This is the clearest sounding of all of our telephones, both cellular and electronic. I don't mind dialing either, because the audio is so good. No electronic choppiness.
Our Daily Driver Home Phone
- Thread starter rinso
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Well, I must say I approve of such an attractive 500 set...
<span style="font-size: medium;">...snort, snort!</span>
<span style="font-size: medium;">...snort, snort!</span>
michaelman2
Well-known member
Everything about that phone made it easy to COMMUNICATE. I cannot hear anything on modern phones, forget a cellular. Every other syllable is usually what I can make out. Those old phones literally will last forever. I did not realize a dial could still be operational ..
I have two of those 500 models going here at home. One is on my office desk where I handle all of the household's business, and the other is on the desk in the garage shop. You can't beat the 500 for clear reception and ease of use. The handset is beefy yet compact and easy to rest on your shoulder, or it can be placed between the cradle and the top of the fingerwheel if you need to step away for a few moments.
I have one too. My mother was hard of hearing and got one of those with a volumn control, which I have as an extension now. She worked for the phone company back then, so did not have to pay extra for it. With the old Bell System, if you had any disability, too bad, so sad, we are going to charge you extra for what you need to communicate. At least that was finally changed for the better. That old black phone still has my parents same number in the center of the dial.
whirlaway
New member
They are Great!!!
All I use at home are 302 sets,of course dial and a 354 Wall phone in the kitchen.All dial sets should work unless they are set up for 2 party or more.Then you have to move a couple of wires inside so they work correctly.Only the first touchtone sets would not work unless they were wired to touchtone in the central office.All dial sets should work fine today.I worked in the central office when I worked for Bell 40 years ago.We could only handle a small amount of TT then so people were put on a waiting list.When the equipment was added.It was a stepper office put in in 41.I can hear so much better on the old sets.I hate when someone calls me on a cell phone the connections are so broken up and its not my phone,I know they are traveling and it seems so backward to me.
All I use at home are 302 sets,of course dial and a 354 Wall phone in the kitchen.All dial sets should work unless they are set up for 2 party or more.Then you have to move a couple of wires inside so they work correctly.Only the first touchtone sets would not work unless they were wired to touchtone in the central office.All dial sets should work fine today.I worked in the central office when I worked for Bell 40 years ago.We could only handle a small amount of TT then so people were put on a waiting list.When the equipment was added.It was a stepper office put in in 41.I can hear so much better on the old sets.I hate when someone calls me on a cell phone the connections are so broken up and its not my phone,I know they are traveling and it seems so backward to me.
I worked for A Radio Common Carrier mobile telephone company for 10 years prior to the appearence of cellular. The car phones like the Motorola IMTS Pulsar II also sounded better than cell phones do today, especially when paired with a Pulsar or Glenayre switch. The switches had very sophisticated audio circuitry that delivered natural-sounding clear audio without the digital over-processing we get today.
and you had the capacity for ten simultaneous conversations in a metro area....imagine how that worked on NYE!
I'm always amazed (having been in the cellular business for 20 years) that the projections for uptake were so wrong...Arthur Andersen in the early 80s projected that there would be only about a million cellular subscribers in the US!
I'm always amazed (having been in the cellular business for 20 years) that the projections for uptake were so wrong...Arthur Andersen in the early 80s projected that there would be only about a million cellular subscribers in the US!
firedome
Well-known member
We too love the old WE made phones...
Trimline in the MBR, Princess in the guest BR, classic Wall type in the kitchen... all are TT, although we still have a few WE dial models in storage. CELL PHONES SUK! Our flip open "Dumb Phone" can't take pictures, and is only for for emergencies and travelling. Breaking up the Bell System and Labs was the single biggest blunder ever! imho.
Trimline in the MBR, Princess in the guest BR, classic Wall type in the kitchen... all are TT, although we still have a few WE dial models in storage. CELL PHONES SUK! Our flip open "Dumb Phone" can't take pictures, and is only for for emergencies and travelling. Breaking up the Bell System and Labs was the single biggest blunder ever! imho.
Jamiel, you are so right. We could only handle 9 at a time in our system, but it was in a rural agricultural area so not lots of subs. It still sounded better. Technology should have given us more capacity AND better sounding mobile phones. Sadly, that is not the case.
Count me in..
I have a Bell phone in the guest room.
