Question about Line Jumpers/cutters

[techie-13]

I think I'm the only person in the world who doesn't own a phone that has a camera on it. :( I'm lucky enough to have a "web browser" on it... but since it's prepaid, I can only go to tracfone.com on it...yeah me

How about being one of the few people in the world without a cell phone? Hubby works for the phone company but doesn't believe that I need one because of the additional expense.

[hobie16]

Is anyone here old enough to remember rotary dials?

[ktulu]

I think I'm the only person in the world who doesn't own a phone that has a camera on it. :( I'm lucky enough to have a "web browser" on it... but since it's prepaid, I can only go to tracfone.com on it...yeah me

Mine barely had a phone and the browser was horrible. I finally broke down and got an iPhone a couple of days ago. It helps when work will allow me to expense it the monthly cost.

Is anyone here old enough to remember rotary dials?

Yep! I remember a friends dad worked for the phone company, and had one in his car. One of the first mobile phones. He was like, hey kids, let's call your mom from the car and tell her we are on our way!

It didn't work :D: Still, it was cool!

[felinefan]

Yes, I remember them. In fact, in the early 90s, I was a personal assistant to a traveling music teacher for L.A. Unified, and she had a rotary dial phone. It was the only kind she could afford. I also remember in grade school we saw a film about telephones, and one of the models shown was a no-dial phone. I believe it worked in conjunction with a party line or simply calling the operator and giving them the number wanted. And yes, I once did have the opportunity to use a party line phone. They're long gone.

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Is anyone here old enough to remember rotary dials?

Yep, but I ALSO remember my grandparents being on a party line, and having to wait for someone else to finish before making a call.

And instead of dialing, you simply dialed the operator, and gave her the number. She made the connection.

[Goofyernmost]

Is anyone here old enough to remember rotary dials?

Yep, but I ALSO remember my grandparents being on a party line, and having to wait for someone else to finish before making a call.

And instead of dialing, you simply dialed the operator, and gave her the number. She made the connection.

Sadly, yes I do remember rotary dials and I met my first girlfriend because she was on our party line and the was in the mid 60's. When I first moved to Vermont in 1963 push button phones were not even available. Even later in the late 70's all our business phones were rotary.

Heck, I even remember the first fax machines. They were a cylinder that you mounted the paper you wanted to send and it would revolve around with a phonograph type head reading the paper every 16th of an inch or less. It took over 10 minutes to send one. When you received a fax you had to load special paper on the cylinder and the reverse process would happen all the while the machine was smoking like a chimney with acrid smelling smoke.

[hobie16]

Yep! I remember a friends dad worked for the phone company, and had one in his car. One of the first mobile phones. He was like, hey kids, let's call your mom from the car and tell her we are on our way!

It didn't work :D: Still, it was cool!

Rotary on a mobile was a little bit different. The mobile channels were monitored by operators and were basically a radio. You could pick up the handset and listen in to other users.

I picked my up one day and heard a guy smoozing his girlfriend. He hung up and immediately called his wife. I believe he had hot tongue and cold shoulder for dinner that night. :D:

[hobie16]

Yes, I remember them. In fact, in the early 90s, I was a personal assistant to a traveling music teacher for L.A. Unified, and she had a rotary dial phone. It was the only kind she could afford. I also remember in grade school we saw a film about telephones, and one of the models shown was a no-dial phone. I believe it worked in conjunction with a party line or simply calling the operator and giving them the number wanted. And yes, I once did have the opportunity to use a party line phone. They're long gone.

Rotary dial was part of the basic service. Touch Tone or dual tone multifrequency did cost more.

A no dial type service was a pretty simple way to operate. When the phone was picked up it put a loop or short on the line. That would signal the operator to plug i a cord and answer the call. She would either connect you to a local phone or connect to the long distance network and either dial the number or work with other operators to make the connection.

The manual long distance operators were eliminated when Signaling System 7 was implemented.

[hobie16]

Yep, but I ALSO remember my grandparents being on a party line, and having to wait for someone else to finish before making a call.

Party line came in three flavors. Two party, four party and eight party. Each phone had to wired differently so the billing system knew who was making long distance calls.

[hobie16]

Sadly, yes I do remember rotary dials and I met my first girlfriend because she was on our party line and the was in the mid 60's. When I first moved to Vermont in 1963 push button phones were not even available. Even later in the late 70's all our business phones were rotary.

Heck, I even remember the first fax machines. They were a cylinder that you mounted the paper you wanted to send and it would revolve around with a phonograph type head reading the paper every 16th of an inch or less. It took over 10 minutes to send one. When you received a fax you had to load special paper on the cylinder and the reverse process would happen all the while the machine was smoking like a chimney with acrid smelling smoke.

Converting to Touch Tone required either modifying or replacing central office equipment. It wasn't unusual to spend millions of dollars on each CO to make the change.

Once Touch Tone was implemented it saved the telcos millions because the old mechanical switching systems were eliminated. This meant no more servicing/replacing moving parts and the power requirements and footprint were greatly reduced.

I had one of those old cylinder type FAX machines in my Army communications group. We'd have to schlep it out to the field whenever we got deployed. That thing was HUGE!!