ericjames* 🐺‼️ (they/it)Apr 4
Neil Brown
Have you ever...
Used a telephone book
19.3%
Spoken to a (human) telephone operator
11.6%
Reversed charges on a call
7.4%
Made a call from pay phone / phone box
18.4%
Received a call on a pay phone / phone box
7.2%
Used a phone card
15.2%
Dialled from one exchange to another to route a call
2.6%
Used a rotary dial phone
18.2%
Poll ended at .
Apr 4 at 4:12pmWeb
Show threadTroed SångbergApr 4

@neil hah

/actual way back when #PhonePhreak checking in

Dialing from one floor to another routing the call via Japan gave a nice two second delay.

Show threadLarge Format ProjectionistApr 4

@troed @neil

We removed the single-button-press bar on our radio station’s five line phones. We could patch calls together. Legend has it a DJ got 2 on air talk DJs talking to each other.

Show threadRichardApr 4
@neil
all yes, does this make me old?
Show threadDeborah Preuss, pcc 🇨🇦Apr 5
@Yorkshiregeek @neil perhaps: wise.
Show threadRichardApr 5
@deborahh @neil
my wife might say older chronology , but definitely a kid at heart especially when me and kiddo (8yr old) are having a dance session in the middle of ASDA
Show threadDeborah Preuss, pcc 🇨🇦Apr 5
@Yorkshiregeek @neil lovely!
Show threadGreem (Graeme. Not Graham!)Apr 4
@neil Yep. Every one of them.
Show threadSnaprailsApr 4
@neil I've done all of those though there's an obvious reason for that 🙂
Show threadPaul RichardsApr 4
@neil I grew up in a house with a rotary phone long after most people already had button phones. It confused the heck out of my friends when they tried to use it. :D
Show threadʙᴇɴ ᴄᴏᴛᴛᴇяɪʟʟApr 4
@pauldoo @neil Still got a rotary phone in the house. Going to carry on using it until the analog PTSN is switched off.
Show threadzarelApr 5
@BenCotterill @pauldoo @neil there are voip boxes that support pulses so you can keep using it later
Show threadAndrew DeaconApr 4
@neil yes to 1,4,5 and 7 but i am 75 (nearly 76 ) so i grew up with these things.
Show threadחנן כהן • Hanan CohenApr 4
@neil my mother was a (human) telephone operator. so, although I didn't speak to her as a telephone operator, we talked.
Show threadARGVMI~1.PIFApr 4

@neil

New Mastodon Poll Reveals 87% of Mastodonians Are Old AF

Show threadGalactic StoneApr 4
@argv_minus_one @neil Mastodon is a just a seperate interwebs for elder Millennials, Gen-X'ers, and Boomers. Sometimes we let the kids hang out with us because we're cool like that. And oh yeah, rumor has it that John Mastodon is like 68 or something.
Show threadSusan CalvinApr 5
@galacticstone @argv_minus_one @neil he's always been 69 dude
Show threadTuchowskiApr 4
@argv_minus_one Sure! We also need a place to be. 😁
@neil
Show threadMiakoda Apr 4
@argv_minus_one @neil What is with this never ending trend of calling everybody old? Okay, so I used a phone book. Oooh no, call AARP! HA, so fucking funny I forgot to laugh.
Show threadThe TurtleApr 4

@hellomiakoda @argv_minus_one @neil

AARP sucks ass, it's mostly a marketing scam and while you can SIGN UP online, just fuckin' try to CANCEL online! It might as well be a big dispenser of Val-Pak coupons.

Show threadARGVMI~1.PIFApr 4

@the_turtle is old AF confirmed.

@hellomiakoda @neil

Show threadWilliam HamiltonApr 5
@the_turtle @hellomiakoda @argv_minus_one @neil I’ll leave generation of the acronym for the Canadian Association of Retired Persons as an exercise. ;)
Show threadThe TurtleApr 4

@hellomiakoda @argv_minus_one @neil

AARP sucks ass, it's mostly a marketing scam and while you can SIGN UP online, just fuckin' try to CANCEL online! It might as well be a big dispenser of Val-Pak coupons.

Show threadRantingCanuckApr 4

@argv_minus_one @neil

I'm not old... the kids (and their children too) these days are just too young

Show threadMcRocker 🇨🇦🍁Apr 4

@argv_minus_one @neil

What does AF mean????? HAHAHAHAHA

Show threadGil FreundApr 5
@argv_minus_one @neil you forgot to check how the phone books were used. People kept them as monitor stands long after their original use was forgotten.
On the other hand, those were EGA CRT monitors, so nevermind.
Show threadrk: it’s hyphen-minus actuallyApr 4

@neil

What I’m learning is that I am likely to crumble to dust soon.

Show threadk8quinn 🇺🇦 🇨🇦 🇲🇽 🇪🇺Apr 4

@neil

I not only spoke to a telephone operator, I WAS one (at a car dealership). So was my wife - that's where we met.

