EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA | reply to MadMANN
Re: Late to the game like always.
Those rotary phones may be old and rely on an outdated dialing system, but for the most part they just work, even now- I doubt any modern cordless talking caller ID electronic phone will last that long. |
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Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX | You are right. I have an old (prebreakup) wall phone from AT&T. It just keeps on working. Every other phone in the house has been replaced at least 2 times. |
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jester121
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL | So the people that paid $5/month for phone rental to AT&T for 30 years probably got their money's worth.  |
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Enlightener
join:2006-01-28
Cedar Park, TX | reply to EPS
Actually they are incompatible with VOIP. The terminal adapters don't process the clicks. |
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Jim Gurd
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI
 ·Comcast
| said by Enlightener  :Actually they are incompatible with VOIP. The terminal adapters don't process the clicks. That's true but it will still work for incoming calls. I have an old rotary phone that I tried to use. The only problem was that the old mechanical bell ringer would draw too much power and would barely be audible when a call was coming in. Receiving calls worked perfectly though.
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Calling an illegal alien an undocumented worker is like calling a crack dealer an unlicensed pharmacist. |
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supergirl
join:2007-03-20
Pensacola, FL
 ·Cox VOIP
·Skype
·Cox HSI
 ·AT&T Southeast
·magicjack.com
| reply to EPS
said by EPS :Those rotary phones may be old and rely on an outdated dialing system, but for the most part they just work, even now- I doubt any modern cordless talking caller ID electronic phone will last that long. Depends solely on your inside wire mostly. If the NID and cables have shorts, it'll suck too (I had the outside box--not the NID--have a screw loose and it took 8 techs and 1 engineer to fix it--the young tech found it withing 15 minutes of showing up Once he fixed the screw--only 3,000 ft. from the CO--the phone was awesome--I moved and the inside wire was all bad--lots of shorts--so Cox got the business--no inside wire required). You can have FIOS at the door and if your wiring sucks, FIOS sucks. Old Copper is about the worst crap I've used--and they HATE replacing drops and lines. Cox Digital Voice beats it by miles unless your in a new development. Even then, I wouldn't trade DSL 6.0/768 for 15/1 Cox HSI. I've referred so many customers that my bills sometimes get paid by Cox. I do the same with my cell co. and they give me a $25 credit everytime I refer someone to my rep. I had a $400 credit once on a $100 cell bill so 25 people went to my rep. Nice, huh?
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Saving the world keeps me busy. However, I find Earth very primitive from my home planet of Krypton.
-Supergirl |
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Madness
got fight?
join:2000-01-05
Quincy, MA
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to Jim Gurd
said by Jim Gurd :said by Enlightener : The only problem was that the old mechanical bell ringer would draw too much power and would barely be audible when a call was coming in. Receiving calls worked perfectly though. A little tip: Assuming you used a Bell 500 set, take the cover off (two screws on the bottom) & turn the phone so the ringer faces forward. Look closely between the gongs & you should see a sideways-G-shaped hole w/ a springy bar sticking out of it -- this is the "biasing spring." If presently set to the bottom of the "G", reverse it (see here: »www.porticus.org/bell/images/bel···_pos.jpg ).
In the old days, this was set by the "telephone man" to high or low depending on how many extensions the customer had. In other words, the more ringers wired across the line, the higher the load. So one of the settings allowed the phone to ring w/ less power. I found this same setting also works great w/ a VOIP terminal. 
FWIW: I'm using a Touch-Tone 2500 phone w/ same guts. |
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Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX | reply to jester121
Haven't paid a penny for the phone since I got it. |
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EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA | reply to supergirl
Interesting- I've never know a house with bad inside wiring, even some older ones dating back to the 1920s were fine, but I guess that's just pure luck. |
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Jim Gurd
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI
·Comcast
| reply to Madness
said by Madness :A little tip: Assuming you used a Bell 500 set, take the cover off (two screws on the bottom) & turn the phone so the ringer faces forward. Look closely between the gongs & you should see a sideways-G-shaped hole w/ a springy bar sticking out of it -- this is the "biasing spring." If presently set to the bottom of the "G", reverse it (see here: » www.porticus.org/bell/images/bel···_pos.jpg ). Thank you, thank you!! I moved it over like it showed in the picture and now it rings properly when connected to my VoIP service.
Here is a picture I took of it with my cell phone camera a while ago.
It's too bad that VoIP doesn't work with pulse dialing. That phone worked really well with rotary dialing back when I had a POTS line.
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Calling an illegal alien an undocumented worker is like calling a crack dealer an unlicensed pharmacist. |
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Madness
got fight?
join:2000-01-05
Quincy, MA
·Verizon Online DSL
| OK, that's is a Bell 554 wall phone. Same guts as the 500, though. One would need a pulse-to-tone converter to dial out on VoIP (using the dial!). They're not cheap though!
Of course, one could also use one of those old-school portable tone dialers that are held up to the mouthpiece, But, of course, that takes away the thrill of using the rotary dial. |
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Jim Gurd
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI
·Comcast
| Those things are the exact opposite of the old fashioned touchtone converters that were used when connecting a touchtone phone to a step-by-step switch. A lot of independent phone companies had that kind of setup back in the day.
I can remember being able to use my calling card without operator assistance using one of those payphones. I had to dial an 800 number to connect to my long distance carrier (Sprint). The payphones were post pay and the phone company made any calls starting with 1 go immediately to a reorder. In order access my carrier I had to dial 0+800 instead of 1+800. Once I connected I could touchtone out the number I was calling and the calling card number with no problem. Ahh, the memories.
Now the old steps are gone and replaced with digital switches even in the most remote areas. 
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Calling an illegal alien an undocumented worker is like calling a crack dealer an unlicensed pharmacist. |
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