However, I do also have a Stromberg- Carlson rotary wall phone. It was the kitchen phone in the old house but was not reinstalled when I moved.
People used to call me an often say " Gosh, you sound SO CLEAR ! "
I wonder why?
I find it interesting that me and a few of my peers understand the value of having at least one phone that runs off of the central battery. However, most young'uns don't understand the value of this. I will always have a working phone because of this.
I too have great trouble understanding digital telephones and answering machines. Their fidelity is universally crappy.
I have a Bell phone in the guest room.
However, I do also have a Stromberg- Carlson rotary wall phone. It was the kitchen phone in the old house but was not reinstalled when I moved.
People used to call me an often say " Gosh, you sound SO CLEAR ! "
I wonder why?
I find it interesting that me and a few of my peers understand the value of having at least one phone that runs off of the central battery. However, most young'uns don't understand the value of this. I will always have a working phone because of this.
I too have great trouble understanding digital telephones and answering machines. Their fidelity is universally crappy.
Lily Tomlin
Your Lily Tomlin accent on the dial is brilliant. I'm going to use it...
Your Lily Tomlin accent on the dial is brilliant. I'm going to use it...
great sound!
Comes from the ebay find...with the dial card made by vintageswank.com. only 2.50 for the card
Comes from the ebay find...with the dial card made by vintageswank.com. only 2.50 for the card
jerrod6
Well-known member
How are these phones working with our current networks? I don't think they will work with my line. I didn't think they would work with digital lines.
I can dial out fine...
But it wont ring....this is a 'stunt phone' I put in the retro room since we only have that line for the alarm....otherwise we use our cell phones at home.
But it wont ring....this is a 'stunt phone' I put in the retro room since we only have that line for the alarm....otherwise we use our cell phones at home.
cehalstead
Well-known member
how will they work
the old phones work well with real telephone lines provided by a real telephone company, but won't work with the crap that the cable companies and other providers sell as "telephone". Real phones work during power faiures, too. (can anyone tell that i have worked/did work/do work for the "phone" company in all of its various "flavors" for 34 years?
)...well..it will be 34 years on 1/15)
the old phones work well with real telephone lines provided by a real telephone company, but won't work with the crap that the cable companies and other providers sell as "telephone". Real phones work during power faiures, too. (can anyone tell that i have worked/did work/do work for the "phone" company in all of its various "flavors" for 34 years?
)...well..it will be 34 years on 1/15)Rotary phones will work fine on most switched networks. The rotaries currently connected in my house range from 1931 to 1956. The 1931 model 202 has been retrofitted with a later F-1 type transmitter capsule. This was standard practice within the Bell System once the F-1 receiver and elements were introduced in 1936, but I had to make the upgrade myself since my phone still had the original and far inferior "bullet" type transmitter. Now nobody can tell I'm talking on an 82 year old instrument (the retrofitted transmitter element is "only" 75 years old). The receiver elements were apparently not upgraded on the E-1 handsets but the reception isn't too bad, particularly for a component manufactured 82 years ago.
Contrast that with today's supposed "smart" phones that are decidedly dumbed down by derelict and deficient digital signaling that can't produce a clean clear transmission, and are often tossed out after less than 82 weeks. How people think that dropped calls, transmission delays, static and crackling equal great strides in communication technology is beyond me. What is this, 1913?
I can't agree more that the Bell breakup and demise of Bell Laboratories was one of the major blunders of all time. Telecommunications quality across the board has made a giant leap -- backward.
Contrast that with today's supposed "smart" phones that are decidedly dumbed down by derelict and deficient digital signaling that can't produce a clean clear transmission, and are often tossed out after less than 82 weeks. How people think that dropped calls, transmission delays, static and crackling equal great strides in communication technology is beyond me. What is this, 1913?
