Are rotary phones still compatable with...

[DarkPhenyx]

...modern push button/digital phone systems? I'm in the process of buying a house, and will be buying an older home. I was thinking it would be very cool to have a funstioning rotary phone in the house. :)

5 points to your age index if you can remember a rotary phone in your house.

[eyesroll]

1. Hey...I'm only 28 and we had a rotary phone!

I don't remember there not being touch-tone service, but I do remember having a rotary phone too.

IIRC, rotary phones are still functional on analog phone lines.

[DarkPhenyx]

5. That's why it's only 5 points.

It'll be a few more years before it's worth 10 or 15 points.

[m-jean03]

2. Hey, my best friend growing up had rotary phone in her house.

Does that count? :shrug: It was neat.

I'm sure they are still completely functional. You might have to remind your guests how to use them, though. :-)

[Nikia]

3. My grandparents are still using a rotary phone

They use the local phone company like everyone else in town. They've owned their home for around 40 years. I don't know if homes with push button phones had to switch over but I don't think so.

[Nevernose]

4. I use one upstairs and I live in a new house

With new phone lines, et ct. Seems like the problem was going from modern phones to rotary lines, not vice versa.

[phaseolus]

6. I think so, but ...

...if you have too many old phones on your phone line they might not all ring when they're supposed to, though just one shouldn't be a problem.

(This is why older phones sometimes have a 'ringer equivalent' number on the bottom -- adding up the ringer equivalents of all of your telephones, the number needs to be below 4 or so if you want your phones to ring...)

[Don_G]

7. Yes They Are

Both still work off of a 48 VDC positive ground/110 VAC ringing current. The touch-tone capability to "read" the frequencies generated by the touch-tone pad is added at the Central Office and has no effect on old-style rotary dial phones.

[benburch]

8. Rotaries work fine.

If you need to dial a *, as in *69, you dial 1169 instead.

In many places, you actually pay extra to have a touch tone phone! There is a touch tone surcharge. But it is hard to convince the phone company that you have only a rotary, and that they should stop charging you for it.

A touch-pulse phone is the electronic equivalent of a rotary.

(I used to design phone switching systems. Worked on the Rockwell DTS-6000 when they added Equal Access features to it.)

[lpbk2713]

9. It's a good idea to have at least one "older" type phone at home.

One with an older type of "ding-a-ling" ringer. If you have the type of phone that requires external power (like a cordless phone) you have no phone service if a storm kills the power to your home.

Also, don't take a rotary dial phone to your place of employment and expect it to work. Your phone system may be DTMF (tone dial) only or it may be a digital system.

[Don_G]

11. PBX Systems

Generally rely on a "ground-start" system where the switching system relys on a quick short to ground to enable the phone to work. It generally requires a rewiring of the phone if it's compatible with the system.

I speak as an "old" Telephone Installer/Repairman.

[lpbk2713]

12. I am too. (Maybe lpbk2713 means something to you, maybe not.)

I wouldn't think most people would try to get their phone to work at the main frame or at the demarc. What I had in mind was someone trying a rotary dial instrument at the RJ-11C at their desk in their office.

[Not Me]

10. Funny how things change...

When I was a kid, it was cool to make a call on a touchtone phone.
Now, when my brothers kids come to my parent's house, they want to use Papa's 'roundy-round' phone.

[Doctor Smith]

13. Yep.

And with a little practice, you can dial a number using only the hook switch by quickly pressing and releasing it, counting up to the digit you want to dial, and then pausing between digits.

I used to do this to make calls on phones with a dial lock.

[LynzM]

14. Neato.

I didn't know you could do that! Gotta learn something every day! But how many wrong numbers would I dial in the process of learning? ;)

We had a rotary at our house forever, and I'm only 23... Probably, it's still in my mom's basement somewhere... hrm.

[SmokingJacket]

15. I have two of them. Never owned another kind.

I like rotary phones: big, chunky, make a nice ring and a whirr when you dial. They work fine, except when I get a voicemail menu and have to enter a number. Sometimes it works to just hit the hangup buttons however many times, but usually I have to hang up and call again with the phone attached to my fax machine.

One's orange: I'm sorry, but that is cool.

[Guy Fawkes]

16. errr, we had 2, but one broke... and I'm not even a legal adult in WI yet!

[Servo300]

17. I think they'll work,

but won't have a lot of the features you might be used to.

[DarkPhenyx]

18. You mean it won't make phone calls?

:)

Seriously. Outside of having to punch buttons to get through customer service menus that's really all I use the phone for. I don't even use 411 that often, let alone caller ID or *69.

[Servo300]

19. They'll make phone calls

but probably won't work for touchtone activated menus.

[DarkPhenyx]

20. I was joking.

I figured it would make calls. Not too concerned about the touch tone crap.

[SmileyBoy]

21. I'm only 21, but I remember a rotary phone being in my grandma's house.

I've used one for real before, not just as a toy in preschool.

[Cooley Hurd]

22. Yep - I'm a telephone collector...

...and I have several rotary phones in use on my phone system:

Western Electric 102 (circa 1929)


Western Electric 202 (circa 1937)


Western Electric 302 (circa 1949)

You can use old candlestick phones, as well...

Western Electric 20AL (circa 1919)

Here's a great site for old phones and parts...
http://www.phonecoinc.com/

[DarkPhenyx]

23. I think that Western Electric 302...

...is what I'd be looking for. Or something similar. Nice, heavy, solid phone.

[Cooley Hurd]

24. Check eBay, as well...

Just do a search on "western electric." You can get a working 302 for about $50-$75...

Good luck with your new house, DP!

[DarkPhenyx]

25. Thanks!

The tough part is finding a house in decent shape, in my price range of $76K, and in a neighborhood that isn't a DMZ. Since everyone else is looking for the same thing once you find one you gotta move cuz it's going to get sold out from under you if you don't.

[RebelOne]

26. I had rotary phones when growing up

and that was in the time of party lines.