AI6YR Ben
Ring.... ring.... ring... ring... #phone
Feb 5 at 5:39pmWeb
Show threadAI6YR BenFeb 5

**this is an exercise device. It's connected to a VoIP phone line (dial in only, does not support pulse dial and I am too cheap to buy a pulse dialing converter). When it rings, I am forced to sprint across the house to another phone which has caller ID on it. If the caller ID shows someone I know, I then sprint back to this phone and pick it up!

#unconventionalexercise

Show threadderptronFeb 5
@ai6yr This needs to be connected to sip server that routes calls for a single number to all its user lines and connects whichever one answers.
Show threadScott HerrFeb 5

@crazyeddie @ai6yr But it's an exercise device for Ben! What would he do to replace that exercise? Oh, wait, sounds like he gets quite a bit of biking exercise...

Anyway, I've used voip.ms a long time for this kind of call hunting and ring group functionality. Lots VoIP features at a very reasonable cost.

Show threadAI6YR BenFeb 5
@scottdavidherr @crazyeddie This is great! That way all the spam calls can go to EVERYONE's phones 🤪 (this phone line is the "spam caller and Grandma" phone line)
Show threadRob\Viewdata UKFeb 5
@ai6yr
I picked up a standalone caller-id unit from ebay recently to sit next to one of these. Not got around to setting it up yet, but one would cut out your running about, and no need to modify the phone.
Show threadAI6YR BenFeb 5
@robert BUT HOW WOULD I GET MY STEPS IN FOR THE DAY?!?!?! 🤪
Show threadAMSFeb 6
@ai6yr Pulse capable SIP ATAs are pretty cheap.
Show threadAI6YR BenFeb 6
@AMS Oh wow, cheaper than a pulse to dialtone converter, for sure. Looks like if I pick the right one will work with Ooma, the VOIP folks I am using.
Show threadJohn Francis 🇨🇦🦫🍁💪⬆️Feb 5
@ai6yr the only time I see those now is when someone gets clobbered with one in a movie fight scene
Show threadJim SpathFeb 5
@ai6yr "Someone is calling long distance?"
Bell System Property: Not for sale.
Show threadJim HubbellFeb 5
@jspath55 @ai6yr
You only called long distance after 9pm when the rates went down. And only for really important stuff that couldn't wait for a letter.
Show threadtlarivFeb 5
@Dougfir
Well, sure. When Sprint came along they advertised that their long distance only cost 10¢ a minute.
@jspath55 @ai6yr
Show threadEric LawtonFeb 5

@Dougfir

We only called anywhere if it was important enough to walk 2 blocks to the call box outside the post office.

OTOH, no calls from duct cleaners at dinner time.

@jspath55 @ai6yr @bonaventuresoft

Show threadJim SpathFeb 6
@ai6yr Ringer box only, 1963, no dial, mic or speaker. For the patio I guess.
Show threadKelsey JordahlFeb 5
@ai6yr https://tmbw.net/wiki/Ring_Ring
Ring Ring

From theymightbegiants.com: "These ditties were created at the end of a TMBG session with the legendary Pat Dillett. Instead of ending our session day with the usual clearing of coffee cups and swe...

TMBW: The They Might Be Giants Knowledge Base
Show threadBibliofishy📚☕️Feb 5

@ai6yr gonna age myself with an old commercial...

"Will you accept a collect call from Hadababy Itsaboy?"

Show threadAI6YR BenFeb 5
@bibliofishy hahaha
Show threadAnne OminousFeb 5

@ai6yr

i just realized that there are prolly many adults out there who have never heard a phone like this ringing

Show threadAI6YR BenFeb 5

@rustoleumlove Here's the phone ringing! (rings better now, I actually went in and cleaned all the contacts since)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYT8F1WeffI

Ring.... Ring.... Ring...

YouTube
Show threadAnne OminousFeb 5

@ai6yr

lmao, the salad days of running to pick that thing up, even when i had absolutely NO IDEA who was on the other end!

🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

Show threadLenoraFeb 5
@ai6yr @rustoleumlove my parents owned a phone like that
Show threadAnne OminousFeb 5

@FaithinBones @ai6yr

🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

I owned a phone like that!!!

