tony wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:
And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....
Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you
can't even get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon
Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area codes need
to be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording telling me not to use
the area code, they could have just as easily made it ring through
either way!

Beginning this year they made us add the area code for a *local* call!
Dialing my neighbor across the street I now have to punch in 10 digits.

*******s.

Jon

That is why they invented "speed dial" Two or 3 punches and you have it
done.

I used to travel frequently to Japan. I wondered why we didn't implement
changes to fill the need for numbers as simply as they did.

They have essentially the same system as the US where 3 digits are the
exchange and the next 4 digits are a phone number in that exchange.

When they started running out of numbers they increased the numbers per
exchange from 4 to 5 places. Existing numbers were given the prefix 3.
So 999-1111 became 999-31111. That added almost 90,000 numbers per
exchange without needing to do confusing stuff like area code overlays
where now your neighbor can be in a different area code.

wrote:
On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 05:30:14 -0700, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

Beginning this year they made us add the area code for a *local*
call! Dialing my neighbor across the street I now have to punch in
10 digits.

*******s.

Jon

That happened because your neighbors did not want to give up their
existing area code when the number of customers exceeds the available
phone numbers.

Instead of splitting up the subscribers into 2 area codes with half of
them getting a new area code they just interspersed new and old in the
same area meaning you have to dial all 10 numbers.
Here they gave us a choice and we went with taking a new area code and
the 7 digit dial. Since then my AC has changed twice (813, 941 and now
239) but within the 239 area, it is a 7 digit dial to get me.

Aye, the thing is that they already did the area code split about 10 or so
years ago. Portland got to keep the area code once shared by the entire
state, and the rest of us got stuck with the new one.

Now they spring the 10 digit crap on us. It's just no fun anymore.

Jon

Chuck wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:
Tony wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:
And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using
the hook lever as a telegraph key....
Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you
can't even get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon
Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area codes
need to be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording telling me not
to use the area code, they could have just as easily made it ring
through either way!

Beginning this year they made us add the area code for a *local*
call! Dialing my neighbor across the street I now have to punch in
10 digits. *******s.

Jon


That is why they invented "speed dial" Two or 3 punches and you have
it done.

Yeah, but I end up fumblefingering the phone too much to make that
worthwhile. Plus it's just one more thing to have to remember.

I am, however, tempted to route the phone through an old modem, and have the
computer do the dialing for me. That worked out splendedly the last time I
had it hooked up that way.

Jon

The Daring Dufas wrote:

Some 15 years ago, I made a repair at the home of a woman and her
mother. The woman was 70 and her mother was 100 years of age. They
had a 1948 Western Electric rotary dial phone with cloth cords
that they were still paying rent on to Bell South.

If there's one thing I've learned about the phone company, it is that they
will never tell you when any particular charge or fee has become outmoded.

*******s.

Jon

Jon Danniken wrote:
The Daring Dufas wrote:
Some 15 years ago, I made a repair at the home of a woman and her
mother. The woman was 70 and her mother was 100 years of age. They
had a 1948 Western Electric rotary dial phone with cloth cords
that they were still paying rent on to Bell South.

If there's one thing I've learned about the phone company, it is that they
will never tell you when any particular charge or fee has become outmoded.

*******s.

Jon


Not always true. Yeah, they did charge rent for years, but a couple 3-4
years after letting people buy out their phones for around 30 bucks,
IIRC, they simply abandoned all the others in place. Didn't have much
choice, really- the WE plant had closed, and they no longer had an
operation in place to recycle them with fresh plastic and stuff. So if a
renter returned one, they couldn't do anything with it.

I'm old fashioned- I like WE phones, and detest the lightweight crap
issued since then. Glad I have a crate of real phones in the basement. I
used to pull them out of the trash at the apartments, or buy them for a
buck at garage sales, but haven't seen any in the last 2-3 years.

--
aem sends...

Jon Danniken wrote:
Tony wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:
And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....
Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you
can't even get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon
Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area codes need
to be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording telling me not to use
the area code, they could have just as easily made it ring through
either way!

Beginning this year they made us add the area code for a *local* call!
Dialing my neighbor across the street I now have to punch in 10 digits.

