Telephones

What kind of phone(s) do you have? We have a rotary phone in our living room and a speaker phone in my study. Andy uses the rotary phone whenever he can, and he grumbles when he has to change rooms because he has to press a button.

I, on the other hand, use my speaker phone with its big buttons and speed dialing. The speaker is invaluable when I get put on hold — I can do other things while I’m waiting.

3-12-14-rotary-phone3-12-14-speaker-phone

Do you know anyone else who still has a rotary phone? Years ago a girl came to my door and asked if she could use the phone to call her mother. Sure. I pointed to our wall phone and she looked bewildered. Oh, yeah. So I showed her how to use it.

That trusty phone is even more antiquated now. At least the kids in the following video think so!


 

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13 Responses to Telephones

  1. Rummuser says:

    I have two landline connections. One for which I pay a rental and usage charges and the other free from the internet service provider with 100 local calls free per month. I have the main instrument like the one you show on the right and three wall hanging models as extensions in the bedrooms. One more is near my recliner with a cordless facility which enables me to carry it around when I go to the veranda or the garden. All of them are push button and the rotary system disappeared decades ago and I haven’t seen one in a long long time.

    • Jean says:

      We don’t have any cordless types, but my mother-in-law found it very handy. It’s almost impossible to function now without at least one push button phone.

  2. Mike says:

    Our landline is just for internet — no phone connected. We each have an iPhone 5.

    • Jean says:

      Apparently a lot of people are going that route. We scarcely ever use Andy’s cell phone — it’s for emergencies, but it doesn’t work up on the land. No service there since they switched from analog to digital.

  3. Ursula says:

    I have what is quaintly called, in English, a landline. It’s good in as much as I can only be reached or reach out when I am at home. It’s so old it doesn’t even have a caller ID So I’ll answer it regardless. Sometimes to regret it.

    However, what is truly marvellous: It’s cordless. So I can walk about whilst talking and listening. It also makes for a rather entertaining “where is the phone” hunt (if it’s not on its hub). Those who phone me on a regular basis and know my habits therefore phone, then ring again and again. Just to buy me time. My nadir was when I took the trash down (phone in hand – it does have a range of 200 m), put it down and forgot all about it. Sometimes I borrow the Angel’s mobile/cell phone to trace my phone’s steps.

    Isn’t life and its little idiocies entertaining?

    This minute I wish someone could tell me what’s wrong with my printer. I don’t have the patience. Unlike you. But will have to find it [patience that is]. Deadline looming.

    U

    • Jean says:

      Good luck with your printer.

      The use the term landline here too. We don’t have caller ID. It could be very useful, but our phone bill is high enough without it.

      I can see how a cordless phone could be useful, and I can just imagine that I would have trouble keeping track of one!

  4. bikehikebabe says:

    Our landline gives the clearest voice reception. I always use that one to make a call. All the other phones I walk around with. That’s nice too. The phone hunt happens when it’s not THERE.

    We don’t have caller ID. Might be worth having, to eliminate all the commercial calls.

    • bikehikebabe says:

      Egads. We have 7 walk-around-with-phones. And another land-line one downstairs I forgot.

    • Jean says:

      Wow, that’s a lot of phones! Yes, caller ID could be useful. If we get too many telemarketing calls we just let our answering machine screen our calls for a while.

  5. tammyj says:

    HOW ADORABLE are those little kids! LOLOL.
    i love your yellow phone.
    i have a land line. a little silver one with push buttons and a neat receiver.
    very streamlined. but still a land line. it sits on the table by my reading chair.
    and i have a little cell phone with a flip top. haven’t upgraded in ages.
    i always carry it in my purse.
    only keep it for emergencies really. like if the car breaks down i could call the marine.
    or a tow service! i have to keep the number in my purse. don’t even know the cell #.
    and i never give it out to anyone.
    LOLOL.
    fun post!

    • Jean says:

      That’s a great use for a cell phone. I don’t have one, but I don’t drive out of town so I don’t need one. We should get in the habit of taking Andy’s when we drive to Santa Fe.

  6. Cathy in NZ says:

    I don’t seem to remember them ever being called “rotary phones” – more dial up…

    But before them, if you lived in an area with very few phone lines in/out you lived with the “party line” – you lived the receiver and if no one was talking you could probably dial out (but then someone else might be listening as well) – before the dial up bit you cranked a handle and spoke with the operator…

    I don’t think anyone much (probably 1% has your rotary one) now, and some were even converted to be touch phones

    I have a landline which is like Ursula, a portable job that I can take from the main station and talk on it all over the house. I have never really taken it to the basement or outdoors…last week it was ringing, I jumped up it wasn’t at the station but it was nearby…they rang off the caller before I located it right by on the couch under a pile of paper!!

    • Jean says:

      I think of them more as dial phones too. Thanks for the chuckle about finding your phone too late. We have a long extension cord on my speaker phone, so I can take it anywhere in the apartment. The cord is a nuisance, of course, but it makes it easy to find the phone. 🙂

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