Landline Telephones

[maytagmark]

Aww the good old days

I remember when we only had rotory phones and the numbers started with two letters our prefix was wi5 for Texas City or sh4 for Galveston,and party lines and being able to call your own number from home to play a trick on someone in your house,I remember when touch tone became popular along with the other optons,call waiting,call forwarding three way calling etc.and you could go the the phone store and pick out your phones,as a teenager I had a rust colored trimline phone with all the calling options,I still have a black rotory deskphone,a tan rotory princess phone and a couple of others in the garage, I'm glad there were no cell phones growing up,my mother would have been calling every five minutes and we would have had no fun,all she could do was go outside and yell our names when it was time to come inside,we were usually at the park three blocks away and we heard her. Mark

 

[badata]

i don't have a landline. i only have my cell. i've not ever had a problem yet. because of work i am on my phone ALL day long (i travel all day) i haven't missed the home phone really. i have more than enough minutes and without 2 phone bills. i haven't had a landline in about 3 years or so.

 

[sudsmaster]

HObart

I still remember our childhood home telephone number two letter start: HObart-7 something. Prophetic, eh? Haven't heard that for some 45 years now...

 

[irishwashguy]

Ok, time for me to chime in........

I love telephones, I have many. One of which I have had since 1984, a 302 that I have in my kitchien as well as a metal one in the living room and a 500 set with a metal dial in the bedroom w/ a touch tone enhanced mouthpiece, I do have a newer cordless that is also in the bedroom with a taling caller ID.just in case..You can't beat the old phones for being sturdy and reliable. I have a telephone guy here in Portland that fixes phones in his basement for fun and makes alot of money doing it. There is a big call for these phones. When I bought my first 302 in the 80's , it cost me 3.00. I have seen them sell for 300.00 . I also have a cell phone as well as DSL. I do deliveries for my job.I am amazed at the number of people that take their cell phones with them from where ever they are from in the country. It makes it interesting when people call me at work for an order. I will always have a land line, my cell phone works until I walk down the wrong hall way at my house, and oops, your call can't be completed as dialed. Kind of primative compared to the rest of the world.I miss how telephones were when I was a little kid. You could tell where you were calling just by how it sounded.

http://www.dmine.com/phworld/sounds/misc/mamamf.mp3

 

[rp2813]

Landline all the way for me. I don't think there's another product or service, not even with the name Maytag on it, that can match the reliability record of landline service or Western Electric hardware. I own a few WE 302 sets both metal case and bakelite from the late 30's early 40's, a few WE 500 sets from 1950-56 or so, a 40's vintage lineman's set and my most prized 1931 202 model with original E1 style handset and 1931 bell box. The 202 is the only one currently connected and I use it regularly to make calls that don't require a touchpad. The original receiving elements on these phones are kind of squawky but apparently there were never any retrofits made. Combined with the old bellbox hardware, they make a loud hollow click when dialtone (and dialing) starts and stops. It's just like in an old movie. The E1 handsets were phased out and replaced with the F1's which had better receiving and transmitting quality. My E1 has been retrofitted with an F1 transmitter but it still allows for the "spit cup" mouthpiece to be used so the early look of the handset remains the same. Western Electric was routinely replacing the original transmitters on E1 handsets with the new F1 type as these phones were returned, and eventually they started placing the F1 handsets (as found on 302's) on the 202 bases. This is why finding a 202 with an original E1 handset can be difficult.

I have found that Old Phone Works is the best vendor out there for phones and parts. I've provided the link below. I highly recommend them for any old phone parts a person might need. The guy I spoke with there when I was looking to replace my E1's transmitter steered me towards the F1 retrofit and I am glad he did. I wouldn't be able to use my 202 with an original transmitter because even in pefect condition, the transmission quality was inferior to that of the F1. They also offer internal and external touchtone conversion kits for rotary phones.

Rich, the ringers should still work on your old phones. I have an old chime box that works just fine on the voltage Verizon is sending out. If the ringers aren't working for you, it's likely a mechanical or wiring issue inside the phone set itself and not about current or voltage.

