Historic communication device 😲
- Thread starter michaelluscher
- Start date
@michaelluscher I'm not that old, give me a break! lol
Y'know, you actually have to respect how well they were built. Nearly all metal and even the handset had some heft to it. We don't really see stuff built like this anymore.
the payphones moved to buttons before most house phones did LOL
@michaelluscher Do you remember T9 texting from a flip phone?
Ah yes T9, the stick shift of texting
I was real good at it, on the OG Nokia (my first phone)
I (like many people my vintage) most likely have permanent carpal tunnel due to it
I wrote essays/reports on a BlackBerry Curve in high school
We thought that was high technology
Kids these days have to contend with pinky dent/phone finger
AND you could find them everywhere, gas stations, supermarkets actually almost every store, bar, rest stops.
Germs 
but no one really thought about that. Maybe you would hold it a bit a way from your face. Made MANY calls from them over the years. Check in before you hit the road.
Germs
but no one really thought about that. Maybe you would hold it a bit a way from your face. Made MANY calls from them over the years. Check in before you hit the road.
So you can phone your mother
Now I feel absolutely old, and I was born in 1982.Is this how people communicated in the 1900s
That cord is so restricting
How do I tap to pay, who keeps coins on them
@dishdude @GON how did you survive these dark ages
Obligatory /s
View attachment 241921
Yeah, and texting was a nightmare too!
I remember playing on the party-line at my grandma's house in mountains of WNC on this:
wemay
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Excellent, simple and to the point post. LOL
We had one at our high school growing up. When it was time to get picked up after sports practice, place a collect call, and my parents would decline and be on the way.
10-10-321… or 10-10-220 if you’re nasty.
So…just after I graduated high school… Sure, kid!
I remember back in the mid to late 1960's we had one in the hallway of our college dorm. One guy got wise to the fact that the only way the operator could tell on this phone that you put in money was the dinging sound each coin made, Each coin had its own frequency. So he recorded the several dollar charge dings when calling his girlfriend in a midwestern state and would talk to the operator who would tell him the amount. He would then play the recording over the phone and get connected!
^^ In that vein:
There was a pay phone at one worksite which was said to have been "bummed" onto a legitimate phone line.
I don't know the name of the "flipper part" in the cradle but if your timing was good, and mine was, you flipped the flipper at a pace matching the clicks generated by a rotary phone and your call would go through.
You had to do that for each digit.
Ex: 201 would require click, click PAUSE click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click....you get the idea.
But please, how about an honorable mention for those who'd vandalize the handset....the only part one could damage.
Buttheads.
There was a pay phone at one worksite which was said to have been "bummed" onto a legitimate phone line.
I don't know the name of the "flipper part" in the cradle but if your timing was good, and mine was, you flipped the flipper at a pace matching the clicks generated by a rotary phone and your call would go through.
You had to do that for each digit.
Ex: 201 would require click, click PAUSE click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click....you get the idea.
But please, how about an honorable mention for those who'd vandalize the handset....the only part one could damage.
Buttheads.
My father worked for a teleco in the 70's. Met mom on a college campus... anyhow, he recalled one time finding a payphone ripped off a concrete wall, forget if he said the anchors gave up or what. Forget if he said if it was a common occurrence, or just a one time thing. People are, well, people I guess.
Shout out to the Telephone Museum in Warner NH. It's not huge but it's a fun little stop if you get a chance.
When I first moved to rural Maine our little town still had 4 digit dialing. That was early 90's. I'm a bit miffed now that I have to type all 11 digits.
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