very casual question about telephones

Traditional


Flat


Over Ear


Over Head



I know this sounds silly, but what are people using today. I was trying to explain to someone that the traditional cupped ear piece is not used as much today, because the sound reproduction is so much better than it used to be.

The proper term for, "Traditional," is, "Rotary Phone."

I have a Vtech DECT6.0 Cordless Phone with no headset, set of Two. It was the cheapest phone Wal-Mart had that day that was a set of two and my old set would no longer hold a battery charge. I may have found a VTech coupon on-line, as well. There's no way I am paying more for a phone than I absolutely must.

Even my cell phone is an AT&T free phone from five years ago, or something. It doesn't even have a camera!!! I just like it because it is really, really small. Oh yeah, and free!!!

Quote: Mission146

The proper term for, "Traditional," is, "Rotary Phone."

I have a Vtech DECT6.0 Cordless Phone with no headset, set of Two. It was the cheapest phone Wal-Mart had that day that was a set of two and my old set would no longer hold a battery charge. I may have found a VTech coupon on-line, as well. There's no way I am paying more for a phone than I absolutely must.

Even my cell phone is an AT&T free phone from five years ago, or something. It doesn't even have a camera!!! I just like it because it is really, really small. Oh yeah, and free!!!

By traditional I was thinking of the headset.

I like this DECT6.0 technology. The sound is very clear, and the range is sufficient so that it works in the yard and within 200 yards of the house with no degradation. I like that the phones work as intercoms as well. Vtech is now the number 1 manufacturer of cell phones. They also make the AT&T phones.

i dont believe there is a need for landlines anymore these days outside of running a business or making international calls. im under the impression that international call rates are cheaper through a landline plan but could be wrong there.

I dream of a world without phones...

Well, not really. But at least an office that has someone to answer the phones, and a cell phone that gets text messages but not calls.

Quote: rudeboyoi

i dont believe there is a need for landlines anymore these days outside of running a business or making international calls. im under the impression that international call rates are cheaper through a landline plan but could be wrong there.

I think it is over 1/3 of households don't have landlines anymore.

For single people, I agree that landlines don't make that much sense anymore. Verizon's new pricing for a basic phone is $40/month + taxes for 700 minutes with calls to other Verizon phones for free. It is $70/month+taxes for unlimited voice and very limited data.

For a family with teenagers it gets more expensive. It's $40 + $30 per phone for unlimited voice. So for a family of 4 that is $160/month + texting + data services. It's probably cheaper to have a landline and force the kids to go on Skype to talk to their friends. I don't know what parents do today. I am sure that every teenager wants a device that gives them a private phone number, unlimited voice time, texting, data services, ability to take pictures, check their facebook, and watch movies from anywhere. That can get expensive for two kids.

Quote: pacomartin

I think it is over 1/3 of households don't have landlines anymore.
.

Everybody I know that has a landline has kids, or they need
it for the internet. Got rid of mine in 96 as soon as I got cable
and have never regretted it.

The old-style cupped earpiece was sized after measuring thousands of people and still is the only one you can hold with your shouoller if need be. Amazing how much you can miss that on a cell phone. Right now I am in the process of moving, when I do no landline. I will buy an over-the-head set for use at home. I like the in-ear setups because I used them at work. I HATE the in-the-ear ones as I can never get them to stay in. My experience at work is people born after 1980 seem to like in-ear better and us older guys like a headset, generally speaking.

Quote: rudeboyoi

i dont believe there is a need for landlines anymore these days outside of running a business or making international calls. im under the impression that international call rates are cheaper through a landline plan but could be wrong there.

My cell phone reception is iffy in my house and sections of my neighborhood. I keep it on my windowsill and sometimes have to go out to the driveway to send a text! I have an old-fashioned phone with a cord attached to the wall over my desk because it still works when the power goes out, which was quite useful last week when the derecho blew through, and it's invaluable if a hurricane hits. That, plus a gas hot-water heater, are what make life bearable in hurricane-prone areas.

Quote: AZDuffman

My experience at work is people born after 1980 seem to like in-ear better and us older guys like a headset, generally speaking.

That's very practical advice. My parents have 14 wired telephones in their house of which four are old style cordless. Their health is not good, and I am afraid that someone will fall and not be near a phone (even there is one in almost every room).

I was hoping to get them to carry around a DECT6.0 phone. I figured that if someone falls they can intercom each other, or they have the option of calling an outside number (911 if necessary). But they won't do it. They miss the old ear shaped phones, they won't even consider the earpieces, and in general they think of wireless phones as less reliable. In particular if someone falls outside they rely on yelling and/or driving themselves to a hospital with a broken bone. Every few weeks they tell me about someone who wandered outside and fell, and died of exposure before someone finds them. It is driving me nuts.

