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View Full Version : Long distance, but not on a cell phone



Mitchell Andrus
02-16-2009, 10:10 PM
My 17 yo son had to fax some papers to his college for enrollment so I showed him where the paper goes in, dial the number and press start.

He came to me after a few failed attempts... he had never dialed long distance on a wired phone. He didn't know to put a "1" ahead of the number.

He's 17. Sign of the times, I guess.

Brian Effinger
02-16-2009, 10:42 PM
Imagine if he had to use one of these:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7b/Rotarydial.JPG/400px-Rotarydial.JPG

Bonnie Campbell
02-16-2009, 10:46 PM
Imagine if he had to use one of these:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7b/Rotarydial.JPG/400px-Rotarydial.JPG

AND it was on a party line! :eek:

Ken Fitzgerald
02-16-2009, 11:29 PM
We have the original and only "dial" telephone that was installed in my wife's parents home. It sits on a bookcase in our livingroom as a momento. We figured out the other day that 5 generations of her family had used that phone.

Mitchell Andrus
02-17-2009, 8:22 AM
On the wall in my dining room: Yes, it works but has no dial. Well, it worked til we got Fios. I haven't tried it since, but I'll bet it does still.....
.

Glenn Clabo
02-17-2009, 8:29 AM
Just think about the time saved. It takes as long to "dial" a 0 as it does to "touch" a complete phone number.
Of course you don't get to talk to Mildred the operator or listen in on the party line for gossip.

Jim Kountz
02-17-2009, 9:08 AM
Remember when operators spoke fluent english??

Brian Effinger
02-17-2009, 10:59 AM
We have the original and only "dial" telephone that was installed in my wife's parents home. It sits on a bookcase in our livingroom as a momento. We figured out the other day that 5 generations of her family had used that phone.

I hope you still have it plugged in to the jack. My parents had one in their kitchen until 10 years ago.

I don't remember party lines though - I'm a little too young for that.

glenn bradley
02-17-2009, 11:43 AM
This is the generation that doesn't know how to drive a stick shift . . . or turn on an oven or light a BBQ . . . there's no helping them if they run into a dial phone . . . they will spend 10 times the amount of time required to cross the room and change channel just looking for the TV remote . . . they think "albums" are collections of digital pictures on their phones and "B" sides might have something to do with honey manufacturing.

On the other hand, they absorb new technology and accept, as a given, vast technological leaps at an alarming rate.

Frank Hagan
02-17-2009, 1:52 PM
Just think about the time saved. It takes as long to "dial" a 0 as it does to "touch" a complete phone number.
Of course you don't get to talk to Mildred the operator or listen in on the party line for gossip.

We used to torment our older sister when she was put in charge of us as our parents went to our grandparents for a "coffee klatch" each week. She would get mad, and start dialing our grandparents house to tattle on us ... the phone number was Liberty 9-8990 ("Liberty" stood for "LI" or "54" .... so the full number was 549-8990). We would wait until she had dialed that "0" on the rotary phone, run by and click down the receiver "hook" so it hung up. We were usually fast enough to NOT get hit by the receiver as she threw it. The old Bell phones were tough ... as many times as she threw that receiver at us, it never did come off the cord.

Paul Atkins
02-17-2009, 2:52 PM
Remember when the computer was a 'time saving device'?

Jim Becker
02-17-2009, 4:23 PM
I have a Western Electric "in-wall" rotary dial phone that was in the kitchen when we bought this property. The very first call we made on moving day was long distance to the rents. It had been so long since I used a rotary dial phone that it felt really, really awkward dialing! Funny how we still use that word, too..."dialing". Since that's the business I'm in, the word gets a lot of use, despite the fact that we're all just pushing buttons or even saying the numbers with our voices using speech controls. LOL

Mitchell, occasionally I get caught with that "leaving off the 1" thing when I call the 'rents from our home line. I use my iPhone so much while out and about that it's just natural to only dial 10 digits.

Jason Roehl
02-17-2009, 5:37 PM
Amazing. I've had a cellphone for 13 years now, and out of habit I always program the '1' into a stored number if it is outside the area code. Of course, I also program 10 digits for local numbers because the 7-digit numbers don't always go through if I'm out of town.

Jim, quit mentioning the iPhone...I played with one for a while at a BestBuy the other day...it's getting VERY tempting (but would get me in trouble with the other half). ;)

Randal Stevenson
02-17-2009, 6:25 PM
The party line in my house (was my grandmothers), was finally split in/around 82 (1982 for the young ones). When I bought the house and moved in, I still had bleed over until 94. I remember party lines, clothes lines, and lots of other things, and I am only 38. I won't go cell, until they get it to the cost my home phone is (under $25 with unlimited local calling), as I don't need all the other gadgets (crp), and really don't want work to get a hold of me all the time when I am off.

Bob Rufener
02-17-2009, 9:40 PM
I didn't know what a dial phone until I was in high school. We had a party line and always wondered if the operator was listening in. This is a pic of a phone similar to the one my grandparents had in their house until the early to mid sixties. I wish I had it. This one is on sale on fleabay for $750.

Nancy Laird
02-17-2009, 9:49 PM
On the wall in my dining room: Yes, it works but has no dial. Well, it worked til we got Fios. I haven't tried it since, but I'll bet it does still.....
.

That is just like the phone my grandparents had until my grandmother gave up housekeeping in 1971. She would sit in a chair next to the phone table and talk for HOURS on that thing.