Author Topic: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones  (Read 10427 times)

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Offline ez24Topic starter

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This has a high view number

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkuirEweZvM&feature=youtu.be

I found it because I wanted to know if I could use a rotary phone with an Ooma.  Seems I cannot without some sort of converter.  What got me was the kids reaction when asked what was a busy signal.  I never realized they are a part of history like I am.

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Offline Voodoo 6

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2016, 05:52:28 am »
Being from the 60's I do indeed remember the busy signal lol. Aside from the folks living deep in the Amazon jungle, I am probably the only person on earth to have never personally owned a cell phone. The funny thing is I worked for a major carrier in the US, running a POP. Carried 2 cells, a beeper, and a sat phone. But remain pure in the sense of never personally owning a phone.  8)
 

Offline fubar.gr

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2016, 06:12:05 am »
I hated these rotary phones. They were a PITA if you were in a hurry and wanted to dial something quickly.

Offline Voodoo 6

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2016, 06:28:23 am »
The best prank calls were created before caller id.  ;D
 

Offline whitevamp

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2016, 06:40:18 am »
yeap i remember the busy signal.
but who remember's the party lines?
 

Offline Voodoo 6

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #5 on: August 27, 2016, 07:08:28 am »
When the first party lines came online, everyone was like omg! if you were the first called the caller would say.. omg let me dial Stacy!!! this is so cool like omg.. we are all talking at the same time!!! I cant believe this!! this is so rad!!! The parents were like oh shit.. we have to sell the house to pay for that 3rd line.
 

Offline Back2Volts

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #6 on: August 27, 2016, 01:14:41 pm »
yeap i remember the busy signal.
but who remember's the party lines?

My wife grew up with a party line at home, here in the US.   My parents had a house in the country, a few kilometer from a small village.  When finally the phone company decided to service the area, we got a phone,  it was a black table top set  with a crank on the side and a blind cover where the dial disk would have been.    Funny thing is the number assigned was #13 of the village directory.  I recall #1 was the village doctor.  We had that phone for years until they run lines to a larger village with switched service.   Then the number got a five digit prefix.  This was in Spain, circa 1953.   Yes I am an oldie.

I hated these rotary phones. They were a PITA if you were in a hurry and wanted to dial something quickly.

You had it good!   If we were on a hurry, we cranked the hell out of it and then waited while the operator was feeding her two pigs or milking the goat before deciding to go answer our call.    :-DD     
« Last Edit: August 27, 2016, 01:30:39 pm by Back2Volts »
 

Offline Zero999

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2016, 01:18:06 pm »
I hated these rotary phones. They were a PITA if you were in a hurry and wanted to dial something quickly.
I agree but I do prefer the sound of ringing bells, rather than the electronic chirp.

I'm not even that old. My parents had an old rotary phone until the late 90s.
 
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Offline joseph nicholas

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2016, 01:33:29 pm »
Being from the 60's I do indeed remember the busy signal lol. Aside from the folks living deep in the Amazon jungle, I am probably the only person on earth to have never personally owned a cell phone. The funny thing is I worked for a major carrier in the US, running a POP. Carried 2 cells, a beeper, and a sat phone. But remain pure in the sense of never personally owning a phone.  8)

My house has a analog clock, when kids visit they will be staring at it and ask me what time is it.
 

Offline GreyWoolfe

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #9 on: August 27, 2016, 02:02:54 pm »
Being from the 60's I do indeed remember the busy signal lol. Aside from the folks living deep in the Amazon jungle, I am probably the only person on earth to have never personally owned a cell phone. The funny thing is I worked for a major carrier in the US, running a POP. Carried 2 cells, a beeper, and a sat phone. But remain pure in the sense of never personally owning a phone.  8)

My house has a analog clock, when kids visit they will be staring at it and ask me what time is it.

I have 2 analog clocks on the wall behind my ham radio equipment.  1 is normal, the other is a 24 hour clock set to UTC.  SWMBO just shakes her head when she looks at it.  She does the same to my alarm clock, a 90's vintage rat shack digital that is set to 24 hour mode.  The fact that she is a military brat and her first husband is retired military is pretty funny.  I have wanted to set the clock in her car to 24 hour time but don't want to risk her wrath >:D
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Offline Zero999

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #10 on: August 27, 2016, 02:05:09 pm »
Is 24 hour time not very common in the US? Here in the UK, many clocks on household appliances are 24 hour. I don't mind 24 hour clocks and have my PC clock set to 24 hour mode.
 

Offline helius

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #11 on: August 27, 2016, 02:54:23 pm »
24 hour time is only used in the US by the military and those who want to appear military styled.
AM/PM time is riddled with inconsistencies and also unfortunately doesn't sort alphabetically.
For example, the time after 11:59 PM is called 12:00 Midnight, and the time after 11:59 AM is called 12:00 Noon. But even though 12:02 AM is earlier than 12:01 PM, it sorts after it alphabetically. And 12:59 PM is followed by 1:00 PM, which doesn't sort correctly, either.
edit: fixed example
« Last Edit: August 27, 2016, 03:53:26 pm by helius »
 

Offline Seekonk

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2016, 03:54:44 pm »
At least they stopped putting an image of a cassette tape on cell phones for messages.  Kids couldn't figure that out.
 