*******s.

Jon

It was like that up in Philadelphia PA NW sub, suburbs for at least 10
years. I liked that better than here in east TN. Here sometimes you
dial a 1 then the area code, and other calls you can not dial the one
before the area code or you get a recording. If it was all the same
that would be great. Who knows, how low until they add another digit to
phone numbers?

wrote:
On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:13:15 -0400, aemeijers
wrote:

Jon Danniken wrote:
The Daring Dufas wrote:
Some 15 years ago, I made a repair at the home of a woman and her
mother. The woman was 70 and her mother was 100 years of age. They
had a 1948 Western Electric rotary dial phone with cloth cords
that they were still paying rent on to Bell South.
If there's one thing I've learned about the phone company, it is that they
will never tell you when any particular charge or fee has become outmoded.

*******s.

Jon


Not always true. Yeah, they did charge rent for years, but a couple 3-4
years after letting people buy out their phones for around 30 bucks,
IIRC, they simply abandoned all the others in place. Didn't have much
choice, really- the WE plant had closed, and they no longer had an
operation in place to recycle them with fresh plastic and stuff. So if a
renter returned one, they couldn't do anything with it.

I'm old fashioned- I like WE phones, and detest the lightweight crap
issued since then. Glad I have a crate of real phones in the basement. I
used to pull them out of the trash at the apartments, or buy them for a
buck at garage sales, but haven't seen any in the last 2-3 years.

There are over 400 for sale on Ebay tonight and a lot of the more
recent ones are at $10 with no bids.

I still see them in garage sales for a buck or make offer.
I have a stack of them too and 5 are connected (one is a pay phone)
one still has the original TelCo phone number tag with my current
number on it. (different area code tho). That was a rotary phone that
was in the house when I bought it 27 years ago. It is hooked up in the
garage.
In true "illegal phone" tradition, only one of them rings ;-)

I don't understand the last sentence?

On Tue, 15 Jun 2010 02:16:16 -0400, Tony wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:
Tony wrote:
Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:
And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....
Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you
can't even get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon
Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area codes need
to be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording telling me not to use
the area code, they could have just as easily made it ring through
either way!

Beginning this year they made us add the area code for a *local* call!
Dialing my neighbor across the street I now have to punch in 10 digits.

*******s.

Jon

It was like that up in Philadelphia PA NW sub, suburbs for at least 10
years. I liked that better than here in east TN. Here sometimes you
dial a 1 then the area code, and other calls you can not dial the one
before the area code or you get a recording. If it was all the same
that would be great. Who knows, how low until they add another digit to
phone numbers?

I love it when you dial a 1 before a "local area code" (like 602 from
480) and are basically told "**** you, try again and forget the 1, you
should know what area codes we aren't handing off to your long
distance carrier..."

Those days are gone for me. I put pbxinaflash onto a retired p4
computer and now I pay $5/mo for the house phone plus about a
penny/minute for outgoing calls. I can have multiple simultanious
calls and it screens out all incoming autodialed calls by requiring
human inteligence (press "5" to complete an incoming call). The
latter reason was the primary reason for the setup. I'm to lazy to
do anything much fancier than the default setup but some added perks
include call logs, the ability to record everything, and messages
forwarded to me as emails that I can pick up on my smart cellphone.

BTW: I can set up any dialing rules I want. Press a 7 or 10 digit
number with or without a 1 and it just dials it. All circuits busy
with one carrier? It'll use a fallback.

On 6/15/2010 1:26 AM, Tony wrote:
wrote:
On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:13:15 -0400, aemeijers
wrote:

Jon Danniken wrote:
The Daring Dufas wrote:
Some 15 years ago, I made a repair at the home of a woman and her
mother. The woman was 70 and her mother was 100 years of age. They
had a 1948 Western Electric rotary dial phone with cloth cords
that they were still paying rent on to Bell South.
If there's one thing I've learned about the phone company, it is
that they will never tell you when any particular charge or fee has
become outmoded.

*******s.

Jon

Not always true. Yeah, they did charge rent for years, but a couple
3-4 years after letting people buy out their phones for around 30
bucks, IIRC, they simply abandoned all the others in place. Didn't
have much choice, really- the WE plant had closed, and they no longer
had an operation in place to recycle them with fresh plastic and
stuff. So if a renter returned one, they couldn't do anything with it.

