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These are from my grandfather's (Pre-1970) time with the Bell System. He originally had three, my mother has the other one.

Both still work after years of sitting in his barn, being covered with sawdust from the airplane he was building in retirement, although the one on the left does need to be cleaned up so the dial turns freely.

These are from my grandfather's (Pre-1970) time with the Bell System. He originally had three, my mother has the other one. Both still work after years of sitting in his barn, being covered with sawdust from the airplane he was building in retirement, although the one on the left does need to be cleaned up so the dial turns freely.

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[–] • 2 pts

Lovely old analog tech. Dumb and simple.

[–] • 1 pt

Yep. You can't really dial on them anymore, most COs don't offer pulse dial.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

Don't rotary phones do pulse dialing? I remember I hooked up an old rotary to a phone jack a year or two ago and it actually dialed.

[–] • 0 pt

Yes, it dials by pulse, emulating a step-by-step relay switch. Your CO may still provide that service, especially if it's older.

In some cases, where the CO was updated recently, pulse dial may not be available and subscribers that want to use rotary phones are provided with a touch-tone translator. If you're on a VOIP service, chances are you cannot use pulse dial unless the device is specifically set up for that.