Re: the old alpha-numeric phone numbers, believe it or not, you can still find references to those old exchange names being used in certain day to day telco operations. The first phone number we ever had when I was a kid started with AXminster 6. Then we had CYpress 5 after moving to a different part of town. I have re-created our first phone with the CY-5 number on a 302 model and even have the original CYpress 5 number label on it, which I rescued from underneath a later label that was all numeric.

Rich, if you're interested I could probably get you the alpha-numeric version for your current landline number if you provide me the first 3 digits.

Ralph

Oldphoneworks

Oldphoneworks offers a huge selection of antique phones, and phone parts to individuals and businesses around the world.

oldphoneworks.com

 

[hoover1060]

I still have my land line

I consider it my *main* phone too, even though I have a cell phone and carry it with me always, I like the land line better.
My cell service is mediocre at best, so I can't rely on it to be my only phone.

 

[wiskybill]

Landline service here...

I haven't had a cell phone for the last 5 years, couldn't justify having both at the time. May get another cell sometime this year, but only a pre-paid version, no contracts for me.

My home phones range from a dial Princess and a mix of Trimlines to a modern cordless with caller-id. I like them all.

 

[joeekaitis]

Landline with DSL, and we have a corded phone we can plug in if the power goes out. I prefer the peace of mind of E911 (Enhanced 911) that gives the dispatcher our street address at the moment of connection.

 

[washabear]

I have a landline as my main phone. The phone itself is just a cheapie ATT unit that has a caller ID display and an answering machine built in. The answering machine, which is digital, sounds horrible, but because I am a screener, an answering machine is a must; finding a phone that has one is quite difficult these days, but I wanted an all-in-one unit rather than separate pieces hooked up to each other. I rarely answer the phone unless it is someone I know, and if “unknown caller” comes up on the display, I want to hear who is calling before I decide whether I will answer. As far as I know, you can’t do that with a cell phone.

I do have a prepaid cell phone as well, which I keep strictly for emergencies. It came in handy awhile back when I was in a collision and was able to call police, insurance company, etc immediately. So having both works best for me.

 

[48bencix]

No Cell

We have a nice red Western Electric touch tone in the kitchen (desk model). I have a green Western Electric dial phone in my bedroom and a yellow Western Electric dial phone with amplified handset in my office. I got rid of the cordless ones, the charge lasted less and less as time went on. I can pull the kitchen one into the family room if I need to. I don't mind getting up to answer the phone. Plus we have dsl on the phone line, with wi-fi to our computers. My partner has a cell, where he recieves all of his personal calls. We also have a fax machine, strange how that comes in handy sometimes.

I do love the Western Electric phones, hefty, great bell, last forever and good sound. I also have a Western Electric Telstar phone that is not hooked up.

I also found a radio shack add-on speaker phone (circa 1982) that I have in the kitchen along with a cheapo answering machine to be somewhat up to date. I still have my tele-zapper plugged in even though I am on the do not call list.

Martin

 

[rp2813]

Bruce, your landline system and methods of use are almost exactly like mine. I have a Panasonic cordless phone and answering system with an extra handset and base. It has a feature where it will announce the name of the caller if it's on the Caller ID display. She doesn't always pronounce the names exactly right though. I screen everything so telco-provided voice mail won't work for me.

Cell phones will usually display at least the number of who is calling. You can choose to flip the thing open or not based on what is displaying on the cover's screen, if your phone has one. Also, most cell phones have a feature where you can attach a name to a number. So when that person calls you, their name is displayed rather than a number you may or may not recognize. With menu-driven dialing these days, many people don't bother to memorize anybody's phone number anymore.

Also forgot to include in my response on the alpha-numeric dialing my observation that while the alphabet on the phone dial basically became unnecessary once the North American Dialing plan (when Area Codes were introduced starting in 1947) had been completely rolled out sometime in the 60's, the letters remained on virtually every phone produced regardless. Business owners were the only people making use of the letters to spell something out with their phone number. Now, with the texting phenomenon, the letters on the touchpad have taken on an entirely different purpose from what they were originally intended to do--along with the dial itself--which was to eliminate the operator from the equation when making a local (and later long distance) phone call.