I'm old fashioned- I like WE phones, and detest the lightweight crap
issued since then. Glad I have a crate of real phones in the
basement. I used to pull them out of the trash at the apartments, or
buy them for a buck at garage sales, but haven't seen any in the last
2-3 years.

There are over 400 for sale on Ebay tonight and a lot of the more
recent ones are at $10 with no bids.

I still see them in garage sales for a buck or make offer.
I have a stack of them too and 5 are connected (one is a pay phone)
one still has the original TelCo phone number tag with my current
number on it. (different area code tho). That was a rotary phone that
was in the house when I bought it 27 years ago. It is hooked up in the
garage.
In true "illegal phone" tradition, only one of them rings ;-)

I don't understand the last sentence?

It was once illegal or at least not sanctioned by Ma Bell for an
individual customer to attach anything to phone company lines.
Believe it or not, at one time, you could not buy a telephone
at your local drug store. Phone service was essentially one big
monopoly controlled by The Bell System.

TDD

Tony wrote:
(snip)code tho). That was a rotary phone that
was in the house when I bought it 27 years ago. It is hooked up in the
garage.
In true "illegal phone" tradition, only one of them rings ;-)

I don't understand the last sentence?

In the old days, with the relatively high-draw mechanical ringers, they
could put a meter across your line and see how much juice it drew when
the ring tone was sent. Look on the bottom of a modern throw-away phone
for the Ringer Equivalence Number (REN)- it is usually about 0.65 or
so, as compared to 1.0 for a real phone. And if Ma Bell was suspicious,
she could figure out how many you had. Standard home POTS line, if you
put too many phones on, none would ring. So people with bootleg phones
would disconnect the ringers on the 'extra' ones.

There was a day when repeatedly getting caught with bootleg phones would
get your service terminated. And since you could only get phones from
the phone company, you were presumed to be holding stolen property. (For
Ma Bell, at least, it said it was theirs right on it.) For a few years
after the judge said the phone company had to allow customer-owned
equipment, they were still allowed to require one phone-company owned
phone per line. So a lot of small businesses who were early adopters for
having their own phone system, would have a board on the basement wall
with a 'real' wall phone for each line, never used.

--
aem sends...

The Daring Dufas wrote:


It was once illegal or at least not sanctioned by Ma Bell for an
individual customer to attach anything to phone company lines.
Believe it or not, at one time, you could not buy a telephone
at your local drug store. Phone service was essentially one big
monopoly controlled by The Bell System.

Aye, when you ordered phone service, a technician would come over and
install the line *and* the phone, which was hardwired into the wall (no
modular jacks back then).

Of course, nobody ever complained about this, we were just too happy to get
the miracle of a telephone in the house.

Jon

aemeijers wrote:
Tony wrote:
(snip)code tho). That was a rotary phone that
was in the house when I bought it 27 years ago. It is hooked up in the
garage.
In true "illegal phone" tradition, only one of them rings ;-)

I don't understand the last sentence?

In the old days, with the relatively high-draw mechanical ringers, they
could put a meter across your line and see how much juice it drew when
the ring tone was sent. Look on the bottom of a modern throw-away phone
for the Ringer Equivalence Number (REN)- it is usually about 0.65 or
so, as compared to 1.0 for a real phone. And if Ma Bell was suspicious,
she could figure out how many you had. Standard home POTS line, if you
put too many phones on, none would ring. So people with bootleg phones
would disconnect the ringers on the 'extra' ones.

OK, yes I remember those days. As late as 1985 I remember hooking up
another "real" phone and it rang but the other phone just barely had the
power to "tick" the bells. Buying a cheap new phone took care of that
since their REN was so low. I also remember that I was supposed to pay
an extra $1/month for all additional phones. Screw that. I'm not sure,
but I think around that time they may have stopped charging for extra
phones because I vaugley remember asking the phone company to up the
power for the ringers and it was done free.

I also had what I think was a "Princess" touch tone phone, not sure
where I got it. For some reason I opened it up and saw a light bulb for
the buttons. I called the phone company and asked why my bulb won't
light and they told me they stopped supplying power for that. For free
they did send me a little wall wort type thing to plug in and hook up to
the phone so my light worked! I just saw it the other day, I think it
is "Western Electric" brand, damn, now I can't find it!