I can't agree more that the Bell breakup and demise of Bell Laboratories was one of the major blunders of all time. Telecommunications quality across the board has made a giant leap -- backward.
appliguy
Well-known member
won't work with the crap that the cable companies and ot
Chuck that may be true of some cable providers phone services but not all of them. My rotary phones work very well on my Cox Digital Telephone Service that I have bundled with my internet and cable tv and I use (in rotation) phones dating from circa 1936 to circa 1980 and I have never had any trouble dialing with a rotary and as long as the ringers in the phone are in working order they always ring good and strong......PAT COFFEY
Chuck that may be true of some cable providers phone services but not all of them. My rotary phones work very well on my Cox Digital Telephone Service that I have bundled with my internet and cable tv and I use (in rotation) phones dating from circa 1936 to circa 1980 and I have never had any trouble dialing with a rotary and as long as the ringers in the phone are in working order they always ring good and strong......PAT COFFEY
cehalstead
Well-known member
work with some networks
I'm glad to know that, because there are many collectors who love their old phones. I'm one of them. I have over 20 Bell System phones that I have bought over the years. I use them in rotation and they definitely have very clear reproduction. I also have a WE 202 from the 20's that sounds fantastic and I love the loud bell! It's great to know that these phones will work on some cable systems, but to the best of my knowledge, these won't work on our local cable phone network. I guess I spoke without full knowledge......but that is what is great about thise site...we all can learn and most of us take our lumps kindly!!
I'm glad to know that, because there are many collectors who love their old phones. I'm one of them. I have over 20 Bell System phones that I have bought over the years. I use them in rotation and they definitely have very clear reproduction. I also have a WE 202 from the 20's that sounds fantastic and I love the loud bell! It's great to know that these phones will work on some cable systems, but to the best of my knowledge, these won't work on our local cable phone network. I guess I spoke without full knowledge......but that is what is great about thise site...we all can learn and most of us take our lumps kindly!!
NCS 1-15-79
Chuck, you have certainly seen it all -- go downhill -- over the course of 34 years, although the last five or ten have no doubt been by far the worst of them. You don't have to hang in there much longer before retirement will be worthwhile, unless you intend to work until you're 65 or older.
I only put in half the time you have, as my management position was declared redundant after AT&T swallowed up the last "Baby Bell" anybody was interested in, Bell South. All that's left of the Baby Bells now is Century Link, formerly Qwest, formerly U.S. West. Neither AT&T nor Verizon is interested in that telco since its territory is so sparsely populated.
I'm really hoping the day doesn't come where a land line will once again be a luxury item that's only an option for those with discretionary income. Residential service has never in the history of telecommunications paid for itself, and with so many people abandoning land lines in favor of cell phones, along with a generation that's being raised completely unaware of what a land line even is, the future for affordable residential service via nearly 100% reliable switched networks doesn't look good.
Chuck, you have certainly seen it all -- go downhill -- over the course of 34 years, although the last five or ten have no doubt been by far the worst of them. You don't have to hang in there much longer before retirement will be worthwhile, unless you intend to work until you're 65 or older.
I only put in half the time you have, as my management position was declared redundant after AT&T swallowed up the last "Baby Bell" anybody was interested in, Bell South. All that's left of the Baby Bells now is Century Link, formerly Qwest, formerly U.S. West. Neither AT&T nor Verizon is interested in that telco since its territory is so sparsely populated.
I'm really hoping the day doesn't come where a land line will once again be a luxury item that's only an option for those with discretionary income. Residential service has never in the history of telecommunications paid for itself, and with so many people abandoning land lines in favor of cell phones, along with a generation that's being raised completely unaware of what a land line even is, the future for affordable residential service via nearly 100% reliable switched networks doesn't look good.
AT&T has already proposed ending POTS in 2017...they'd like nothing more than to deploy U-verse where ever it's possible, then turning everyone else over to wireless. I can't say, though, that we've lost too much as far as the telecom network, though...is it better to have 100% coverage, 100% quality in say, 180 million dwelling units/business offices or 90% coverage, 90% quality on 240 million people's hips...it's arguable (says he who's made his career in the wireless business)
Also, it's pretty cool to be able to have network diversity for $8 or so a month (I always recommend to people who are concerned about it to get a prepaid on another wireless carrier for some diversity)
I have to agree that the break up of the Bell System by the Department of Justice and Judge Greene was a "blunder." Not so much that some anti-trust action against Ma Bell wasn't due, it was a matter of how it was done. Also known as the MFJ, or Modified Final Judgement, it had to be modified because the original Final Judgement would have been technically impossible to implement. The beneficiary of any anti-trust action is suppossed to be the consumer, and that didn't happen.
A very similar anti-trust suit happened when the DOJ broke up the motion picture studio system. Box office prices doubled nearly overnight and many studios ended up in receivership or being sucked up by clueless corporate conglomerates.
