Inspired by this I hooked up an old rotary phone to an ATA and got a number from a low cost SIP provider. Now my 5 year old can call his friends and family on his own. He loves when it rings and when he can call his pals to make his own plans.
It lacks the features and network effects of the tin can system but is still pretty fun.
I grew up with rotary phones... They really are not something to fetishize.
I can close my eyes and still feel the plastic cutting into my index finger after repeatedly mis-dialing a long distance number, or having to redial a few times because the phone was busy. (Good luck if you were at a payphone.) You'd try to dial faster, but you'd always have to wait for the dial to return sooo slooowly... It took literally 15-30 seconds to dial a number. Then there was the yelling at someone to get off the line when they picked up and started dialing right away (clackada-clackada-clackada). Oof.
Yeah, there are reasons rotary phones are gone for good, and it's not just because of touch tones. The "good ol' days" sucked and always will, no matter which generation is trying to claim otherwise, don't listen to anyone who tells you differently.
I love baking bread by hand even though sliced bread is readily available around me. I don’t care how waiting for a rise “sucks” and/or is a waste of time because tEcHnoLoGy made it easier.
Absolutely, rotary phones sucked! Always in the way, slow as a sloth and a mis-dial was the worst. Having said all that, these "cell" phones look pretty cool.
And with the unappreciated feature that the Securitate's people listening in could always be counted on to be available for consult in case you forgot a detail discussed in a call...
My ex-wife grew up in a small town in 1970s Francoist Spain, so I've heard these types of stories before. (Though she didn't have to crank her phone!!)
She actually had two phone lines in her house: One for employees of Repsol - the national oil company - which didn't have a dial and used a central operator, and another with a dial to make regular calls. It created a sort of 1970s "blue bubble" effect because the company line was free to use. Friends whose family also worked for the company were sort of privileged as a result.
Visiting my kid's grandparents in the late 2000s was a blast from the past as they still had the same pink phone in the living room they had had since forever (it may have even been a rotary phone, I can't remember). My son at the time was honestly perplexed at the whole idea of a landline.
>> Friends whose family also worked for the company were sort of privileged as a result.
Well to tell the full story, my father was an employee of the Agricultural Production Cooperative (CAP - Cooperativa Agricola de Productie - in Romanian), the national company who owned the land (forcibly nationalized in the 50s) and grew food. No individual would have been able to afford a private telephone line in the village, there were two of them, one to CAP one to the Post office. While it was possible to go to the post office and pay to make calls, it was more awkward getting them. So we hooked a phone to CAP's line, meaning we shared the calls with it's office, phone rang both at out home and in the office and everytime we made a call, someone in the office could pick up the phone and listen (and we could do the same with them). And of course not every employee of the company was allowed to hook up a personal phone to the company line ;)
I also grew up with rotary phones, in fact my parents kept their rotary phones long after "touch-tone" dialing was available (intertia, and at least initially touch-tone cost extra every month).
They weren't that bad. Dialing was slow, but local calls were only seven digits. Long distance was expensive and charged by the minute so those calls were rare.
Are you trying to say that you could dial a rotary phone by feel alone?? Please be real. It was super easy to mis-dial even when looking at the phone. Dialing in the dark would probably require counting finger holes and take 10 times as long, though I honestly can't remember ever even trying.
Worth mentioning the Tin Can phone: https://tincan.kids/
All their batches are sold out, I guess it’s pretty popular. Interesting tidbit, it needs to be plugged in at all times, not meant to be mobile.
Inspired by this I hooked up an old rotary phone to an ATA and got a number from a low cost SIP provider. Now my 5 year old can call his friends and family on his own. He loves when it rings and when he can call his pals to make his own plans.
It lacks the features and network effects of the tin can system but is still pretty fun.
What's he benefit here over a landline phone?
This one is wifi based, made for kids, it has a free plan, safety and security features. Pretty well put together.
> $550 USD
wonder if it came down in price in a few years since release as that's... enough to buy some used smartphones (plural)
So beautifully designed. It feels like something the wealthy might own in the film Brazil.
