5 ms·

This makes me wonder how many HackerNews readers have actually used a rotary phone.

mhb 13y ago
It makes me wonder how many have re-mapped their phone buttons to whatever the Dvorak equivalent of the numeric keypad would be. With blank keys, of course.
- likeclockwork 13y ago
  Blank keys on a touch screen phone! You invented the ultimate affectation.
korethr 13y ago
I have. I don't recall where I first saw it, but I do recall thinking to myself, "What's wrong with this thing? It must be broken -- it is making clicking sounds instead of a proper beep." Shortly after ward, the purpose of those pulse/tone switches on more modern touch-tone telephones dawned on me: they existed for backwards compatibility with especially old phone networks which didn't support touch-tone devices, only rotary-dial ones. That such networks actually existed and were still in operation didn't seem such like such a crazy idea, considering the museum piece I was holding in my hands.
DanBC 13y ago
I've used a rotary phone, on a party line. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_line_(telephony) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_line_(telephony))
5555624 13y ago
Probably more than those who used the letter prefixes. I remember our 527-xxxx was JA7-xxxx. I don't remember ever telling anyone the "JA7" version of our home number, but it was the way we remembered our doctor's number. I feel old.
grecy 13y ago
I'm 31 and my family home had nothing but a rotary phone until ~1995. We didn't get a TV with a remote until around the same time, and it only got 3 channels. My parents still only have 3 channels living there. I grew up in Australia :)
snogglethorpe 13y ago
I stayed in a hotel in Hiroshima in 2011, and my room had a rotary phone (the room generally looked like nothing had changed changed since about 1971)! :] [The actual hotel: "アレーホテル広島並木通". It was actually a very nice hotel—clean and neat, friendly service, free (if simple) breakfast, crazy-low prices, and an incredible location—just a bit out-of-date. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting a budget hotel in Hiroshima. They also have slightly more expensive rooms that look a bit more modern (maybe even rocking a touch-tone! :).]
- w1ntermute 13y ago
  Haha I had the hardest time guessing what 外来語「アレー」 came from. I thought it was the French "allez" at first, but it turns out it's "alley"? That's usually written 「アレイ」. And speaking of outdated technology in Japan: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/world/asia/in-japan-the-fax-machine-is-anything-but-a-relic.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/world/asia/in-japan-the-fa...
jacques_chester 13y ago
It's like remembering the screeeeee-krrsssssh-bdang!bdang!bdang!-krrrssssh-click of a dialup modem. It fairly neatly bifurcates generations of nerds. Rotary phones were quite elegant. As the dial returns to 0, it sends pulses down the line. The pulses actuate series of stepping switches to form the final phone circuit.
- lutusp 13y ago
  > Rotary phones were quite elegant. As the dial returns to 0, it sends pulses down the line. The pulses actuate series of stepping switches to form the final phone circuit. Back when I was poor and didn't have a place to live, I would go into a hotel lobby where they had a phone for guests to receive, but not make, calls -- the phone didn't have a dial. I would pick up the handset, wait for a dial tone, then press one of the buttons beneath the handset, ten time really fast. Then I would say, "Hello, operator? I'm handicapped, can you dial a number for me?"
  - jacques_chester 13y ago
    Australia's phone system largely skipped past having operators, so the various tricks for getting one to dial for you never worked here.
    - lutusp 13y ago
      Just as well. Human operators only prolonged unfair and very negative sexual stereotypes.
      - jacques_chester 13y ago
        It's ok, we're Australians. We have plenty of other negative sexual stereotypes to pick up any slack.
    - AndresNavarro 13y ago
      Ah, but with a little practice (& patience!) you can dial complete numbers using this system. I used to call the 113 number (clock/time information) here in Argentina in this way just for fun.
ams6110 13y ago
I remember, as a kid, wondering whether the clicking of the rotary dial could be simulated by clicking the hook button rapidly. It worked! I could dial the phone by simply tapping the hook button. At one point I tried connecting a simple speaker (from a little transistor radio I had taken apart) directly to the phone line. I got a dial tone. By connecting one wire to the speaker terminal, and tapping the other wire on the other terminal, I could dial a phone number. Those old phones were really very simple things. No idea if the phone network still supports pulse dialing. I'd guess it does, but haven't tried it.