The wired phones seem to me to have the reliability problem. Some of the wires are 80 years old, and the network is impossible to trace as it snakes in and out of walls, and sometimes has huge balls of wire. There are places with up to 10 sets of wire that are bundled together with a tie wrap. If you disconnect one wire, the entire system goes down.

Quote: pacomartin

That's very practical advice. My parents have 14 wired telephones in their house

I'd be worried about them knocking one off the hook
and not being able to find which one it is. Why do
they need so many phones? You could easily cut it
down to 4 probably, in the main areas of the house.
Get them one of those alert programs you see on TV,
where you press a button and help comes. They
really do work and are great for peace of mind. Falling
down is a very real threat.

Even Bob did not know what was behind the package of butter the Indian Maiden was holding on Land of lakes.

But bob knows prop bets. Remember the one about calling home on that rotary phone without touching the dial ??

Quote: pacomartin

That's very practical advice. My parents have 14 wired telephones in their house of which four are old style cordless. Their health is not good, and I am afraid that someone will fall and not be near a phone (even there is one in almost every room).

Ever consider getting them onthose necklace-things they just press a button?

BTW: When I moved back home my parents still had 2 of those old phones, wall-mount units. None worked, they rang but you couldn't talk. I eventually got them to rip them out.

Quote: AZDuffman

BTW: When I moved back home my parents still had 2 of those old phones, wall-mount units. None worked, they rang but you couldn't talk. I eventually got them to rip them out.

No, all 14 phones work. But if you are really worried about someone collapsing even a phone 12' away might be hard to get too. The old cell phones don't work in the yard either, and they are kind of big to put in your pocket.

In the 80's just before Ma's House got broken up I purchased a Candlestick type fone for the game-room. Kitchy, but a nice antique touch to the room. I think it was manufacured in 81 or 82 by W.E. In the late 90's there were a flood of the Chinese mini -phones. With eBay profits, I bought a few dozen "Go-Chat" phones. Oval and smaller than a deck of cards. This set used an earbud/microphone combo in a backwards J shape. They all sold out rather quickly as I recall. I started building/donating home-brew 1-Transistor AM radio kits to help out the local Scouts get their badges for radio... using the telephone ground as in the old crystal-set radios of the 50's-60's. The GoChat had two connectors, making this ideal when the phone was not in use. Now its all celphones here: no landline... but the radios still function well using the telephone ground.

I still have a landline, the phone style would have been called a "trimline" or "slimline",

Quote: pacomartin

By traditional I was thinking of the headset.

I like this DECT6.0 technology. The sound is very clear, and the range is sufficient so that it works in the yard and within 200 yards of the house with no degradation. I like that the phones work as intercoms as well. Vtech is now the number 1 manufacturer of cell phones. They also make the AT&T phones.

I agree with you 100% on all accounts. I remember my previous phone, "I'm going to step on the porch for a moment, I'll call you back if I lose you." With this phone, I could probably walk to the gas/grocery and grab a gallon of milk without there being so much as static.

Okay, that's not quite true, but my property sits on between .75-1.00 acres, and I can go anywhere on my entire property and still hear the other person reasonably well.

I think that AT&T sucks in every conceivable way except price. They're the cheapest I've found for similar plans.

Quote: rudeboyoi

i dont believe there is a need for landlines anymore these days outside of running a business or making international calls. im under the impression that international call rates are cheaper through a landline plan but could be wrong there.

Being able to be at my house and ever having a prayer of getting a call out presents a need for a landline, in my case.

Quote: pacomartin

I am sure that every teenager wants a device that gives them a private phone number, unlimited voice time, texting, data services, ability to take pictures, check their facebook, and watch movies from anywhere. That can get expensive for two kids.

If that is what my kids are going to want when they are older, I can tell you another thing they are going to want: a job.

When I was a kid, it seemed to me that there was some other kids who were blessed with their own phone number (plain old telephone service). Most parents worried about giving their kid so much freedom to talk in their bedrooms with whomever they wanted for unlimited time.

Times sure do change.

Quote: pacomartin

When I was a kid, it seemed to me that there was some other kids who were blessed with their own phone number (plain old telephone service). Most parents worried about giving their kid so much freedom to talk in their bedrooms with whomever they wanted for unlimited ti.

Times sure do change.

When I was a kid this was a sign that "you were rich!" They also usually had central-air, HBO, flew not drove for vacations, and bought their cars new.

And we wonder why "the American Dream" now takes two incomes.