I remember when my aunt from Chicagoland came out to spend the winter back in the late 70's and I took her to the Phone Store to order her service. The young clerk there asked for a local number where she could be reached, and she provided my parents', rattling it off to him as "CY5-XXXX" and he just gave her a blank stare and asked again. She repeated it and he told her "that isn't a telephone number" and she assured him it was. I just stood there and let him squirm, as it didn't take a rocket scientist to substitute "295" for "CY5" and the kid worked for the frigging Phone Company for cryin' out loud! It's not like alpha-numeric wasn't still painted on the sides of trucks or still on old signage across the country at that time.

A couple of alpha-numerics I still remember from being a kid are the SF Chronicle: GArfield 1-1111 and SF Examinier: SUtter 1-2424. I guess they ran a lot of TV ads because those two were drilled into me forever. Most of "The Emporium" department stores had last 4 digits 1111. The local one growing up was AXminster 6-1111.

OK, I need to stop. This stuff makes me feel way too oooooooold!

 

[launderess]

Only Alpha-Numeric Phone Number One Remembers

Is "BUtterfield8----", from the film.

No, I tell a lie, growing up there were still lots of local businesses that used alpha-numeric phone numbers such as "SA7***" and such.

By the way, BUtterfield was the exchange for parts of the Upper East Side of Manhattan in NYC. There are still a few long established businesses that use the exchange, including BUtterfield Market.

L.

 

[rp2813]

L, yes, under all of the older telephone numbers in use today lies their original alpha-numeric exchange.

I remember as the new non-alpha-numeric phone numbers started cropping up locally, they sounded so foreign. You might as well have been calling to another planet since you couldn't equate them with any of the local alpha prefixes.

Of course BUtterfield is a very famous exchange thanks to our gal Liz. "NO Sale!" These days on TV and in movies you still hear "555" as the prefix most of the time. But back in the alpha-numeric days it was always "KLondike 5" that was used. I presume 555 is still a prefix that's proprietary (if that's the right term--aren't they all?) to the telcos since it's not one that's issued for general use.

Mary Wells also immortalized BEechwood 4-5789. I wonder how she got away with that?

The Hitchcock film "Dial M for Murder" has a scene where the phone is dialed and then cuts to the central office where the mechanical switches spiral down on their posts, clicking off the numbers as dialed. A great little view of pre-electronic switching technology.

 

[polkanut]

I have a cell and landline also. I must agree that landline quality is much better, at least you don't have to deal with dropped calls. Here in Wausau our alpha-numeric exchange was and for the most part still is Viking, such as VI8-2435.

 

[paulg]

Chicago boy

Have a cell, but only out of necessity. Have Sony cordless phone, various vintage touch-tones plus a Stromberg-Carlson rotary wallmount (PhoneCo rebuilt).
I remember using the Stromberg-Carlson not too long ago and the other person said "Gosh, you sound sooo CLEAR".
.... Stromberg-Carlson clear, my dear...

 

[fnelson487]

I Worked My Way Through High School and College

At the phone company switchboard (cord and push buttons) and therefore have a soft place in my heart for the good old days of landlines, operators and good old phone company service. Probably one of the most reliable utilities known. Here is my tribute to those days. Hooked up and working after 40 years. A WE cord board. Built like a Sherman tank. Fun to play with too! Works with touchtone or rotary dial.

 

[fnelson487]

Another Gem

A metal 302. This thing would work after a nuclear blast!

 

[fnelson487]

This Thread Would Not Be Complete

Without a Princess! It's lovely and it lights! (And this one does!)

 

[fnelson487]

Terry In Training

Breaking every phone company rule!

 

[fnelson487]

Gotta Do One More

Reminds me of the Park Ridge, Il exchange. Central Telephone. Looks like the inward operator positions.