Retro Gone Wrong
erco
Posts: 20,259
Check out this Sparkfun offering: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9803
A real old rotary phone modded with Bluetooth to pair up with your cellphone. Rechargeable battery so you can wander around carrying it with 2 hands. Plus your cellphone. Just $250!
Heck, I love retro as much as anybody. I was THERE at the time. But I'd rather relive the glory days for $5 (or a good dig through my garage) by getting a REAL old rotary phone with a long cord and plug into any wall jack in my house. Am I the last guy with a home landline?
Sparkfun has many good offerings, but iDunno 'bout this one. How many could they have sold?
A real old rotary phone modded with Bluetooth to pair up with your cellphone. Rechargeable battery so you can wander around carrying it with 2 hands. Plus your cellphone. Just $250!
Heck, I love retro as much as anybody. I was THERE at the time. But I'd rather relive the glory days for $5 (or a good dig through my garage) by getting a REAL old rotary phone with a long cord and plug into any wall jack in my house. Am I the last guy with a home landline?
Sparkfun has many good offerings, but iDunno 'bout this one. How many could they have sold?
600 x 600 - 92K
Comments
Here in Finland I have not seen a land line in a home for almost 10 years. Can't remember when I saw one in an office last.
Wow, that supports the many good things I have heard about Scandinavia and how progressive the countries are. I was told that in at least one country, every gradeschool student has a computer and Solidworks license.
No Sir, you are not.
And I still have my old AT&T rotary wall-mount phone out in the garage (just in case I ever need it!). :thumb:
Stunning! Not a single member of my family has ever had a cellphone. I wouldn't dream of hauling one around. I'm not that social, and I hate interruptions.
Of course that's not so odd...I still use Propellers to do things like drive amber screen composite monitors that I've held onto for 30 years...using the font built into the Propeller ROM, of course.
Good on ya, Boy!
We California folk are constantly reminded to keep at LEAST one hard-wired (not cordless) phone for use in an earthquake, when the phone lines MAY be up when the power is down.
[EMAIL="D@mn"]D@mn[/EMAIL] straight!
I finally ditched it because the wire behind my house got damaged by Katrina and they can't keep the DSL working, and it's in an inaccessible alley so they aren't replacing it any time soon. My wife and I both have work cellphones with unlimited minutes we can use for personal business if we want, so we ditched the landline and got a 3G-Wifi bridge for internet access.
I miss the uncapped internet, but it works reliably and we haven't missed the landline. And really, I only missed the uncapped internet access until a couple of my neighbors installed unsecured wifi routers...
Sounds like a security breach! I'm sure a techy neighbor like you can drop in and show them how to set up a secure network...
Chances are, if you select and set up the password, they would never change it anyway.
The inset details the label on the back of the handset. I've never had to report espionage, but it's comforting to know that it's only a four-digit call if I ever do.
BTW, ThinkGeek offers a retro bluetooth handset for $29.99 (when they're in stock):
-Phil
The battery Sparkfun put into that rotary phone is very small though, it's a hassle to have to keep charging all the time. The phone should have room for something substantially larger, the one they put in is even smaller than the one in my mobile phone. Looks like there should be room for something much better.
-Tor
I too have an unsecured phone. I could use this phone to call you from the other side of the world. I like this phone for two reasons. The first is that it does not have any line noise, unlike every new digital/cordless phone we have bought. And the second reason is that we live in a remote area on top of a hill and the telephone company spent countless dollars digging in the line for us (for free) including tipping over the digger several times. And they put in 20 phone lines in the conduit because that is what they do, even though no-one else lives here. So I kind of feel obliged to keep the landline.
The kids use their wireless ipad thingy's around the house including video for skype, but at the end of the day the data goes via a router and down the landline. Much cheaper than giving the kids real 3G phones.
I am tempted to call "4444" to see if anyone from the Espionage Department answers!
Never looked back since, even though we have been back on land for over a year. Have the boat moored out front and do hope to go cruising again.
NOW your talkin' !
Can you hear me now?
I betcha' that came from Boeing Surplus?
My destination once a month when I lived in Buckley, WA back in 1999.
Moved east in December, but flew back to do some Y2K stuff on New Years Eve. SeaTac was still there and the plane landed safely.
Nope. 'Loved that place, though, when it was in operation. Care to guess again?
-Phil
OK. Hard to make out the line on the bottom of the phone: EFTD"
Enumclaw FTD florist? (Washington joke)
Or is it EFID ?
Then the new phones do not last long anymore. And if you pick up the handset on some new phones, the base is so light weight, the coiled cord drags the phone base across the table, etc.
Anyway I got fed up with this. So I recently purchased some good old fashioned Western Electric phones from yard sales which look like the above ($2 each!). Some are dial and those I use the most are touch tone. These were designed to last forever, because when they were made, the phone company leased them to you. It was to their advantage to make a quality long lasting phone.
So anyway end of my phone problem when the power goes out (which happens quite a bit here).
It's EFTO. Until today, I had no idea what it stood for. Googling turned up "Encrypt for Transmission Only."
-Phil
(Is that some hideous wallpaper, or what?) When my youngest brother was a baby, my mom would stick a piece of cardboard in the ringer on top to muffle it while he was napping. It's an Automatic Electric (not Western Electric -- we weren't on the Bell system) unit that, according to info I've gleaned from the web, dates back to 1908! I'm guessing the photo was taken around 1956. I wonder how many phones built today will still be operational in 2060.
Here's a better picture of the same model, but with nickel-plated appointments:
For some odd reason, I still remember the phone number of that old phone: 6-7691. (It must've been hammered into my brain in case I ever got lost.
-Phil
Maybe I'll add hifi wifi lipo bluetooth blueray blackfin quad core USB 2.0 firewire...
Tombstone:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Art-Deco-Automatic-Electric-Monophone-Rotary-Wall-Telephone-/180754712320?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a15d20700
Funky Predicta-style: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-1963-Spacemaker-183-Beige-Phone-Rotary-Telephone-Automatic-Electric-Works-/380383934028?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5890a6364c
And here's a vintage desktop near you Phil in Spokane: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-1940s-automatic-electric-company-rotary-ringer-telephone-phone-/220892667442?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item336e3a9e32
All in one sale! http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-AUTOMATIC-ELECTRIC-BARN-FIND-WORKING-PHONES-NO-RESERVE-/260891738048?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cbe5bffc0
Here's one like Phil's Mom's, for $330! : http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACK-AUTOMATIC-ELECTRIC-COUNTRY-JUNCTION-PHONE-/270080513538?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ee20d9602
And if anyone won the lottery, here's a $6600 jewel: http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-AUTOMATIC-ELECTRIC-STROWGER-POBELLY-TELEPHONE-/320789784395?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ab08fa74b