Show threadLenoraFeb 5
@rustoleumlove @ai6yr I owned a phone that had a rotary dial but it was a slim phone
Show threadLenoraFeb 5
@rustoleumlove @ai6yr
Show threadPaul_IPv6Feb 5

@FaithinBones @rustoleumlove @ai6yr

ah, the extra long, coiled handset cord!

our kitchen wall phone had one that reached all the way down the hallway and just barely under my sister's door.

you could kill yourself on it if she was on the phone to her boyfriend.

always fun doing the spin/untangle move every week or two when it got too knotted up.

Show threadLenoraFeb 5
@paul_ipv6 @rustoleumlove @ai6yr my brother would put a pillow on the floor along with a drink and snacks and relax while he talked to his girlfriend for over an hour every night.
Show threadPaul_IPv6Feb 5

@FaithinBones @rustoleumlove @ai6yr

so fun.

my dad didn't want to pay for call waiting, so my sister tying up the family phone was not popular.

Show threadLenoraFeb 5
@paul_ipv6 @rustoleumlove @ai6yr it wasn't popular in my house either. My Dad was constantly yelling at my brother to hang up the phone
Show threadPaul_IPv6Feb 5

@FaithinBones @rustoleumlove @ai6yr

ah, the dad classics:

"get off the damned phone so someone else can use it?"

"does anyone other than me ever turn off a light in this damned house?"

"stop standing there with the fridge door open like you're trying to air condition the whole house!"

"you're not going out of the house wearing that, are you?"

Show threadLenoraFeb 5
@paul_ipv6 @rustoleumlove @ai6yr yep
Show threadLed By Gilded FoolsFeb 5

@FaithinBones @rustoleumlove @ai6yr Did you know that you could permanently stop spam callers, if you kept a ready copy of the "Disconnect" tone+message ready to be played by your phone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNb47yeNrCo

Telemarketers will mark your number as "disconnected"

Just try not to giggle while you are playing it.

We're sorry. You have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. SIT

YouTube
Show threadAnne OminousFeb 5

@MHowell @ai6yr

do you know how i've stopped spam callers?

i rarely if ever make or receive phone calls.

i dont know exactly how that has translated into hardly ever getting spam calls, but it has. i go whole months without getting one, and maybe i'll get like three that my phone automatically rejects in one day, then i go back to rarely getting them

Show threadkajer :notverified:Feb 5

@rustoleumlove @MHowell @ai6yr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeleZapper

this was a thing sold "back then"

TeleZapper - Wikipedia

Show threadAI6YR BenFeb 5
@kajer @rustoleumlove @MHowell LOL I remember seeing those on late night TV ads
Show threadbjb  Feb 5

@MHowell @ai6yr @rustoleumlove

I guess it reduced the spam for me. I cut out all the remaining spam calls on that line when I cancelled the voice line entirely : -) First I had my ISP convert the ISP account to "dry loop", othrrwise I would have had to suffer a week of no internet between "cancel phone line" and "reinstate isp service over the land line".

Show threadWandering HermitFeb 5

@MHowell @FaithinBones @rustoleumlove @ai6yr

I knew a guy who used this as his announcement for voice mail. Friends knew to wait it out and leave a message.

Show threadDavid WhittemoreFeb 6
@MHowell @FaithinBones @rustoleumlove @ai6yr Tempted to make this my answering machine message..
Show threadElyse M GrassoFeb 6
@rustoleumlove @FaithinBones @ai6yr People did not own phones like that in the US (for most of the years they were in use). The phone company owned the equipment and the price of leasing them was part of your bill. It was not until 1980ish that people could own their telephone equipment. Maybe the late 70s.
Show threadLenoraFeb 6
@ElyseMGrasso @rustoleumlove @ai6yr I know. I bought my first phone in the late 70's
Show threadElyse M GrassoFeb 6
@FaithinBones @rustoleumlove @ai6yr The rentals I lived in during the late 70s were in old buildings that had the phones hardwired into the wall. Then in 81 I moved into a newly constructed building that was wired for phone connectors, so I bought my first landline phone...
Show threadDavid J. AtkinsonFeb 5
@FaithinBones @ai6yr @rustoleumlove I shared this video with my adult children. Most people have seen phones like this in older movies or TV, but the sound is almost always dubbed in later. I realized they had never heard a phone ring! My youngest, 32, said, “you mean, without a speaker?” They were all incredulous when I told them there were actual bells inside.
Show threadLenoraFeb 5
@meltedcheese @ai6yr @rustoleumlove Ma Bell knew what they were doing
Show threadAnne OminousFeb 5

