4 ms·

it was quite tedious to call another number Just as an aside, the reason the UK uses 999 as the emergency number is because it was much quicker to dial on a ro

by kitd 5y ago

it was quite tedious to call another number Just as an aside, the reason the UK uses 999 as the emergency number is because it was much quicker to dial on a rotary phone.

qwertox 5y ago
It's 110 in Germany. The 1's are quick to dial and the 0 a good confirmation.
timthorn 5y ago
My understanding of the reason was to reduce the likelihood of phone lines swaying in the wind tapping out eg 111 autonomously.
cookie_monsta 5y ago
How is 9 quicker to dial than 1?
- dotancohen 5y ago
  The UK phones started with 9 and worked downwards.
  - cookie_monsta 5y ago
    Really? I can find plenty of pics of vintage GPO phones online but none of them work like that
    - dotancohen 5y ago
      Here's one: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/New_Zealand_Rotary_Telephone.jpg/440px-New_Zealand_Rotary_Telephone.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Ne... It's from New Zealand, but they drive on the same side of the road as the UK ))
      - cookie_monsta 5y ago
        Hmmm... except the emergency number in NZ is 111
        ztetranz 5y ago
      - Koshkin 5y ago
        Then they should have rotated the dials counter-clockwise.
edent 5y ago
That's not correct. 1 is the closest to the stop on a UK rotary phone. You can see photos and videos of the diallers on my blog post https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/08/why-didnt-phonewords-take-off-in-the-uk/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/08/why-didnt-phonewords-take-o... 9 is almost the furthest away from the stop - 0 is further. 999 was chosen because it was less likely that interference would generate the exact same sequence of pulses. https://web.archive.org/web/20090302014433/http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/ShowArticle.cfm?ArticleID=6e55cb12-8c0c-417f-b68c-6a7f62b1d8c8 https://web.archive.org/web/20090302014433/http://www.btplc....
jaclaz 5y ago
In Italy emergency numbers were usually 112 or 113, it was common enough that telephones were prevented from dialing other numbers by putting a lock on #3, but emergency could still be called, see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28273160 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28273160

by kitd 5y ago

it was quite tedious to call another number Just as an aside, the reason the UK uses 999 as the emergency number is because it was much quicker to dial on a rotary phone.

qwertox 5y ago

It's 110 in Germany. The 1's are quick to dial and the 0 a good confirmation.

timthorn 5y ago

My understanding of the reason was to reduce the likelihood of phone lines swaying in the wind tapping out eg 111 autonomously.

cookie_monsta 5y ago

How is 9 quicker to dial than 1?

dotancohen 5y ago
The UK phones started with 9 and worked downwards.
- cookie_monsta 5y ago
  Really? I can find plenty of pics of vintage GPO phones online but none of them work like that
  - dotancohen 5y ago
    Here's one: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/New_Zealand_Rotary_Telephone.jpg/440px-New_Zealand_Rotary_Telephone.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Ne... It's from New Zealand, but they drive on the same side of the road as the UK ))
    - cookie_monsta 5y ago
      Hmmm... except the emergency number in NZ is 111
      - ztetranz 5y ago
    - Koshkin 5y ago
      Then they should have rotated the dials counter-clockwise.

edent 5y ago

That's not correct. 1 is the closest to the stop on a UK rotary phone. You can see photos and videos of the diallers on my blog post https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/08/why-didnt-phonewords-take-off-in-the-uk/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/08/why-didnt-phonewords-take-o... 9 is almost the furthest away from the stop - 0 is further. 999 was chosen because it was less likely that interference would generate the exact same sequence of pulses. https://web.archive.org/web/20090302014433/http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/ShowArticle.cfm?ArticleID=6e55cb12-8c0c-417f-b68c-6a7f62b1d8c8 https://web.archive.org/web/20090302014433/http://www.btplc....

jaclaz 5y ago

In Italy emergency numbers were usually 112 or 113, it was common enough that telephones were prevented from dialing other numbers by putting a lock on #3, but emergency could still be called, see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28273160 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28273160