Now this makes me feel old.

My baby Sister had one of those. I about swear she thought it made [her] a Princess. But then, I guess little sisters really [are] princess's.

They would slide right off the table at the slightest tug.

Angeline
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So you bought one, eh?? You're right...not good on the nightstand. Of course, almost anyone who'd call me while I was sleeping deserved to hear the thing tumble to the floor.

County DP ran 24/7 and, when one of my programs blew, I would get called. I would mumble an answer and, then, call them back in a half hour and say "You didn't do that did you?" The answer was always "No." because they knew. I would be able to tell them the correct answer. I was glad of the lighted dial so I didn't have to turn on the light.

Diana

Hi Angeline....

Your not the only one. Its only been 5 or 6 years since I splurged at a yard sale and got a touch tone phone for a buck. Thought I would try it before buying a fancy model. Had the old wall rotary phone for years. Was sitting at the table one day shooting the breeze with a friend, when he decided to call his wife and asked if he could use my phone. I said sure, its right behind you on the wall. He took one look at it and laughed. Okay, now wheres a real phone. Thats it pal, just spin the wheel. When my son came down and had to use it, he would sing while dialing..Round and round we go, where this will go nobody knows. Come on Dad, get with it. I still have it stuffed in the archives box..

This new touch tone contraption has so many features on it, I spent a whole day trying to program it. The wife hates it. She said all I want is a phone to call the kids once in awhile and dial 911 if needed. You go and put this crazy phone in nobody knows how to run. The other one was find till you messed with it. Oh well, shes not a phone person I guess.

George

PS.... HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to you and all the other Mothers out there. Have a good one.

'with a difference'... the push buttons are in the holes in the dialer and the # and * buttons are set in the middle of the dialer


took me a minute or two to figure it out i admit


jonah

.,

I'll never forget the look on my granddaughter's face the first time she wanted to make a call at my house on a rotary.

Now I have only a couple of touch-tones that cost under $12, including tax.

My first one was a "Big Button" cordless. It was also simple.

With both I just hang up and dial again instead of hitting # to redial.

The worse thing is that when I need to hold the receiver under my chin I sometimes cut off the call with my chin. I need to buy a model that doesn't have everything on the handset.

Angeline
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(the generic name for Bell's Touch Tone) they implied that each customer got his own. Not so: Much of the telco equipment is used only temporarily for each call (dial tone, ring, other signals). The equipment for those functions can be shared by as many as 10,000 customers (nnn-0000 through nnn-9999).
Even allowing for the occasional replacement, "your" translator was amortized years ago.

.... it took about 16 years for mine to be amortized.

I'd have to look at previous bills to see if I was charged $1 or $2 all of those years.

My phone service recently went from a Baby Bell to AT&T. The taxes and surcharges and fees are double - the same for both local and long distance, as they were before. And they are steep!

Angeline
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Mine too. On my last bill every page said AT&T. I hope that doesn't mean my line now has Long-Distance service. Not supposed to be any Long-Distance service assigned to my account. I'll have to check on that.

In 1990 you were still leasing. I wonder how many phones you could have bought.

and if you were able to buy one somewhere, you could not connect it to the telephone system. They were very strict about this. As well, you could not add an extension phone. Supposedly the phone company could detect a violation of their policy by checking the "ring current". If your line drew too much current, you had an illegal phone attached and had to pay an extra fee or remove the phone. They owned the phone and you leased it. If you wanted a different type or your phone ceased to work, a phone repair person had to do this. Wall phones were hard wired but desk type (all black) could use a large 4 prong jack. Modulars came later. There was a time when our local phone company offered us a choice of either buying our current phone or continuing to lease it. If you bought the phone and it broke, you had to buy another. If you continued the lease, you had some repair coverage. It was later that phone stores emerged and other manufacturers got into the business of making phones. These still had to meet certain specifications...ring current being a big issue. Today, my phone company is only responsible for hardware up to the outside interface. The rest is mine unless I contract them for inside wiring service. I'm quite capable at doing my own wiring so it's no issue. Still, when I have trouble on the line, the phone company threatens with huge charges if they determine their end is good. Checking for problems is as simple as connecting an extension phone to the outside interface. If the problem can be reproduced there, it's their problem.

or so long as anybody wants to use it. The thing weighed several pounds. I guess phones were kind of like Fords -- "You can have any phone you want as long as it's black."