Show threadGraham Sutherland / PolynomialApr 4
@neil all but the phone card and exchange
Show threadGraham Sutherland / PolynomialApr 4
@neil wait does the phone card one mean the type for payphones, or does it include cards used to top up PAYG mobile phones? cos I definitely used the latter.
Show threadDavid NashApr 4
@gsuberland @neil I’m not sure if there’s a UK vs elsewhere distinction here but: in the US a “phone card” often meant something kind of like a phone company-account specific access card. It was also called a “calling card”. You’d dial a number (with an extra code/digit string to enable “calling card” mode), wait for the phone to make a “ka-BONG” sound, then dial the phone card ID number, and your call would go through and be billed to the account associated with the card. My parents gave me the phone card number for their account when I was in college in the 1990s so I wouldn’t have to worry about phone charges calling them.
Show threadDavid NashApr 4
@gsuberland @neil Being entrusted with the parents’ phone card in the 1990s naturally replaced the previous “emergency call home” system in the 1980s, which was reverse charges (“collect calls” here in the US).
Show threadAaronApr 4
@dpnash I answered "yes" to "phone card" because I remember my parents giving me a physical card with numbers on it, and teaching me how to do exactly this, before I ever saw a cell phone.

Seeing "ka-BONG" written out triggered a memory of that exact sound!

@gsuberland @neil
Show threadcontranymApr 4
@dpnash @gsuberland @neil i just used prepaid phone cards for long distance on a landline and then for a cell phone when i finally got one here in the us. this would have been in the early 00s, tho.
Show threadDerick RethansApr 4
@neil You could just have asked how old we are 😂
Show threadpinkmarieApr 5
@derickr @neil 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Show threadCrimperman 🏳️‍🌈Apr 6
@derickr @neil most of us can't remember how old we are but ask us if we've used a phonebook and we're instantly back in the good old days.
Show threadI am PJ🇵🇹   Apr 4
@neil I did all, Am I so old 🤔😱🤪😂😂
Show threadDr Ro SmithApr 4

@neil Most of these. Not sure about the phone card. I don't *think* so, but I'm not entirely sure.

I've talked to operators but I don't think been routed from one system to another, unless this includes dialling 9 to dial out, or being forwarded by a receptionist?

Never received a phone call in a phone booth, but used to use them regularly to call parents as a child and teenager.

Show threadSarah Jamie LewisApr 4
@neil all of the above
Show threadPaul_IPv6Apr 4

@sarahjamielewis @neil

i missed one (the exchange to exchange one)...

Show threadint%rmitt]nt sig^al. ...~!...)Apr 4
@neil
My auntie was a switchboard operator on a joint operations air base during The War, she had to speak English AND American.
Show threadBradleyApr 4
@neil ha unfortunately I still remember my ATT phone card number
Show threadColin the MathmoApr 4
@neil I have also used a pay phone on a train.
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKApr 4
@ColinTheMathmo @neil 100% on all of them. I also remember the loud "cuckoo" tone on inbound calls to a payphone (to prevent reverse charge calls being made via the operator), also during late 1980a if you tried some calls on level 1 such as 16 (Dial a disc) and another one (it was some number like 159) you would just hear a loud cuckoo sound from *inside* the phone box and the call would be abruptly cleared down (presumably this is because a metering pulse had come down the line but you hadn't put any money in)
Show threadDamienApr 4
@neil used a telephone book for which purpose?
Show threadPete Prodoehl 🍕Apr 5
@damien @neil I used to use them to start campfires. 😝
Show threadStephen PaulgerApr 4

@neil I am curious what it means to dial from one exchange to another.

I probably only called local numbers as a kid and dialing other areas when I was older was always just preceding the number with a 4 or 5 digit area code, did it work differently before?

Show threadCecilia BellApr 4
@neil Yes to all, plus for a summer I actually was a (human) telephone operator. Those overnight shifts were something else.
Show threadLaurent BercotApr 4
@neil this is just an age test. No need to be cruel.
Show threadPaul_IPv6Apr 4

@neil

if you said yes to more than two of these, you're overdue to schedule your next colonoscopy... :)

(which reminds me...)

Show threadVoidZeroOne   Apr 4
@neil are you under 46?
Show threadExtreme ElectronicsApr 4
@neil and made free international calls, by a number of methods.
Show threadJessamynApr 4

@neil Most I'm not sure what "Dialled from one exchange to another" means specifically, maybe a UK thing?

I did buy this bad boy new in box from my local thrift store last week. I have a Bluetooth dongle in my house so that I can make calls with it. Fake dialtone and everything!

Show threadpinkmarieApr 5
@jessamyn @neil omg!secret calls at night and long hours of laughter by day..🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣yep oldie..🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Show thread€dward 冬Apr 6
@jessamyn what Bluetooth dongle are you using?
Show threadJessamynApr 6

@smed This one.

https://www.cell2jack.com/

Quit paying your landline bill

Cell2Jack extends your cellphone service and voice assistant functions to all your home phone FREE

Cell2Jack
Show thread€dward 冬6d ago
@jessamyn Thank you. Good to know things like exist.