Blast from the past: Any Bitogers ever "dial the phone collect to home"?

[GON]

One of my all-time favorite songs is Lacy J Dalton's - 16th Avenue

One of the lines in the song "dial the phone collect to home".

Earlier today I listened to 16th Avenue resulting in a walk down memory lane, I have dialed the phone collect to home.

Any other Bitoger ever dial the phone collect to home?

Anyone interested- this is 16th Avenue:

 

[Pterostylis]

When I was a teenager I got stranded somewhere past my curfew so I called collect to tell my parents I’d be late. They refused to accept the call because they didn’t know anyone in the area I was calling from.

 

[rszappa1]

Many a time when I was in the USAF.....

 

[demarpaint]

As a teenager in the 70's I did a few times.

 

[ls1mike]

A few times.

 

[FT92]

yes sir , did it several times in my younger years

 

[John105]

I'm sure I'm not the only one here who did this....if I am, it must be my grifter family background.

When I first got to college, there were pay phones in every dorm, in a row.

What I would do is to call my mom third party collect--ask for a bogus name such as Mary. She would answer the phone and say, Mary is not here at the moment.

Now, she would call the pay phone back (already knew the number), so that the charges would be on her phone bill, lower than calling from a payphone.

The other trick that worked 50% of the time? Third party a call to the payphone next to me. It's pretty amazing how data is readily available today, instantaneously, but not, just 35 years ago.

 

[hemitom]

Ya and we had the good old party line . (remember those ) our ring was two long and one short .

 

[NormanBuntz]

Not since college in the 1970's. Our fraternity house only had two pay phones, first floor and second floor.

 

[WeyounDS9]

In the 80s a few times.

 

[RooflessVW]

Collect call from: Bob Wehadababyitsaboy

 

[Zee09]

As a teenager in the 70's I did a few times.

Same here

 

[ka9mnx]

Many a time when I was in the USAF.....

Same...

 

[ka9mnx]

Haven't heard that song in ages. Love the sound of the stand up base. Thanks!

 

[eljefino]

I did once-- it was a vague excuse to do so but my parents wanted me to try (and succeed) so I'd know how to do it in an emergency.

I also knew how to do a "calling card call" that was formatted, IIRC, 0-number-to-call, pause, home-number-4-digit-pin.

My first credit card, the "AT&T Universal card" I got from a college campus kiosk recruiter with a $500 credit limit and 10-cents-per-minute phone calls anywhere in USA, a competitive rate at the time. It had no annual fee, either, which, again, was cutting edge. 1995.

 

[joekingcorvette]

That was a little past my time calling collect however I do remember it faintly. We did have a party line with about 4 families or more using the same line. Sometimes as kids we would listen to other peoples conversations but the other party usually could tell there was someone listening. Not a very good way to share private information.

 

[supton]

Before my time. Forgot about calling cards! I recall having one or two of those.

When we moved to rural Maine in the early 90’s we had 4 digit dialing if it was in town. Now I have to dial all 11 for any place.

 

[k1xv]

I knew a guy who was so thrifty, he got the phone company to block his own ability to make toll calls.

 

[fdcg27]

Sure, back in the seventies, maybe even the early eighties.

 

[zrxkawboy]

I always liked that song, too. I think LJD was underrated.