Isn't there a Smartphone App for that?

Since I got rid of my too-expensive land line, my poor dial telephone has been sitting forlornly on top of a bookcase, with a (typewritten, of course) notice taped to it that says "OUT OF ORDER." Gosh I miss it.

Speaking of well loved but obsolete devices, I dreamt this weekend that I bought a beautiful used IBM selectric typewriter and started writing a book on it. Somehow in my dream that was much more satisfying than composing a novel on a computer.

I made a call today on my 1938 Bakerlite rotary phone. Felt good, felt right. ( I am seriously considering downgrading my smartphone cause the call quality is so bad, I am okay with carrying a phone AND a portable computer, they don't need to be the same thng. Let phones phone.)

Still have a black wall phone on the wall in the little hallway below the servant stairs. You can't dial it anymore since Comcast's service does understand the dial but I can't bear to take it down.

When I moved from NYC to Florida I was in a rush to get things packed. One of the things that I left at the old house was a black, dial, Bell Telephone. I'm hoping that the new owners treat it right. That sucker is way older than I am and was working just fine when I left.

As well, apropos to an earlier thread, I still have dreams about not being able to finish dialing a number on that phone.

Aw man. Rotary dial phones. Big black baekelite things. I used to play with those in kindergarten. So I guess due to this early imprinting to me they are the archetype of 'telephone'.
I'm surprised those things still work in the US. Here in NL they turned off the pulse telephone protocol in favour of tone in the 80s.
Of course purely from a functional standpoint modern telephones are better in every way.
But love defies reason.

You can't butt-dial a rotary, that's for sure.

Of course purely from a functional standpoint modern telephones are better in every way.

I'm not so sure. Modern phones do all kinds of neat tricks, true, but I find all cell phones very uncomfortable to talk on, and the sound quality is generally terrible.

hmm I guess I just don't use my smartphone to make voice calls. Like, ever. So things like "call quality" don't really bug me and texts are so thin they slide right through whatever coverage glitches may exist.

I haven't had a landline since 1998, and have been happily using a smartphone (on AT&T even) since 2008 and let me tell you I DO NOT miss analog phone service one tiny little bit. Not the expense, not the shitty staticky lines we'd get every rainstorm, not the utter lack of features of any kind.

but then I grew up on a farm with a party line that had 4 families and a total of 18 people on it, so I have nothing but terrible memories of analog phone service.

I'm pretty happy with using my Iphone to make and take calls. No issues with call quality. And I miss the chats with my dad, when I used to put my Blue Ant bluetooth receiver in my ear and natter away to him as I did errands. It was like having him with me.

What I miss least about rotaries, fun as they were to dial, is also what I miss about any traditional analog telephone head set -- phone ear. Ouch!

that was supposed to be -- also what I miss least about any traditional . . .