Phone Thread

[countryford]

Last one. Not sure what brand. Got it from a friend a few weeks ago. Kind of cool. Not sure if it works yet.

 

[washernoob]

Wow!

You guys in the uk have everything backwards! Lol your phone dials are in reverse from ours.

 

[rp2813]

"your phone dials are in reverse from ours"

I'm not seeing it.  There's a larger gap on the finger wheel between the 1 and the O, but otherwise those rotaries would dial the same way as anything made in the USA, by non-Western Electric manufacturers in particular. 

 

[ptcruiser51]

Just so's you know...

On rotary phones, your dial-pulse signal is sent when your dial returns to position (after you've removed your finger when it hits the stop).  It doesn't matter how fast you're dialing, the fingerwheel will always return at the correct speed. 

 

Now ask me anything about algebra >blank<

 

[petek]

Not seeing any/many GTE phone sets here. Does anyone have any. They never seemed to be as sturdy as the Western/Northerb Electric sets

 

[washernoob]

I'm sorry. It appears as though 1 was the furthest away in the uk phone but now I see there is just a big gap. Lol.

Hey what's that non dialed phone with the brown cord shown above worth? I was at an antique store that had several at $40. I want one!

 

[spankomatic]

Commission Gordon may have to call Batman on the Bat phone for this vintage phone investigation....

 

[westie2]

That non dial phone is what I grew up with as we were out in the coutry and had the old crank party line system.  We had the phone in the back hall and the phone sit on top of the box with the hand crank and the bells.  The phone itself just had the receiver.   Our number was 23 two long cranks and 3 short cranks.  1 long crank got you to central and then you could go to another party line or long distance.  Our central operator was Effie and she and her husband lived in the house and had their bed in the phone room.  In 1963 when I was 14 we got a dial system and still had party lines.  Our number then was ATlas 7 2367.

 

In the larger town they had these phones but you picked up the reciver and got the operator with number please and yo told them the number in town or that you wanted to talke toso and so and tghey connected you and used the toggle switch to ring that number by pushing it forward and releasing.  They did not get dial phones until a year later.  Made it much easier to call my girlfried (now my wife of 45 years) as before that had to dial our operator then ask for central in the town and they connected to them and you had to ask for their number 897.  This cost for a 14 mile call $1.00 for 3 minutes and $0.35 per minute there after.  So did not make many calss as my parents had fits on the cost.  To this day on any long distance my mother won't talk long at all as it cost money even with our cell phones and nationwide free calls.

 

[rp2813]

Back in the early 70's I stayed in a remote cabin in a tiny community on the Feather River in the Mount Lassen region of northern California.  It had an ancient crank wall phone and a single mimeographed sheet on the wall beside it with ring codes.  I remember just cranking "one short" a few times over the weekend because it had no designation. 

 

That's also the same place I first saw a gas Servel refrigerator in operation.  There was no electricity in the cabin.  I honestly would not be surprised if the same phone system was still in place today.

 

[nashmaytagbear]

I saw someone mentioned GTE. I have a few

This one is our daily driver in the kitchen. My walls are a dark orange but somehow turned out a different color in the picture.

 

[nashmaytagbear]

Kitchen phone

 

[nashmaytagbear]

White Starlite phone Gte's version of a princess phone

 

[nashmaytagbear]

Pink Starlite with lighted dial as well

 

[nashmaytagbear]

Desk phone/Wall phone like I grew up.

 

[nashmaytagbear]

Gte's Styleline their version of the Trimline

 

[nashmaytagbear]

Older Desk phone

 

[nashmaytagbear]

Unfortunately most of my phones are like the ones above are stuck in boxes in storage. We just don't really have places to put them all. This one is my newest favorite because it was a blue/turquoise color. I wish GTE had continued the lighted dials in the starlite line.

 

[MrX]

Ericsson AXE - Old Video

Here's an old corporate video from Ericsson about their AXE digital switching system.

Ericsson AXE is the most widely used telecommunication switching platform in Europe and it has been at the core of most European telephone networks for decades.

It's also the most widely used system of its type in the world. It tends to be the switch of choice for digital cellular networks 2G, 3G and 4G.

AXE was introduced in 1976 and replaced a whole range of Ericsson crossbar switches, like ARF and ARK which were also hugely popular in most European countries and elsewhere in the world e.g. ARF/ARK and later AXE forms the basis of the Australian phone network too.

The other major suppliers in Europe are :

Alcatel which has two families of digital switch, E10 and System 7 and now, since it owns Lucent, also has the 7ESS in North America.

Nokia-Siemens networks (Joint venture)
Siemens EWSD
Nokia DX 200
Both of which are very widely used popular switches.

The old early 80s Ericsson video's hilarious though!
Just really kitsch and even has a sung theme tune

 

[MrX]

Ericsson cutting edge in 2000

Here's the Ericsson R380, which was probably the world's first true "smartphone", they coined the term

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

BUMP. Just found this great old thread! I'll be posting my collection soon!

 

[davetranter]

Socket 95A and plug - long since forgotten number

If anyone wants a few sockets and plugs as shown in Reply#71, I have a few new ones 'in stock'.... Post me a reply. If I get chance, I'll post a few pics of some of my old GPO 'phones.

All best

Dave T

P.S. I also have a few switchboard cords somewhere, too