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  • Re: Rotary Phones Still Work

    From Don Y@21:1/5 to Dean on Thu Jan 25 10:10:29 2024
    On 1/25/2024 7:41 AM, Dean wrote:
    <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!]

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From john larkin@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jan 25 16:06:10 2024
    On Thu, 25 Jan 2024 13:26:02 -0800 (PST), whit3rd <whit3rd@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    On Thursday, January 25, 2024 at 6:41:52?AM UTC-8, Dean wrote:
    <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.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From David Lesher@21:1/5 to Dean on Sat Mar 16 22:28:28 2024
    Dean <hoffman54dean@gmail.com> writes:

    <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.

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    & no one will talk to a host that's close..........................
    Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
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