Christoph
ScrivolicalHave you used a rotary dial telephone?
Please boost if you'd like to see this poll question get additional reach.
No, what is that?
No, but I know what it is.
Yes, and I’m under age 60
Yes, and I’m 60 or older
Poll ended at .
Crystal_Fish_Caves@scrivolical I even know what the insides of one look like as my roommate's boyfriend pissed me off and I threw the phone out the window. Exploded. Bits everywhere. It was a gonner.
(I have a bit of a temper) 😂
jonathankoren™@scrivolical my parents exclusively had rotary phones until 2001. The last phones were hardwired to the wall. Not a single RJ 11 in the house until the mid 90s when I spliced in a phone jack to my bedroom for a modem.
Even in the 90s, my mom would complain about phone menus because “not everyone has touch tone phones!” (“No mom. YOU are the only person without a touch tone phone.”)
They replaced them when wire to the handset finally started to break and cause static after almost 40 years of use.
Chris Siebenmann@jonathankoren @scrivolical @mayintoronto I grimly stuck to a pulse-dialing-only line for as long as possible just to spite the local telco monopoly, who were allowed to charge a few dollars extra a month for tone dialing despite it being simpler to handle. Pay extra to make their lives easier? Not if I could help it.
(The actual handsets I used were non-rotary, switchable between pulse and tone, which was handy for when I (rarely) had to call something that needed tones for menus/etc.)
Cat@cks @jonathankoren @scrivolical @mayintoronto I had a handset like that. We couldn't switch it back and forth because then the phone company would double bill us for that line??? Lol
@catmisgivings @cks @scrivolical @mayintoronto yeah, I’ve heard of such a thing. How would that even work? Special hardware just to charge people a nickle more?
The phone just wouldn’t work if they didnt support touch tone in your area.
I think they’re misremembering.
@jonathankoren @cks @scrivolical @mayintoronto oh it was hilarious. It was a normal touch tone phone but if you flipped the switch it would rattle off clicks instead of doing the tones
It was much less fun than rotary dialling but had the same result
I might still have this phone in the back of a filing cabinet
@catmisgivings @jonathankoren @scrivolical @mayintoronto That was what my phone(s) were like; basic plastic touch tone pad phones, just with an extra tone/pulse switch. I probably still have at least one of them in a box somewhere, just in case. At one point they were available cheaply here in Toronto from various third party places.
Locally, tone dialing did nothing on pulse-only lines, which could be confusing and annoying if you'd accidentally left the handset switch at 'tone'.
Tuukka R@catmisgivings @cks @jonathankoren @scrivolical @mayintoronto
If you flipped the switch during a call, they wouldn't be able to know, right? It's just audio among audio in that case. Just remember to flip it back before ending the call!
EQSimilar here, I was using our rotary to call the local BBS since my modem didn't have dial capabilities. You were supposed to start by dialing with the phone and when you heard the first beep you flick a switch (wasn't even a button) and it took over and made the connection. The modem looked almost home-built in a plastic box with drilled holes and mounted switches.
Virginicus@jonathankoren @scrivolical Device hoarding, before it was cool.
int%rmitt]nt sig^al. ...~!...)
Sarah Sammis
SericR 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇬🇱
Bernie Luckily Does It@nrmacdonald @scrivolical I once met someone who had a single digit phone number growing up.
Platypusman@nrmacdonald @scrivolical On a party line.
Benoît Jones@nrmacdonald @scrivolical that phone looks like it just heard something shocking
Lux 
Wanderin' Weeta 🍁@nrmacdonald @scrivolical
And on a party line, with a crank to dial; one short, one long was our ring.
And on a party line, with a crank to dial; one short, one long was our ring.
Idzie@scrivolical I'm in my 30's and answered yes. My great-grandmother still had one in her house when I was a child!
Ian K Tindale@scrivolical e
Yes, I’m first to vote – again!
Yes, I’m first to vote – again!
Anne Ominousi was in one of those households where my parents didn't want call waiting or anything like that
so even once we were able to get more modern style phones, we had to leave that switch they had on 'pulse' instead of 'tone' because the phone line itself wasn't upgraded from rotary until the early 90s
🤣
DianeI think your poll would look quite different if you picked 50 or 55 as your cut off.
Σ(i³) = (Σi)²@alienghic
Yeah - I'll turn 59 in January, so technically "under 60" but not by a whole lot...
@scrivolical
Yeah - I'll turn 59 in January, so technically "under 60" but not by a whole lot...
@scrivolical
David Mitchell 
Yes… my family finally upgraded ours when I hit university in ‘93 and needed touch-tone to get through my girlfriend’s residence switchboard.
I think at some point they dropped support for pulse dialing, but I'm not sure when.
At that time the problem wasn’t the phone company but dialling an extension on the university’s new residence phone system to get the right room.
Thanasis Kinias@alienghic
it depends on the country—when I worked in Egypt in the 1990s, the phone network was still *only* pulse, so pushbutton phones had to emulate rotary clicks
this made using modems to connect to the internet wild, because the modems, too, had to emulate the sounds of a rotary phone
@DavidM_yeg @scrivolical
@tkinias @DavidM_yeg @scrivolical
Wow. listening to a modem click instead of beep would be quite odd.