@FaithinBones @meltedcheese @ai6yr

i was out the other day & passed by a vast, empty lot covered w snow, next to an (old?) AT&T building

i turned to my man & said 'remember when those lots used to be full of cherry-picker trucks, & the guys would have to come repair phone lines after storms & sht?'

so funny, we got to discussing the timeline of tech, & how phone lines were 'important' for such a short period of time (when viewed against human history), they were practically temporary

Show threadDavid J. AtkinsonFeb 5
@rustoleumlove @FaithinBones @ai6yr Phone lines changed the world and then disappeared under the ground, into walls, or became wireless. The same happened with electric motors, and more recently, computers. Apart from steampunk, we don’t really like to have our world cluttered with technological artifacts; we want them to disappear. I wonder, what is next?
Show threadLaura "Tegan" Gjovaag ⛈ 🐸Feb 5
@ai6yr @rustoleumlove
When I was a reporter I ended up describing using a rotary dial phone to a group of high school kids, who giggled the entire time as I mimed dialing a number with lots of 8s and 9s and made the clicking noise as the wheel went back. I'm not convinced they believed me.
Show threadAnne OminousFeb 5

@realtegan @ai6yr

this reminds me of the time that Sarah Kendzior said on twitter she'd finally let her kids watch The Ring

maybe she was joking a little, but
within the first 20 minutes of the movie she said she had to explain VHS tapes, landline phones, and newspapers LMFAO

Show threadAI6YR BenFeb 5
@realtegan @rustoleumlove LOL
Show threadDavid J. AtkinsonFeb 5
@ai6yr @rustoleumlove Thanks for this video! You’ve done a great public service.
Show threadAI6YR BenFeb 5
@meltedcheese @rustoleumlove 😂
Show threadDavid J. AtkinsonFeb 5
@ai6yr @rustoleumlove You’re welcome. People love flattery, especially when it is unearned. But I think you earned this one.
Show threadtlarivFeb 5
@rustoleumlove
and more importantly have never had the satisfaction of angrily hanging one up
@ai6yr
Show threadAnne OminousFeb 5

@tlariv @ai6yr

OMILAWD YES!!

there is NOTHING like slamming that receiver down! and mang those things had real heft.

honestly surprised by this result: 😂

Show threadbrennenFeb 5
@rustoleumlove @ai6yr this is somehow such a sad thought
Show threadkeithFeb 5
@rustoleumlove @ai6yr sometimes if the server is young and chatty i'll ask "have you ever used a rotary phone or heard one ring irl?" so far 100% have said yes, usually with "my grandparents have (or had) one at their house." i'm skeptical.
Show threadNomdebFeb 5
@rustoleumlove @ai6yr OK that freaks me out, but yes, that old. :) I think I've heard this as a ringtone at least, so it hopefully is not a totally unknown sound - even if people cannot connect it to the object that originally made it. :)
Show threadbjb  Feb 5

@ai6yr

My family had a very similar phone when I was a kid. Pretty much the same but did not have that text in the middle (about "someone ... long distance").

And our phone number was probably typed, and had 7 digits.

Show threadKarin!Feb 5
@ai6yr The first house I bought had a wall mounted rotary phone mounted on the wall next to the toilet and we left it there until someone called while I was in the bathroom. It was LOUD (talk about scaring the crap out of someone 😅)
Show threadJim HubbellFeb 5
@ai6yr
Is it hardwired to the connection device on the wall? Only the phone company man knew which wire connected to which screw.