I remember and have used ones similar to the one above. For all you young whipper-snappers out there, that round wheel with the ten little holes in it is the dialer. How does it work, you ask? You stick one of your fingers (or the eraser end of a pencil) in those holes and then rotate the wheel around until your finger hits the finger stop on the right. Then you pull your finger out and let it spin back to the start. Now repeat for the rest of the numbers.
Well on this day in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made the first sound transmission. That started the ball (or should I say the sound) rolling. Then three days later he made the first telephone call in history to Thomas Watson. Here is a picture of Mr. Bell:
It sure is amazing how the phone has changed, and except for cell phones or bag phones, they pretty much operate in the same way. Today's versions have push buttons instead of round dials and most have a lot of added features, like caller I.D., call answering and recording, storage for numbers that are often used, etc.
And a more modern one:
We have one similar to the one above with a second portable receiver. Of course, along with the two phones in the house, both my wife and I have cell phones and a Verizon Hot-Spot for when we want the Internet while traveling, etc. Now, tell me, how many phones do you have? Between calls, take time to have a great day, you hear?
Buddy of mine changed the guts of a classic phone to work on modern systems. His whole office has a steampunk theme. He's an engineer, what can I say?
ReplyDeleteI understand him and most engineers and designers. . . I used to be one.
DeleteI only have one phone - a cell phone. But I remember all those other ones. Remember when that first clunky black one was changed out with the nice hard plastic, more rounded ones? And you could choose a COLOR? Oh, My! How exciting that was. Little did we know... :)
ReplyDeleteYep, and back when we first had a black phone like that we were on a party line. Remember those? Everyone knew everyone's business.
DeleteI remember the old ones very well, and wish we could still use them. I have one cell phone, and it doesn't do anything except phone calls - no texting, email reading, no apps - nothing except what a phone is meant to do.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I are the same way with cell phones. We had everything else turned off. Found out right from the getgo that I was charged if someone texted me way back then, so had that turned off real quick. . . I don't text, I just email.
DeleteBill has an old phone in storage... it's about the size of a small ice chest and you have to crank to make it ring where you're calling. He gave another one to his daughter who converted it to a "modern" phone. Didn't A.G. Bell invent the phone because his wife was deaf (or something like that)? Us? We have a cell phone... no text, no aps.... nada. (and if you had written about analog or digital, I'd be sayin... "huh?"
ReplyDeleteTo me, a phone is to talk on. If I want to do the other stuff, I can used my tablet or computer. I am a mixture of old fashioned and modern. Depends on the subject (grin). I would love to have one of those old crank phones like bill has.
DeleteOne cell phone and it is not even mine!
ReplyDeleteWho did you steel it from? (grin) Is it a rental or what?
DeleteOr what!
DeleteWell I two of the cordless phones. One downstairs and one upstairs. And all I get is spam calls. So I utilize the the phone message part of it to screen calls. I get one or two real calls a month and that's it. Everybody that has a need to call me knows to talk and if I'm there I'll pick up.
ReplyDeleteI have a cell phone. But it doesn't work out at the farm, so it gets very little use. I do more talking on Google hangouts, with my iPad tablet, cause you can do video calls. I get to see my sons and daughter and grandchildren that way. You can even do party calls with it.
Last month I talked for an hour with my son out in Monterey, CA. I invited my daughter to the conversation but she was too sick to talk.
I have a spare push button phone that runs off the phone line so if the power goes out I can still call out. I check it once a year.
If I could get cell service out here I would cancel my landline to save the money.
Wade in NW Florida
North West Florida . . Does that mean you are located in the panhandle? I had a buddy that used to live there, he was a stock car race driver. I think he moved north, sort of lost contact with hem. You sound like you have covered all the bases for communication, even in emergency situations. I suppose you can get threatened with hurricanes were you live. We occasionally get one in here, east Texas. I have a second phone line that is dedicated to the Internet.
DeleteBTW, during the last big hurricane that hit us, we had no cell phone service for awhile and the land lines were down.
3 plus cell. House ones have nothing extra, not even long distance. I buy days and minutes when i need to, no plans. Don't chat either. 15.00 a month is all im gonna do for cell. Other is 32.00 with internet added. WOW, Almost 50 for phone and internet,,, thats ENOUGH! lol
ReplyDeleteThe cost of being connected can get pretty high.
DeleteI have a TracFone that remains turned off unless I'm trying to make an outgoing call. It is my idea of a 21st Century pay phone since the coin operated pay phones have almost all become obsolete.
ReplyDeleteToo bad that pay phones have disappeared. Don't they still have them at the airports, train stations, etc.?
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