As a kid we had an outdoor phone ringer mounted to the chimmney which
was about the center of the house. I'm almost certain it was real Bell
of PA equipment. Our lot was a little over an acre and it could be
heard easily 1 or 2 houses away, and I don't think we paid monthly for
it. Just once for the bell and the hookup. That would drive me nuts if
my neighbor got one of them now, we had a large family so the phone rang
a lot! Gawd knows how many times we ran inside only to just miss the
phone, not to mention how many times the run included a trip and fall!


There was a day when repeatedly getting caught with bootleg phones would
get your service terminated. And since you could only get phones from
the phone company, you were presumed to be holding stolen property. (For
Ma Bell, at least, it said it was theirs right on it.) For a few years
after the judge said the phone company had to allow customer-owned
equipment, they were still allowed to require one phone-company owned
phone per line. So a lot of small businesses who were early adopters for
having their own phone system, would have a board on the basement wall
with a 'real' wall phone for each line, never used.

I know some business' still have some real phones for in case their
system dies or the electric goes out. The bank of real phones still
works with no electric.

On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:52:06 -0700, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

The Daring Dufas wrote:

Some 15 years ago, I made a repair at the home of a woman and her
mother. The woman was 70 and her mother was 100 years of age. They
had a 1948 Western Electric rotary dial phone with cloth cords
that they were still paying rent on to Bell South.

If there's one thing I've learned about the phone company, it is that they
will never tell you when any particular charge or fee has become outmoded.

*******s.

Jon


Once (about 1985) I got a call from the phone company, saying they
were no longer renting phones. They gave me the one I was renting from
them.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Death is an experience best avoided, as it makes reliable internet
access difficult to obtain."

On Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:29:03 -0400, Tony
wrote:

Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial by using the
hook lever as a telegraph key....

Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least. Now you can't even
get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon

Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area codes need to
be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording telling me not to use the
area code, they could have just as easily made it ring through either way!

Here, they added a second (overlay) area code. AFAIK no numbers have
been assigned to that code, but we're still required to dial all 10
digits even to call someone next door.

BTW, I want to an appliance store recently (an old local store, not
one something like Lowe's) and the (old) salesman was writing
customers phone numbers down with 5 digits (5-digit dialing ended
about 20 years ago, when we got ESS).
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Death is an experience best avoided, as it makes reliable internet
access difficult to obtain."

On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:34:05 -0400, Chuck wrote:

[snip]


That is why they invented "speed dial" Two or 3 punches and you have it
done.

I wouldn't use that for more than 1 or 2 numbers, when there was no
way to be sure what number you're dialing until it's too late.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Death is an experience best avoided, as it makes reliable internet
access difficult to obtain."

On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:25:32 -0700, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:
[snip]

I am, however, tempted to route the phone through an old modem, and have the
computer do the dialing for me. That worked out splendedly the last time I
had it hooked up that way.

Jon


Now I usually "dial" from caller ID.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Death is an experience best avoided, as it makes reliable internet
access difficult to obtain."

In ,
Mark Lloyd typed:
On Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:29:03 -0400, Tony
wrote:

Jon Danniken wrote:
aemeijers wrote:

And even if the TT pad is disabled, you can still dial
by using the hook lever as a telegraph key....

Used to be able to get the Operator that way, at least.
Now you can't even get the Operator by hitting '0'.

And they call it progress.

Jon

Here is what gets me. It's hard to keep up with what area
codes need to be dialed (ok, toned). If I get a recording
telling me not to use the area code, they could have just
as easily made it ring through either way!

Here, they added a second (overlay) area code. AFAIK no
numbers have been assigned to that code, but we're still
required to dial all 10 digits even to call someone next
door.

BTW, I want to an appliance store recently (an old local
store, not one something like Lowe's) and the (old)
salesman was writing customers phone numbers down with 5
digits (5-digit dialing ended about 20 years ago, when we
got ESS).

5 digits is a shorthand many people use, especially sales/marketing types.
For example, 3 = 393, 4 = 344, 2 = 278, and so on. It works well until you
get overlapping codes ending in the same digit.
Also, many predictive dialers are programmed to work that way; they're
usually called least cost routers. It's just software programmed for a
specific area is all it is. Great for 10 & 11 & 14 digit daling, especially
if auth codes go with it.