Invisapeeps 2.0

winds55 · Guru

phone numbers

OpheliaDev1 · Guru

but why I don't get is why they didn't just call it 345-1000 vs Filbert 1000.

RichardInTN · I believe in I.D.I.C.

Back when phones first came out it was decided that a word plus 4 or 5 numbers was easier to remember than 7 numbers.

ETA: This was before area codes... if you needed "long distance" you'd call the Operator and tell them (some variation of) "Long distance, please for {City, State}"... be connected to an operator in that city... then you'd tell that operator "Harrison 6-2-3-4-7" (or whatever "number").

-- Edited by RichardInTN on Tuesday 20th of May 2014 07:56:52 PM

EmmDee · Guru

Wow, um, I have no idea what any of you are talking about.

RichardInTN · I believe in I.D.I.C.

EmmDee wrote:
Wow, um, I have no idea what any of you are talking about.

Young whipper-snapper....

Ever hear the song "Pennsylvania 6-5000"? That was an actual phone number "way back in the day".

Balloon Animal · Guru

I always hear that in movies with the letters or words and wondered what that was

winds55 · Guru

EmmDee wrote:
Wow, um, I have no idea what any of you are talking about.

That's ok. You probably don't remember the days before zip codes either.

EmmDee · Guru

winds55 wrote:
EmmDee wrote:
Wow, um, I have no idea what any of you are talking about.
That's ok. You probably don't remember the days before zip codes either.

.....no.....how recent are zip codes?

jlbear71 · Veteran Member

I still have the black Bakelite phone that rotary dials. ETA I mean it is still plugged in and works.
Like this but black

-- Edited by jlbear71 on Tuesday 20th of May 2014 08:31:20 PM

RichardInTN · I believe in I.D.I.C.

EmmDee wrote:
winds55 wrote:
EmmDee wrote:
Wow, um, I have no idea what any of you are talking about.
That's ok. You probably don't remember the days before zip codes either.
.....no.....how recent are zip codes?

The 5-digit Zip codes were "non-mandatory" starting in 1963. They became mandatory in 1967.

Prior to that there was a inter-city 2 digit "district/zone" number used in large cities that started in 1943

-- Edited by RichardInTN on Tuesday 20th of May 2014 09:57:41 PM

EmmDee · Guru

I did grow up with a rotary phone though, does that count for anything? It was a pain in the ass if you misdialed and had to start all over.

winds55 · Guru

Was it a party line?

EmmDee · Guru

No...am I banned from this club?

winds55 · Guru

Oh, no bannings. Just making a list of the young ones so I know who to have help me up when I can't find my cane.

EmmDee · Guru

LOL, I am good at helping the elders around, quite a bit experience with that.

kinalikamom · Senior Member

winds, in my neighborhood, you were either Jackson or Taylor. (We were Jackson)

AquarianGrandma · Purple Enchantress

Ah...party lines....

The only time I was on a party line was right after I was married and four of the five other families on the party line were in-laws. I learned pretty quickly not to say anything I didn't want spread across the county....or, at the very least, VGpa's family.

Forty-two · Guru

How old are you guys? NO zip codes? Wow

winds55 · Guru

Old enough to remember JFK getting elected.

MD, my cane, please.

OpheliaDev1 · Guru

My mom was telling me about party lines. My question was, "What if you need to use the phone and somebody else is talking for hours on it?" And she said, "People just didn't do that." Hard to wrap my mind around.

AquarianGrandma · Purple Enchantress

Way "back when", phones really were used mostly for emergencies and short conversations.

Seriously, where I lived in 1970, every call outside a five mile radius of our very small rural community was long distance....even calling the doctor, hospital, and law enforcement was long distance. People didn't want to rack up huge long distance bills so calls were very short and to the point. There was no chatting unless it was a local call and, even then, you might as well just meet the person for coffee. I was more likely to get permission to drive the twelve miles to see my friends than to be allowed a ten minute long distance phone to one of them.

kinalikamom · Senior Member

OpheliaDev1 wrote:
My mom was telling me about party lines. My question was, "What if you need to use the phone and somebody else is talking for hours on it?" And she said, "People just didn't do that." Hard to wrap my mind around.

Oh, yes, they did! If they rambled on too long, you just made a big show of picking up and putting down the receiver loudly. The message got through.

EmmDee · Guru

winds55 wrote:
Old enough to remember JFK getting elected.

MD, my cane, please.

Yes ma'am, sorry about that. Would you like anything else?

Evil Stepmother · Guru

I remember when zip codes were coming into use. It didn't matter much to me at the time, because I didn't know how to write very well and didn't send letters. I think my grandparents had a party line in the early 60's, but they lived in the country.

We used to be able to dial our own phone number from home and hang up then it would ring back. We did it a lot just to mess with whoever ran to the phone to answer it.

winds55 · Guru

Evil Stepmother wrote:
I remember when zip codes were coming into use. It didn't matter much to me at the time, because I didn't know how to write very well and didn't send letters. I think my grandparents had a party line in the early 60's, but they lived in the country.