A very similar anti-trust suit happened when the DOJ broke up the motion picture studio system. Box office prices doubled nearly overnight and many studios ended up in receivership or being sucked up by clueless corporate conglomerates.
kb0nes
Well-known member
Pulse to Tone converter
It hasn't yet been mentioned so I posted a link to a pulse to tone converter. Add one of these and your old rotary dials will work with non-comparable systems. I helped a buddy install one of these to get a Google Talk connection to recognize pulses, it worked just fine!
The old phone technology was amazing. It just HAD to work and it did. Not a lot of frills but it was indeed "the next best thing to being there".
The transition from analog to digital cellular was unfortunate from an intelligibility standpoint. The narrow bandwidth requires an aggressive audio compression algorithms and if signal levels result in any data loss at all, voice quality falls quickly. The compression is tailored to human speech, its really interesting to talk to someone who has a lot of background noise, especially music (at in at a bar etc.). The codec's just don't know how to behave and the voice performance goes to hell even with good signals. As a HAM and an analog enthusiast I would MUCH rather accept some fading and syllables dropping into the noise then have total word loss and nasty distortion due to the digital error correction!
Of course take away digital and along with it goes all the other neat functions the modern phones have. It would be nice if one day when the cellular data networks get robust enough that perhaps the voice calling bandwidth could be increased a bit to aid call quality.
http://www.oldphoneworks.com/pulse-to-tone-converter.html
It hasn't yet been mentioned so I posted a link to a pulse to tone converter. Add one of these and your old rotary dials will work with non-comparable systems. I helped a buddy install one of these to get a Google Talk connection to recognize pulses, it worked just fine!
The old phone technology was amazing. It just HAD to work and it did. Not a lot of frills but it was indeed "the next best thing to being there".
The transition from analog to digital cellular was unfortunate from an intelligibility standpoint. The narrow bandwidth requires an aggressive audio compression algorithms and if signal levels result in any data loss at all, voice quality falls quickly. The compression is tailored to human speech, its really interesting to talk to someone who has a lot of background noise, especially music (at in at a bar etc.). The codec's just don't know how to behave and the voice performance goes to hell even with good signals. As a HAM and an analog enthusiast I would MUCH rather accept some fading and syllables dropping into the noise then have total word loss and nasty distortion due to the digital error correction!
Of course take away digital and along with it goes all the other neat functions the modern phones have. It would be nice if one day when the cellular data networks get robust enough that perhaps the voice calling bandwidth could be increased a bit to aid call quality.
http://www.oldphoneworks.com/pulse-to-tone-converter.html
kb0nes
Well-known member
Pulse to Tone converter
It hasn't yet been mentioned so I posted a link to a pulse to tone converter. Add one of these and your old rotary dials will work with non-comparable systems. I helped a buddy install one of these to get a Google Talk connection to recognize pulses, it worked just fine!
The old phone technology was amazing. It just HAD to work and it did. Not a lot of frills but it was indeed "the next best thing to being there".
The transition from analog to digital cellular was unfortunate from an intelligibility standpoint. The narrow bandwidth requires an aggressive audio compression algorithms and if signal levels result in any data loss at all, voice quality falls quickly. The compression is tailored to human speech, its really interesting to talk to someone who has a lot of background noise, especially music (at in at a bar etc.). The codec's just don't know how to behave and the voice performance goes to hell even with good signals. As a HAM and an analog enthusiast I would MUCH rather accept some fading and syllables dropping into the noise then have total word loss and nasty distortion due to the digital error correction!
Of course take away digital and along with it goes all the other neat functions the modern phones have. It would be nice if one day when the cellular data networks get robust enough that perhaps the voice calling bandwidth could be increased a bit to aid call quality.
http://www.oldphoneworks.com/pulse-to-tone-converter.html
It hasn't yet been mentioned so I posted a link to a pulse to tone converter. Add one of these and your old rotary dials will work with non-comparable systems. I helped a buddy install one of these to get a Google Talk connection to recognize pulses, it worked just fine!
The old phone technology was amazing. It just HAD to work and it did. Not a lot of frills but it was indeed "the next best thing to being there".
The transition from analog to digital cellular was unfortunate from an intelligibility standpoint. The narrow bandwidth requires an aggressive audio compression algorithms and if signal levels result in any data loss at all, voice quality falls quickly. The compression is tailored to human speech, its really interesting to talk to someone who has a lot of background noise, especially music (at in at a bar etc.). The codec's just don't know how to behave and the voice performance goes to hell even with good signals. As a HAM and an analog enthusiast I would MUCH rather accept some fading and syllables dropping into the noise then have total word loss and nasty distortion due to the digital error correction!