We have a “house phone” for the kids which is an iPhone with all the apps disabled on it.
Should make it so you can send texts by using the letters and dialing a number multiple times like a T9 layout.
Actually, hold on, I've thought of a design for my next keyboard.
I would LOVE one of these. If for no other reason than vexing my teenage son.
I grew up with rotary phones... They really are not something to fetishize.
I can close my eyes and still feel the plastic cutting into my index finger after repeatedly mis-dialing a long distance number, or having to redial a few times because the phone was busy. (Good luck if you were at a payphone.) You'd try to dial faster, but you'd always have to wait for the dial to return sooo slooowly... It took literally 15-30 seconds to dial a number. Then there was the yelling at someone to get off the line when they picked up and started dialing right away (clackada-clackada-clackada). Oof.
Yeah, there are reasons rotary phones are gone for good, and it's not just because of touch tones. The "good ol' days" sucked and always will, no matter which generation is trying to claim otherwise, don't listen to anyone who tells you differently.
I love baking bread by hand even though sliced bread is readily available around me. I don’t care how waiting for a rise “sucks” and/or is a waste of time because tEcHnoLoGy made it easier.
Absolutely, rotary phones sucked! Always in the way, slow as a sloth and a mis-dial was the worst. Having said all that, these "cell" phones look pretty cool.
My first phone in the early 80s was a hand-cranked magneto phone like this: https://images.okr.ro/serve/product/572e8fdd848db2d3b02d36d2...
Connected by 12Km of telephone wire to a manual switchboard where an operator would pick my call and connect wires for local or long distance: https://alexandrone.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02...
Yes, in the early 80s, Romania was still using 1950s technology. And with only 3 telephones in the village, it was a big deal to have one.
Then at the end of the 80s moved to a nearby town and was amazed at how much more convenient a rotary dial phone is.
And with the unappreciated feature that the Securitate's people listening in could always be counted on to be available for consult in case you forgot a detail discussed in a call...
My ex-wife grew up in a small town in 1970s Francoist Spain, so I've heard these types of stories before. (Though she didn't have to crank her phone!!)
She actually had two phone lines in her house: One for employees of Repsol - the national oil company - which didn't have a dial and used a central operator, and another with a dial to make regular calls. It created a sort of 1970s "blue bubble" effect because the company line was free to use. Friends whose family also worked for the company were sort of privileged as a result.
Visiting my kid's grandparents in the late 2000s was a blast from the past as they still had the same pink phone in the living room they had had since forever (it may have even been a rotary phone, I can't remember). My son at the time was honestly perplexed at the whole idea of a landline.
>> Friends whose family also worked for the company were sort of privileged as a result.
Well to tell the full story, my father was an employee of the Agricultural Production Cooperative (CAP - Cooperativa Agricola de Productie - in Romanian), the national company who owned the land (forcibly nationalized in the 50s) and grew food. No individual would have been able to afford a private telephone line in the village, there were two of them, one to CAP one to the Post office. While it was possible to go to the post office and pay to make calls, it was more awkward getting them. So we hooked a phone to CAP's line, meaning we shared the calls with it's office, phone rang both at out home and in the office and everytime we made a call, someone in the office could pick up the phone and listen (and we could do the same with them). And of course not every employee of the company was allowed to hook up a personal phone to the company line ;)
I also grew up with rotary phones, in fact my parents kept their rotary phones long after "touch-tone" dialing was available (intertia, and at least initially touch-tone cost extra every month).
They weren't that bad. Dialing was slow, but local calls were only seven digits. Long distance was expensive and charged by the minute so those calls were rare.
>I can close my eyes and still feel the plastic cutting into my index finger
Yeah, but you can't close your eyes and dial a number on a smartphone.
Are you trying to say that you could dial a rotary phone by feel alone?? Please be real. It was super easy to mis-dial even when looking at the phone. Dialing in the dark would probably require counting finger holes and take 10 times as long, though I honestly can't remember ever even trying.
(2023) judging by https://skysedge.com/telecom/RUSP/electrical.html