Offline helius

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #13 on: August 27, 2016, 04:08:41 pm »
My phone uses an voicemail icon that looks more like a Kodak Instamatic cartridge. That sure is confusing!
« Last Edit: August 27, 2016, 04:10:41 pm by helius »
 
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Offline rdl

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #14 on: August 27, 2016, 04:11:51 pm »
We had a party line for a while when I was a kid (1960s). Back then you actually had to have the phone company install all equipment. Even an extension phone, and there was always an extra monthly charge for everything.

When touch-tone phones first came out they were pretty expensive. But eventually deregulation happened and things got much cheaper. Back before push button dialing and radio was still popular, local stations would have contests and such where you had to be the first caller at a certain time to win. We would dial all but the last number and wait for the announcement that it was time to call in. After push button phones became more common they changed to "be caller number x" to win.
 

Offline ez24Topic starter

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #15 on: August 27, 2016, 08:32:08 pm »
I agree but I do prefer the sound of ringing bells, rather than the electronic chirp.
This is why I want a rotary phone.  After I get my tone phone working with Ooma today, I am going to look into tone-pulse converter so I can use a rotary.  I will be using the Ooma phone as a backup to my cell phone.  I miss too many calls because my cell is in one room and I am in another.  The rotary will go on a wall in the middle of the house.

With the Ooma I can have an internet phone for about $5 a month and the $5 is all taxes.
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Offline helius

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #16 on: August 28, 2016, 12:52:11 am »
Pulse dialing, as used in rotary phones, is actually cutting the circuit each time the dial clicks. With every copper POTS line I've seen, you can still use it (and can make the pulses manually by flashing the receiver). An interesting fact about pulse dialing is that since it cuts the circuit, it only works when that single extension is in use. If any other extension on the line is off hook, pulse dialing is impossible.
(This was used as a plot point in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?")
 

Offline zapta

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #17 on: August 28, 2016, 01:26:12 am »
I hated these rotary phones. They were a PITA if you were in a hurry and wanted to dial something quickly.

They were electromechanical marvels, both the phones, and the automatic exchanges. A lot of good engineering went into them.

One interesting difference from old days is the 'where are you?' instead of 'who is it?', because cell phone numbers are tied to individuals, not to locations.
 

Offline SeanB

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #18 on: August 28, 2016, 10:38:25 am »
A lot of modern phone exchanges no longer support pulse dialling, simply because they have turned off the functionality, or the actual SLIC itself no longer has the firmware ( needed the space in ROM for other features) to support it.

I still have both a rotary dial phone, and a older operator dialled one, and they still work when connected to the line, though the older Ericsson does not have the ability to dial out as it has no tone generator other than a hand held one I used to use for phone banking.
 

Offline bitseeker

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #19 on: August 28, 2016, 11:42:11 pm »
Funny, until reading this thread, I hadn't really thought about the absence of the busy signal. It was a pretty painless transition from busy signals to voicemail when the other party is on the line.
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Offline m98

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #20 on: August 29, 2016, 01:17:44 pm »
Well, here in good 'ol Germany you still get to hear the call progress tones even on modern phones. Also, pulse dialing just works fine with most DSL/Cable routers and even on the analog phone line, because there are some old people out there who still pay the monthly fee for their rotary telephone since the 70s.
But that "Someone reacts" show on Youtube seems to either always show a bunch of idiots, or is scripted. Just watched another Video of that, sure, no Kid has ever seen a tower PC...
 

Offline Back2Volts

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #21 on: August 29, 2016, 05:01:24 pm »
... and there was always an extra monthly charge for everything.

US phone companies still manage to add extra charges for everything.. and many times for something else...   

Every so often there is a settlement by a telco "not admitting" they had been padding one way or another. 
 

Offline Back2Volts

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #22 on: August 29, 2016, 05:08:29 pm »
There are still busy signals, even in mobile service, at least in rural areas.   I occasionally get a busy on my cell.    I assume the tower is saturated.    On land lines, I will occasionally get busy calling overseas, like by Christmas, when it appears the transoceanic lines are saturated.
 

Offline Galaxyrise

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #23 on: August 29, 2016, 05:27:15 pm »
My phone uses an voicemail icon that looks more like a Kodak Instamatic cartridge. That sure is confusing!


That's the same reaction I have! And I've even seen what is presumably the inspiration for that image:


(The oldest I saw actually in use was based on cassettes.)
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Offline bitseeker

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Re: Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones
« Reply #24 on: August 29, 2016, 06:07:44 pm »
This may be an urban legend, but allegedly a child who one day saw a real 3.5" floppy disk said something to the effect of, "Hey, Daddy, look it's a giant Save button".

Icons have a longer lifetime than the devices from which they were borrowed.
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