Do you remember a busy signal? - Kids reaction to rotary phones - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 01:33:21 am
content: This has a high view numberhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkuirEweZvM&feature=youtu.beI found it because I wanted to know if I could use a rotary phone with an Ooma. Seems I cannot without some sort of converter. What got me was the kids reaction when asked what was a busy signal. I never realized they are a part of history like I am.

author: Voodoo 6
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 05:52:28 am
content: Being from the 60's I do indeed remember the busy signal lol. Aside from the folks living deep in the Amazon jungle, I am probably the only person on earth to have never personally owned a cell phone. The funny thing is I worked for a major carrier in the US, running a POP. Carried 2 cells, a beeper, and a sat phone. But remain pure in the sense of never personally owning a phone.

author: fubar.gr
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 06:12:05 am
content: I hated these rotary phones. They were a PITA if you were in a hurry and wanted to dial something quickly.

author: Voodoo 6
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 06:28:23 am
content: The best prank calls were created before caller id.

author: whitevamp
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 06:40:18 am
content: yeap i remember the busy signal.but who remember's the party lines?

author: Voodoo 6
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 07:08:28 am
content: When the first party lines came online, everyone was like omg! if you were the first called the caller would say.. omg let me dial Stacy!!! this is so cool like omg.. we are all talking at the same time!!! I cant believe this!! this is so rad!!! The parents were like oh shit.. we have to sell the house to pay for that 3rd line.

author: Back2Volts
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 01:14:41 pm
content: Quote from: whitevamp on August 27, 2016, 06:40:18 amMy wife grew up with a party line at home, here in the US. My parents had a house in the country, a few kilometer from a small village. When finally the phone company decided to service the area, we got a phone, it was a black table top set with a crank on the side and a blind cover where the dial disk would have been. Funny thing is the number assigned was #13 of the village directory. I recall #1 was the village doctor. We had that phone for years until they run lines to a larger village with switched service. Then the number got a five digit prefix. This was in Spain, circa 1953. Yes I am an oldie.Quote from: fubar.gr on August 27, 2016, 06:12:05 amYou had it good! If we were on a hurry, we cranked the hell out of it and then waited while the operator was feeding her two pigs or milking the goat before deciding to go answer our call.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 01:18:06 pm
content: Quote from: fubar.gr on August 27, 2016, 06:12:05 amI agree but I do prefer the sound of ringing bells, rather than the electronic chirp.I'm not even that old. My parents had an old rotary phone until the late 90s.

author: joseph nicholas
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 01:33:29 pm
content: Quote from: Voodoo 6 on August 27, 2016, 05:52:28 amMy house has a analog clock, when kids visit they will be staring at it and ask me what time is it.

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 02:02:54 pm
content: Quote from: joseph nicholas on August 27, 2016, 01:33:29 pmI have 2 analog clocks on the wall behind my ham radio equipment. 1 is normal, the other is a 24 hour clock set to UTC. SWMBO just shakes her head when she looks at it. She does the same to my alarm clock, a 90's vintage rat shack digital that is set to 24 hour mode. The fact that she is a military brat and her first husband is retired military is pretty funny. I have wanted to set the clock in her car to 24 hour time but don't want to risk her wrath

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 02:05:09 pm
content: Is 24 hour time not very common in the US? Here in the UK, many clocks on household appliances are 24 hour. I don't mind 24 hour clocks and have my PC clock set to 24 hour mode.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 02:54:23 pm
content: 24 hour time is only used in the US by the military and those who want to appear military styled.AM/PM time is riddled with inconsistencies and also unfortunately doesn't sort alphabetically.For example, the time after 11:59 PM is called 12:00 Midnight, and the time after 11:59 AM is called 12:00 Noon. But even though 12:02 AM is earlier than 12:01 PM, it sorts after it alphabetically. And 12:59 PM is followed by 1:00 PM, which doesn't sort correctly, either.edit: fixed example

author: Seekonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 03:54:44 pm
content: At least they stopped putting an image of a cassette tape on cell phones for messages. Kids couldn't figure that out.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 04:08:41 pm
content: My phone uses an voicemail icon that looks more like a Kodak Instamatic cartridge. That sure is confusing!

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 04:11:51 pm
content: We had a party line for a while when I was a kid (1960s). Back then you actually had to have the phone company install all equipment. Even an extension phone, and there was always an extra monthly charge for everything.When touch-tone phones first came out they were pretty expensive. But eventually deregulation happened and things got much cheaper. Back before push button dialing and radio was still popular, local stations would have contests and such where you had to be the first caller at a certain time to win. We would dial all but the last number and wait for the announcement that it was time to call in. After push button phones became more common they changed to "be caller number x" to win.

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2016, 08:32:08 pm
content: Quote from: Hero999 on August 27, 2016, 01:18:06 pmThis is why I want a rotary phone. After I get my tone phone working with Ooma today, I am going to look into tone-pulse converter so I can use a rotary. I will be using the Ooma phone as a backup to my cell phone. I miss too many calls because my cell is in one room and I am in another. The rotary will go on a wall in the middle of the house.With the Ooma I can have an internet phone for about $5 a month and the $5 is all taxes.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2016, 12:52:11 am
content: Pulse dialing, as used in rotary phones, is actually cutting the circuit each time the dial clicks. With every copper POTS line I've seen, you can still use it (and can make the pulses manually by flashing the receiver). An interesting fact about pulse dialing is that since it cuts the circuit, it only works when that single extension is in use. If any other extension on the line is off hook, pulse dialing is impossible.(This was used as a plot point in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?")

