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Eh. What? Many phone companies in Europe had an option to keep your ancient landline phone. It was just connected to a box that understands rotary dialing and a
by timonoko 5y ago
Eh. What? Many phone companies in Europe had an option to keep your ancient landline phone. It was just connected to a box that understands rotary dialing and acts as a cellphone. But this generation of subscribers mostly dead now.
- Aeolun 5y agoI have a similar phone, and if I plug it into the wall it works just fine still.
- rswail 5y agoWhere are you located?
- vineyardmike 5y agoDid you read the article? The phone acts as a familiar medium for new content. You don’t call people with this phone, instead it’s used to hear pre-recorded messages from her friends.
- timonoko 5y agoSounds little creepy. I would not want such a gift. When my mother's rotary phone was changed to touch phone, she started to whine it hurts her fingers. I found her rubber covered screw drive handle to poke buttons. This made her happy.
- cinntaile 5y agoSurely you're misunderstanding something here... How are birthday wishes from 60 different people wrapped in nostalgia creepy?
- timonoko 5y agoDepends on the cognitive level of the said granny, but hearing ghost voices in a dead phone is either scary or creepy. I seriously doubt she can appreciate the effort and technological achievement at any level. Nor does she have any fond memories of old crappy phones. In the olden times phone calls were so expensive that everytime the phone ringed it was something serious and mostly bad.
- cinntaile 5y agoYou're just being overly cynical. She will most definitely appreciate the effort that has gone into this.
- rswail 5y ago"In the olden times"... POTS service in most places wasn't just used for serious/bad events. Perhaps in 3rd world environments. The OP was making a present for their grandmother's 80th birthday, in 2021, so their grandmother was born in 1940 or later. Someone in their 80s these days is unlikely to be so cognitively impaired as to be worried by phone calls. They're more likely to be facetiming with grandchildren from their iPads/iPhones. In Australia, POTS service was universal and the call costs for local calls was untimed and minimal (perhaps $0.10/call). Timed calls were for longer distances in Australia (STD) or for international (IDD). Unless you're talking about up until the very early 80s, when long distance / international calls required operators.
- danachow 5y ago
- danachow 5y agoI think you’re totally missing the point of this post. But in many countries including the US, POTS twisted pair landlines are still readily available. And I am surprised that at least some parts of Europe don’t still offer it - isn’t ADSL still super common there?
- rswail 5y agoIn Australia, POTS service has essentially been discontinued with the implementation of the NBN https://www.nbnco.com.au/ https://www.nbnco.com.au/ So even if you still have copper, it doesn't have POTS service available on it. You'll be connecting to a FTTN/B/C (node/building/curb) service.
- to1y 5y agoNot sure what you've said right there but OPs phone wasn't made to be a functional phone. Hes turned it into a mp3 player for his mother's birthday messages. Also I'd disagree on the mostly dead part. Anyone over 30 likely remembers rotary phones.
- flomo 5y agoIn my parents area of the US, Bell had a monthly charge for 'touch-tone' dialing. My father always held out, but eventually they sent him a voucher for replacing their rotary phones. I've only seen rotary-to-mobile adapters as a hipster accoutrement. They are in this age range and now prefer to call people on their iPad.