I fixed my landline phones...how embarassing...ask me anything.

[MineralMan]

So, last night, after finding out that the chicken I had planned to roast for Valentine's day dinner was past its date (P.U.), I went to the phone to order some Hunan takeout. Picked up the phone, and there was no dial tone, but the phone sounded live.

A puzzlement. Never mind. I went around checking all the phones. None off the hook. So, I unplugged all the phones, then checked them one at a time. No joy. I put my wonderful wife on the cell phone to call Quest, while I ordered our dinner on the other landline phone.

An appointment for a service call was made and we noshed on our tasty meal.

Woke up this morning and gave the phone another try. Nope. Then it hit me! I had not tested all the phones in the house. I had missed the all-in-one printer, scanner, copier, fax machine in my wife's office. Eureka! Kitteh had knocked the handset off the hook.

After beating the cat severely about the head and shoulders, I called Quest and canceled the service call.

The moral of this story is, of course: If your phones are out of order, you're FAXED.

Please continue with your morning activities. All is well here.

[Lost in CT]

1. Landline Phones???? is that something the Amish use? nt

[MineralMan]

2. Only if the phone is mounted outside on a pole.

No phones in the house.

I'm still addicted to landline phones. They always work (except in the instant case), so you can call the electric company to tell them your power is out, even if your cell phone doesn't work. Further, when you must call 911, they know where you are, even if you can't say a word.

I'm also a telephone collector, so I have ancient telephones connected to my landline, including a 1927 candlestick phone and an even older oak wall phone near the kitchen door, complete with a stool to sit on and a stapled-together note pad and pencil on the little angled shelf designed just for that. You can't dial out on it (well, you can, but it's a hassle tapping the hook to dial), but it's great for taking calls. Over 100 years old, and it still works just fine.

So, if you come visit, I'll let you use the oak wall phone or the candlestick phone, then laugh at you when you forget to talk into the mouthpiece. Haha!

[crispini]

3. Hahahahaha. I have a kitchen wall phone too!

It's a little newer than yours, it's got a dial, but it's got the whole "speaker you talk into" and "earpiece" thing going on. I picked it up in London. I also have a lovely avocado green rotary Ma Bell vintage 1970s which I picked up at a garage sale for 3 bucks. Still with the "handy phone numbers" sticker on it too. Hehehehe. I love old phones.

[MineralMan]

4. Excellent! Old phones are cool.

They're cheap, too, as long as you find them at thrift stores and garage sales. The exception is the oak wall phone. People think they're like gold, and price them accordingly. You're only the second person I know who has one connected to the line.

I just found a very early dial phone. It has a separate ringer box that mounts on the wall, and the phone itself is very stylish in an art deco sort of way. It does need some repair, though, but I think I'll put it in the garage when it's fixed.

[crispini]

5. I hate to think about how many RENs I'm at....

Two vintage, one new, plus the DSL modem.... but I haven't had any problems yet, so I'm guessing I'm not at the limit yet. :D

Yes, I always wanted an old-timey wall phone, but they are SO expensive here. The one I found in the UK was not as expensive as some of the ones I've seen over here, but I think it's a bit more recent than the classic big cabinet American phones -- it looks like it's 20's / 30's to me. They did a nice job on the refurb, too, it has a cloth cord and everything. And it has a lovely ring.

[MineralMan]

6. I had to disconnect the ringer on the oak phone.

If it's connected, none of the other phones will ring, and I'm afraid the phone company's going to come and say bad things to me. The bell is one of those double bell things, with two big coils driving the clapper. Probably dims the lights at the central office when it rings.

It's amazing to me that a 100 year old phone can still be connected to the phone lines and work perfectly. Big old carbon-granule microphone and coil and magnet earpiece. Definitely old technology, but the system still accomodates it.

For grins and giggles, I often show people how you can dial a number using the earpiece hook. They don't believe me, so I dial the other line in the house by making and counting pulses using the hook. Wonderful stuff old tech is.

[crispini]

7. Haha how fun is that?

You know, when your network works with something that's 100 years old, that's TRUE backwards compatibility. Hahaha. Yes, old tech is fun. I keep buying old typewriters, too. I don't know why, I just like them. Obviously, I have some kind of problem, but I can't resist an old typewriter, especially the little sleek portables.

[mwooldri]

9. I like that backwards compatibility too...

the UK did try to keep the phone numbers backwards compatible too...

e.g. my old UK phone number back in 1991 was 201. The area code was 040388. Ever since the village had phone service, it always had 3 digit phone numbers. However, it had to modernize, the old mechanical exchange was breaking down all the time, and you could dial one number and often get someone else. It got upgraded to digital, a new dial tone, and longer phone numbers. To make it simple since everywhere else tended to have six digit numbers, the area code was changed to 0403 and the 88 changed to 871, so phone number became 0403 871201 - and then the UK started running out of numbers so the area code changed by adding an extra digit.

Even London numbers evolved... from local exchanges, to the central 01 area code, ot 071/081 split area, add the 1 to make 0171 and 0181 area codes and then sod the 1 and go with a new area code of 020

e.g. my employers phone number in London went from:

01 834 5555
071 834 5555
0171 834 5555
0207 834 5555

Mark.

[Lost in CT]

10. I been without a landline for about ten years now.

And I have to admit the one pet peeve is the insistance of some organizations on reciveing a fax.

Not an email/fax but a real one.

A fax machine could have come in handy a few times over the years.


That said your 100 year old phone sounds great.

[hobbit709]

11. That's why I keep my landline phone too.

You can sit in the dark but the phone works. We have VOIP and cell phones too but the landline always works.

[Boojatta]

8. "The moral of this story is, of course"

I think the moral is:

Curiosity is not necessarily lethal, but it can disrupt the life of your pet human.

(You might scare some fellow cats by saying that curiosity is lethal, but others will discover that it isn't lethal and they will lose trust in you and your advice.)