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2016, 01:26:12 am
content: Quote from: fubar.gr on August 27, 2016, 06:12:05 amThey were electromechanical marvels, both the phones, and the automatic exchanges. A lot of good engineering went into them.One interesting difference from old days is the 'where are you?' instead of 'who is it?', because cell phone numbers are tied to individuals, not to locations.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2016, 10:38:25 am
content: A lot of modern phone exchanges no longer support pulse dialling, simply because they have turned off the functionality, or the actual SLIC itself no longer has the firmware ( needed the space in ROM for other features) to support it.I still have both a rotary dial phone, and a older operator dialled one, and they still work when connected to the line, though the older Ericsson does not have the ability to dial out as it has no tone generator other than a hand held one I used to use for phone banking.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2016, 11:42:11 pm
content: Funny, until reading this thread, I hadn't really thought about the absence of the busy signal. It was a pretty painless transition from busy signals to voicemail when the other party is on the line.

author: m98
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2016, 01:17:44 pm
content: Well, here in good 'ol Germany you still get to hear the call progress tones even on modern phones. Also, pulse dialing just works fine with most DSL/Cable routers and even on the analog phone line, because there are some old people out there who still pay the monthly fee for their rotary telephone since the 70s.But that "Someone reacts" show on Youtube seems to either always show a bunch of idiots, or is scripted. Just watched another Video of that, sure, no Kid has ever seen a tower PC...

author: Back2Volts
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 29, 2016, 05:01:24 pm
content: Quote from: rdl on August 27, 2016, 04:11:51 pmUS phone companies still manage to add extra charges for everything.. and many times for something else...Every so often there is a settlement by a telco "not admitting" they had been padding one way or another.

author: Back2Volts
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 29, 2016, 05:08:29 pm
content: There are still busy signals, even in mobile service, at least in rural areas. I occasionally get a busy on my cell. I assume the tower is saturated. On land lines, I will occasionally get busy calling overseas, like by Christmas, when it appears the transoceanic lines are saturated.

author: Galaxyrise
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2016, 05:27:15 pm
content: Quote from: helius on August 27, 2016, 04:08:41 pmThat's the same reaction I have! And I've even seen what is presumably the inspiration for that image:(The oldest I saw actually in use was based on cassettes.)

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2016, 06:07:44 pm
content: This may be an urban legend, but allegedly a child who one day saw a real 3.5" floppy disk said something to the effect of, "Hey, Daddy, look it's a giant Save button".Icons have a longer lifetime than the devices from which they were borrowed.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2016, 12:43:00 am
content: Until early 90's in Brazil we had a red Ericsson phone just like the one in the attachment. In my child's mind it was pretty cool as it was similar to the hotline between US and USSR.Even today when I call my parent's (Brazil) or my brother's (Argentina) home I hear the busy signal - it may be the VoIP system or the local operator.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2016, 04:02:05 am
content: Call progress tones are generated at various places for SS7 or VOIP systems. If the digital status indication doesn't make it all the way back to the user's cell phone, it will just stay on the line and you will hear the progress tone. If the phone does receive status codes, it responds by hanging up and displaying the indication instead of letting the tone through.

author: steve30
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2016, 12:28:52 am
content: Quote from: Hero999 on August 27, 2016, 01:18:06 pmI really like the bell sound. I bought a GPO model 746 a couple of years ago and that has a nice bell. It is normally configured to be extremely loud; if you called it, you'd wake the whole street up, but I altered it to make it much quieter. I put a big resistor in series with the bell so the hammer doesn't move as far, and I rotated the gongs inwards so they are closer together. Now it makes a much more pleasant quiet (ish) ringing sound.I find the rotary mechanism quite fun to use, but I do like push button phones as well.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2016, 06:23:47 pm
content: My mom had a rotary dial phone (well, it had big pushbuttons, but it was set to pulse dial mode) until less than 8 years ago when she required some medical equipment with a life alert attachment that only did touch tone. She never wanted to pay the extra $1 per month they charged for touch tone! It was extremely frustrating back when I was in school and still at home, since I always had to set my modem to pulse dial instead of tone, so it took me 10x longer to dial in to a BBS than everyone else.It's not just time - IP addresses (IPv4 anyway) sort poorly when sorted alphabetically. Things like 192.168.100.100 sort before 192.168.100.2There are some civilian things in the US where the time needs to be clear with no ambiguities so 24hr time is used - such as in travel. Somehow though I think if you ask the average American what time of day it is if the time is 1930 they will just look at you with a blank face or say "it can't be over 12"

author: Muxr
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2016, 06:55:33 pm
content: The busy signal still exists, it's just not very common. If you're calling an overloaded PBX or internationally. It is amazing how much of an impact Internet and cellphones have had on our lives.I can't imagine leaving my house without my phone.

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2016, 08:30:20 pm
content: A rotary sim phonehttps://www.amazon.com/OPIS-60s-MOBILE-telephone-technology/dp/B0083F4WX0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472675228&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=rotary+phone&psc=1