mhb 13y ago

It makes me wonder how many have re-mapped their phone buttons to whatever the Dvorak equivalent of the numeric keypad would be. With blank keys, of course.

likeclockwork 13y ago
Blank keys on a touch screen phone! You invented the ultimate affectation.

korethr 13y ago

I have. I don't recall where I first saw it, but I do recall thinking to myself, "What's wrong with this thing? It must be broken -- it is making clicking sounds instead of a proper beep." Shortly after ward, the purpose of those pulse/tone switches on more modern touch-tone telephones dawned on me: they existed for backwards compatibility with especially old phone networks which didn't support touch-tone devices, only rotary-dial ones. That such networks actually existed and were still in operation didn't seem such like such a crazy idea, considering the museum piece I was holding in my hands.

DanBC 13y ago

I've used a rotary phone, on a party line. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_line_(telephony) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_line_(telephony))

5555624 13y ago

Probably more than those who used the letter prefixes. I remember our 527-xxxx was JA7-xxxx. I don't remember ever telling anyone the "JA7" version of our home number, but it was the way we remembered our doctor's number. I feel old.

grecy 13y ago

I'm 31 and my family home had nothing but a rotary phone until ~1995. We didn't get a TV with a remote until around the same time, and it only got 3 channels. My parents still only have 3 channels living there. I grew up in Australia :)

snogglethorpe 13y ago

I stayed in a hotel in Hiroshima in 2011, and my room had a rotary phone (the room generally looked like nothing had changed changed since about 1971)! :] [The actual hotel: "アレーホテル広島並木通". It was actually a very nice hotel—clean and neat, friendly service, free (if simple) breakfast, crazy-low prices, and an incredible location—just a bit out-of-date. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting a budget hotel in Hiroshima. They also have slightly more expensive rooms that look a bit more modern (maybe even rocking a touch-tone! :).]

w1ntermute 13y ago
Haha I had the hardest time guessing what 外来語「アレー」 came from. I thought it was the French "allez" at first, but it turns out it's "alley"? That's usually written 「アレイ」. And speaking of outdated technology in Japan: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/world/asia/in-japan-the-fax-machine-is-anything-but-a-relic.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/world/asia/in-japan-the-fa...

jacques_chester 13y ago

It's like remembering the screeeeee-krrsssssh-bdang!bdang!bdang!-krrrssssh-click of a dialup modem. It fairly neatly bifurcates generations of nerds. Rotary phones were quite elegant. As the dial returns to 0, it sends pulses down the line. The pulses actuate series of stepping switches to form the final phone circuit.

lutusp 13y ago
> Rotary phones were quite elegant. As the dial returns to 0, it sends pulses down the line. The pulses actuate series of stepping switches to form the final phone circuit. Back when I was poor and didn't have a place to live, I would go into a hotel lobby where they had a phone for guests to receive, but not make, calls -- the phone didn't have a dial. I would pick up the handset, wait for a dial tone, then press one of the buttons beneath the handset, ten time really fast. Then I would say, "Hello, operator? I'm handicapped, can you dial a number for me?"
- jacques_chester 13y ago
  Australia's phone system largely skipped past having operators, so the various tricks for getting one to dial for you never worked here.
  - lutusp 13y ago
    Just as well. Human operators only prolonged unfair and very negative sexual stereotypes.
    - jacques_chester 13y ago
      It's ok, we're Australians. We have plenty of other negative sexual stereotypes to pick up any slack.
  - AndresNavarro 13y ago
    Ah, but with a little practice (& patience!) you can dial complete numbers using this system. I used to call the 113 number (clock/time information) here in Argentina in this way just for fun.

ams6110 13y ago

I remember, as a kid, wondering whether the clicking of the rotary dial could be simulated by clicking the hook button rapidly. It worked! I could dial the phone by simply tapping the hook button. At one point I tried connecting a simple speaker (from a little transistor radio I had taken apart) directly to the phone line. I got a dial tone. By connecting one wire to the speaker terminal, and tapping the other wire on the other terminal, I could dial a phone number. Those old phones were really very simple things. No idea if the phone network still supports pulse dialing. I'd guess it does, but haven't tried it.