We used to be able to dial our own phone number from home and hang up then it would ring back. We did it a lot just to mess with whoever ran to the phone to answer it.

My dad would do that to wake my mom up, rather than yell up the stairs.

EmmDee · Guru

Hmm,we can still dial the land line number at mom's house, hang up and have it ring. I didn't know that was something out of the ordinary

winds55 · Guru

Any more, just having a landline seems to be out of the ordinary.

EmmDee · Guru

Ah, yes, quite true. Being in a small town and in a rural area, mom is part of a telephone cooperative where the line is only like $13 a month.

flan327 · Senior Member

winds55 wrote:
Any more, just having a landline seems to be out of the ordinary.

We just got rid of our landline this year. It was hard for me to let it go...

flan

ana · Senior Member

We still have ours. I don't like giving out my cell number to too many people.

Forty-two · Guru

We needed ours for our security system

aberswyth · Member

We still have a landline. I have a cell phone, but I hate it.

And I remember my phone number from when I was a kid: FRontier 5-1517. They really are easier to remember!

KattyKatzz · Senior Member

Grandma was on a party line. I well remember her shushing me while she listened in on other conversations. That was early 1970s.

AquarianGrandma · Purple Enchantress

KattyKatzz wrote:
Grandma was on a party line. I well remember her shushing me while she listened in on other conversations. That was early 1970s.

We had a party line until 1980-81 when the "big" phone company bought up all the little phone cooperatives in rural southeast Nebraska.

Aardvark · But my mom says I'm cool!

We still have a landline. We're pretty rural out here and the cell reception isn't reliable.

Forty-two · Guru

AquarianGrandma wrote:
KattyKatzz wrote:
Grandma was on a party line. I well remember her shushing me while she listened in on other conversations. That was early 1970s.
We had a party line until 1980-81 when the "big" phone company bought up all the little phone cooperatives in rural southeast Nebraska.

Are you kidding me???!!!!

kinalikamom · Senior Member

We still have a landline. Our rural area used to be a dead zone for cell phones. It has been upgraded in the last couple of years to "hit or miss" status. When I am home my cell is generally turned off.

I find it is a problem to get people under a certain age to call my landline FIRST because that is most likely how you will reach me more quickly.

AquarianGrandma · Purple Enchantress

kinalikamom wrote:
We still have a landline. Our rural area used to be a dead zone for cell phones. It has been upgraded in the last couple of years to "hit or miss" status. When I am home my cell is generally turned off.

I find it is a problem to get people under a certain age to call my landline FIRST because that is most likely how you will reach me more quickly.

OMG to what I've bolded. The only people to call our landline are our mothers and two of VGpa's sisters.

This is a problem because, although we do have cell service where we live, my cell phone is typically left on vibrate in my purse. Many people don't seem to understand that I do not live my life attached to my cell phone.

Balloon Animal · Guru

winds55 wrote:
Any more, just having a landline seems to be out of the ordinary.

I have a landline but a cheap cell phone that just makes calls too.

I am home most of the time and really don't want a smart phone. I see no need for it and not worth paying for. My cell costs $10 a month on my mom's plan.

Balloon Animal · Guru

AquarianGrandma wrote:
kinalikamom wrote:
We still have a landline. Our rural area used to be a dead zone for cell phones. It has been upgraded in the last couple of years to "hit or miss" status. When I am home my cell is generally turned off.

I find it is a problem to get people under a certain age to call my landline FIRST because that is most likely how you will reach me more quickly.
OMG to what I've bolded. The only people to call our landline are our mothers and two of VGpa's sisters.
This is a problem because, although we do have cell service where we live, my cell phone is typically left on vibrate in my purse. Many people don't seem to understand that I do not live my life attached to my cell phone.

yes! And texting. People do not understand that I don't text. Texting is not included in our cell package. My mom could never figure it out anyway, she barely knows how to make calls on that phone.

People flipping try to text our land line. People just get a blank stare if I tell them I don't have texting or that they need to call the house phone. If they need to text rather than speak I tell them to fb message me. A lot of people have that connected with their phone and I do check fb every hour or so when I am home or more usually so that is the best way to message me or call the house line unless you know I am not home and then you have to call the cell phone is the only way to reach me. The cell stays in the car or my purse which also stays in the car down in our basement. I usually have the cell on vibrate and only check it sporadically to see if I have a missed call or VM.

I kinda feel when I am out somewhere, I want to be unreachable except for emergencies. Since when I am home I am a fb addict and on it most of the time, I need to have that time out in the world away from it.

Balloon Animal · Guru

EmmDee wrote:
I did grow up with a rotary phone though, does that count for anything? It was a pain in the ass if you misdialed and had to start all over.

I did have rotary phones when I was a kid in our home. Probably until I was about 10 or so when we finally got rid of them.