Rotary phones...

[Tuffcookie]

I called a business today to check on an item I had ordered. The usual recorded voice came over the line instructing you to push 1 for service, 2 for billing, 3 for technical support, etc., with it finally saying "if you are calling from a rotary phone, please stay on the line".

I am slow to get new electronics but even I don't have a rotary phone anymore!

Do you know anyone that still has a rotary phone?

TC

 

[amez]

my mother and father in law have one (they are in their mid 60s). The rotary phone is in the kitchen and the cordless is in the front room. They've kept it because where they live in MI the power seems to go out quite often and they don't want to be without a phone-and yes they both have cell phones too, but I guess they like the extra back up. It is kindof funny to answer the phone because I seem to always get myself or one of the kids tangled in the super long cord.

 

[NHdisneylover]

My grandmother does as her main phone.

My aunt has one as well, it has the right antique look for her home. She actually has several (or did last time I was there). I only remember a touch tone phone in the kitchen. I know they make old fashioned looking touch tone phones but hers are rotary.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I dont have a land line any more, but I like the older style phones as having a cordless and the power goes out I would not have a phone. And my cell phone service is really lousy in the house. Jo

 

[indimom]

I have one. It was in the house when we bought it and I decided to keep it for emergency use during power-outages. I've used it a couple of times over the years.

 

[dodukes]

wow this brought back memories...lol...no dont have one now but def did as a kid. We have corded phones but they are not rotary just like PP's said, in case of power outtages.

 

[DawnCt1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIDw75mUl6c Just in case anyone has forgotten.

 

[Mermaid02]

I called a business today to check on an item I had ordered. The usual recorded voice came over the line instructing you to push 1 for service, 2 for billing, 3 for technical support, etc., with it finally saying "if you are calling from a rotary phone, please stay on the line".

I am slow to get new electronics but even I don't have a rotary phone anymore!

Do you know anyone that still has a rotary phone?

TC

We have one in the basement, it was my dh's grandmother's phone (it's avacado green) we kept it for sentimental reasons.

On another note, I always act as if I have a rotary phone instead of going through a telephone tree, it gets you to a REAL PERSON much faster!!

 

[Emme]

I do! I do! I purposely have one in my living room! I bought it at a flea market. It's the old Princess Phone in a gorgeous deep red. It matches my country cottage decor...seriously. I love the way it looks and rings. I do have a touch tone in our bedroom though.

When my niece was about 12 we had just gotten the phone (had a push button) and she came over to visit. She looked at the thing and hadn't a clue what to do with it. No joke~ She said "Aunt Em?" "How do you use this?" CLASSIC!!!

 

[Pigeon]

I've got one and use it all the time.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

We had one in our kitchen until it was remodeled 7 years ago.
The funniest was to see my DD's friends trying to use the phone.
It was a antique to them.

 

[monorailsilver]

My parent still do in their bedroom. It is white. I am 38 & 51 weeks (but who is counting) & I remember that phone as when I was a kid.

They also have my Fisher Price rotary phone from the 70's that my kids still play with.

 

[Juliegirl1]

My dad has one that is hardwired into the house! When my grandmother passed away a few years ago we found out that she was still "renting" her phones from SW Bell. She had paid a rental fee for who knows how many years!

 

[HM]

One of our phones is rotary.

The funniest thing was when a kid from across the street asked to call his parents and we pointed him to the phone and he had no idea what to do with it. We had to teach him how to dial.

 

[Tuffcookie]

Juliegirl1 wrote:

When my grandmother passed away a few years ago we found out that she was still "renting" her phones from SW Bell. She had paid a rental fee for who knows how many years!



TC

 

[NotUrsula]

I've got one for emergency use. I grew up in the hurricane zone out in the sticks, and it wasn't unusual to lose power for weeks.

A rotary creates it's own electric power because the dial acts as a generator; they will still work if the power is out. (And yes, even in the era of cell phones with car chargers, it's still the best backup in a natural-disaster situation. A cell phone won't work if the towers are down.)

 

[mickeym96]

I do. I just recently bought my house and it came with it. It's on the wall at the bottom of the stairs to the basement. When it rings I can hear it on the second floor on the opposite side of the house it's so loud.

 

[Clio]

We have one in the basement. It was there when we moved in. It's our emergency phone when the power goes out.
Liz

 

[chamonix]

I don't know about the rotary phone creating its own electricity. Any older phone--even push button--gets all the power it needs from the telephone line, at least, that's how I understand it. We have a forest green princess style pushbutton phone that we use when our power goes out. The buttons light up and everything, it's definitely not creating its own power. Great for emergencies, like calling the power company to tell them our electricity is out, again.

My parents still have two rotary phones, the wall mounted kind with the long curly cords. One in the kitchen and one in the basement laundry room. I always make a point to use them when I visit for nostalgia. I have fond memories of talking on the kitchen phone while sitting in the dining room, curling the cord around and around my fingers while i talked.

The kitchen phone used to be white but now it's gone kind of yellow, lol. Both phones were installed in 1965 when the house was built, and were undoubtedly rentals at the time. Both work great, strange to think how many cordless phones I've gone through in the same time.

 

[Pigeon]

Both work great, strange to think how many cordless phones I've gone through in the same time.

That's why we have one. Ours is probably 30 years old. I don't generally replace things that work perfectly well. We have one phone with touch tone, and use that if we are apt to get stuck talking to a machine. But we've gone through several touch tone phones, while the rotary just keeps on ticking.

And we'll have phones with cords for just as long as it is possible to buy them, which ain't easy any more.