Rotary Phones Still Work

[Dean]

<https://techwithtech.com/rotary-dial-phones-do-they-still-work/ding to this article.>
I can' t help but wonder if some teenagers would need lessons to use them.

[Don Y]

Post by Dean
<https://techwithtech.com/rotary-dial-phones-do-they-still-work/ding to this article.>
I can' t help but wonder if some teenagers would need lessons to use them.

Many years ago, I built a rotary-to-DTMF phone (pushbutton to
dialpulse was commonplace -- to address DTMF *and* pulse-dialed
service, offering the convenience of pushbuttons to all).


Young neighbors and relatives would "play" with it, due to its novelty.
I eventually had to move it into a back bedroom just to hide the
"temptation" from guests.

My EE colleagues would just laugh when they "discovered" its functionality;
"what's the *point*???" (there's nothing "convenient" about dialing vs.
pushing buttons!)

[I've also had to hide tape rules from folks who like to just pull
out ~18 inches of tape and let it automatically retract. I've
confounded a few of them by leaving a "compact yardstick" -- an
8 ft tape that can be PUSHED into a rolled form in a container -- out
for them to discover! Matches? Never. I'm tired of fools who like
seeing 20 matchheads ignite simultaneously!]

[whit3rd]

Post by Dean
<https://techwithtech.com/rotary-dial-phones-do-they-still-work/ding to this article.>
I can' t help but wonder if some teenagers would need lessons to use them.

Oh, teenagers used to know that receive-only (dial-less courtesy phones) could
be button-modulated to generate calls; that would be the lesson
that they'd remember. After bypassing the 'security' on that, they'd
remember always what a dial was really doing.

Cost of dial/touchpad phoning is generally negligible nowadays, though;
the last dial-less item I recall was in a semipublic library at the university, decades ago.

[john larkin]

Post by whit3rd

Post by Dean
<https://techwithtech.com/rotary-dial-phones-do-they-still-work/ding to this article.>
I can' t help but wonder if some teenagers would need lessons to use them.

Oh, teenagers used to know that receive-only (dial-less courtesy phones) could
be button-modulated to generate calls; that would be the lesson
that they'd remember. After bypassing the 'security' on that, they'd
remember always what a dial was really doing.

I'd tap 10 times to get the operator. I'd tell her I was blind and ask
her to dial the whole number for me.

[David Lesher]

Post by Dean
<https://techwithtech.com/rotary-dial-phones-do-they-still-work/ding to this article.>
I can' t help but wonder if some teenagers would need lessons to use them.

And the article is full of wrong. While cellphones are required to allow 911,
a dead landline is d e a d dead, with no dial tone, etc.

At one point ~20 years ago, Ma experimented with a scheme where the disconnected
phone was allowed 911 & the business office, period. It didn't last long.