@alienghic
seriously! it did take some getting used to
and patience, lol—especially if the dialup number had a lot of nines
@DavidM_yeg @scrivolical
M BerberichYep.
In the 70th and (early) 80th rotary phones were quite common. So nearly everyone below about 45 years old would have used a rotary phone as child.
DamonHD@scrivolical I used from time to time to nip into the darkned room containing one of my uni's Strowger switches: literally as someone was dialling somewhere you could see/hear the rotating brrrrrrr clk for each digit!
@DamonHD I’ve been in busy telephone switches and central offices in decades past, and seeing (and feeling, and hearing!) row after row of banks of switches in operation was awesome.
Su_G@scrivolical
I remember party lines. No such thing as privacy on them! 😐
I remember party lines. No such thing as privacy on them! 😐
Steve Dinn 🇨🇦@scrivolical Yes, and I'm under 50.
Growing up in the 80s, *all* the phones in my house were rotary dial, until we got a Garfield touchtone one.
@scrivolical it made it so difficult to enter those radio contests.
Anna Nicholson@scrivolical And for those in the UK who have (including me: I’m just under the age break!):
Do you remember how do dial 999 (emergency services) in the dark/smoke?
(I never had to do it, but it was considered very important to know.)
Btw I don’t use phones at all now.
Richie Rich@transponderings @scrivolical No phones at all? But how do you get an appointment for the doctor for example, I'm wondering? 😳
Pedro Quixote ‽ aka MultiVax@RichieRich @transponderings @scrivolical Probably the same way my brother does, goes to reception and asks in person.
@PeterMLittle Okay, agreed. Although not practical for me: my doctor is 30 km away and just to ask when the doctor has time for me and come back again - this is just bad. For this use case a telephone is a practical thing. 🤷♂️ @transponderings @scrivolical
Sgt Pépère@transponderings Wasn't the 9 just next to the blocking metal thingie or was it the 0 ?
Edit: I searched the images and it's the 0 that's next to the blocking device. But it might be that kind of idea. In France, we had to dial 18. So good luck getting it in the darkness ... ;) that@[email protected]
Jack the Waterlogged Count@scrivolical I've used a rotary dial PAY phone. (they were pretty rare by then, but there were a few left)
Anne DelongThe phone in my childhood home didn't have a dial. You just picked up the receiver gave the operator the name of the person you wanted to contact. For those calling from out of town, though, we did have a three digit phone number.
Sci Fi Brickyards 🚀@scrivolical
What's with the 60 thing 😂
I'm 44 and that was entirely the norm into my teenage years
Frank Bennett 🇯🇵@scrivolical I don't know about the US, but pulse dialing still works on land lines here in Japan.
Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸@scrivolical I'm "crap this number sure has a lot of 9's in it" years old.
Oyu F'ka@scrivolical anyone remember 'tapping' the public phones to make a free call?
Lolbird@scrivolical does dialing on one not connected to anything count?
officerripleyI don't miss rotary dialing; what I do miss is the satisfying sound the old phones made when you slammed them down when angrily hanging up on somebody.
Morél@scrivolical I'm under 60 and HAVE a rotary phone… that works! 😏
unsponsor@scrivolical love a rotisserie telephone
tlariv@scrivolical
I still have one, and I use it.
I still have one, and I use it.
Artemis@scrivolical
Have not used, but I have played with a real rotary phone that was not connected to anything. My grandparents just had one lying around & they gave it to us kids as a toy.
Have not used, but I have played with a real rotary phone that was not connected to anything. My grandparents just had one lying around & they gave it to us kids as a toy.
ShadSterling@artemis @scrivolical woah, that brought back an old memory of a childhood toy that was a rotary payphone. Didn’t work as an actual phone, but had the vertical box like a payphone, the handset, the dial, even slots for you coins that would be retuned when you hung up. I did use real rotary phones a few times, but probably played with the toy more
@artemis @scrivolical similar to this one, tho I don’t think it was exactly the same https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-playskool-pay-phone-rotary-3857421885
Niko Trimmel@artemis yeah I'm not sure what counts as "used". As I kid, I always played with the (still connected and actively working) one of my grandparents, but never made an actual call with it I believe
@scrivolical
@scrivolical
Dave the Nomad 🇨🇦 
✊@scrivolical Yes and I'm 40... I don't remember the details of where though
Davey@scrivolical can't remember if I've called someone on one, feel like I might have but I can remember being a bit obsessed with the one in my grandads hall when I was little, what a great sound they make.
4 or 5 years ago I found one in the attic, in really good nick. I had it sitting out on a shelf for a few months then I gave it away to someone who wanted to try and get one going.
PS: found a video of it spinning. Includes a reveal of product info at the end for any enthusiasts to peruse.
Emilio ʕ̡̢̡ʘ̅͟͜͡ʘ̲̅ʔ̢̡̢🇩🇰@scrivolical @SnowyCA I voted no what is that lol