Of course take away digital and along with it goes all the other neat functions the modern phones have. It would be nice if one day when the cellular data networks get robust enough that perhaps the voice calling bandwidth could be increased a bit to aid call quality.
http://www.oldphoneworks.com/pulse-to-tone-converter.html
what a beautiful phone ...
... I miss the old rotary dial phones and wish I had held on to some of ours. We still use an old trimline in the MBR, and have two of the old Caller I.D. boxes in use. These cordless home phones today are total junque. I hate ours.
Good old Ernestine the operator.(snort!snort!) one could easily hang the local cable TV/digital phone provider's sign over her station and her spiel would still apply. "We don't care, we don't have to care, we're the cable company."
... I miss the old rotary dial phones and wish I had held on to some of ours. We still use an old trimline in the MBR, and have two of the old Caller I.D. boxes in use. These cordless home phones today are total junque. I hate ours.
Good old Ernestine the operator.(snort!snort!) one could easily hang the local cable TV/digital phone provider's sign over her station and her spiel would still apply. "We don't care, we don't have to care, we're the cable company."
cehalstead
Well-known member
old telephones
There is a company in NC that sells rebuilt Western Electric and other similar phones....www.chicagooldtelephone.com. I've bought several from them. A little pricey, but well worth it, considering the price of today's junk home phones.
There is a company in NC that sells rebuilt Western Electric and other similar phones....www.chicagooldtelephone.com. I've bought several from them. A little pricey, but well worth it, considering the price of today's junk home phones.
If anyone ever comes this way. There is a telephone museum with phones, swithboards and more put together from all the old switching stations in Ellsworth, ME. They have an awesome collection and have put it together the "old school" way. And they all work! Those people did a great job recreating and raising the funds to put this whole thing together.
Here's a link to another source for beautifully refurbished rotary phones, primarily Western Electric and they are not exactly cheap. Dennis does great work however, and you couldn't deal with a nicer guy.
If you're on a budget, you can usually find WECo 500 models at swap meets. Even rough looking ones will usually clean up to presentable condition. I wouldn't worry too much about whether a swap meet phone will work. As one post I read from a blogger told it, a swap meet dealer advised him that he didn't know if a 500 he had for sale worked, to which the blogger replied, "They always work."
I've considered buying one of the "Rot-a-tone" add-on pulse-to-tone converters. At some point in the future it might be the only way a rotary dial phone can be used. I've also thought about purchasing an "electret" transmitter element, which provides clearer transmission than the 100+ year-old carbon granule technology. So far I haven't acted on either one, since I don't get any complaints from distant parties when I'm talking on any of my old phones, and I have our cordless handset from our answering system handy if I need to push any buttons. More and more, call trees are providing the option to "press or say" so my rotaries get the job done without any intervention from a touchpad.
http://www.vintagerotaryphones.com/?page_id=35
If you're on a budget, you can usually find WECo 500 models at swap meets. Even rough looking ones will usually clean up to presentable condition. I wouldn't worry too much about whether a swap meet phone will work. As one post I read from a blogger told it, a swap meet dealer advised him that he didn't know if a 500 he had for sale worked, to which the blogger replied, "They always work."
I've considered buying one of the "Rot-a-tone" add-on pulse-to-tone converters. At some point in the future it might be the only way a rotary dial phone can be used. I've also thought about purchasing an "electret" transmitter element, which provides clearer transmission than the 100+ year-old carbon granule technology. So far I haven't acted on either one, since I don't get any complaints from distant parties when I'm talking on any of my old phones, and I have our cordless handset from our answering system handy if I need to push any buttons. More and more, call trees are providing the option to "press or say" so my rotaries get the job done without any intervention from a touchpad.
http://www.vintagerotaryphones.com/?page_id=35
100+ year-old carbon granule technology
You can also revive those old carbon granule transmitter cartridges by taking them out and rapping them a few times on a hard surface. It loosens the granules and makes them sound louder again.
You can also revive those old carbon granule transmitter cartridges by taking them out and rapping them a few times on a hard surface. It loosens the granules and makes them sound louder again.
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