Rotary Phone Help

[Luke]

Finally grabbed the bright red rotary phone I've been wanting since I was a kid. The thing weighs a ton, but it's pretty gorgeous.

It works, but not with my digital phone service. RadioShack doesn't seem to have any adapters, and my Google-Fu hasn't been of much help. Is there any way to use a rotary phone with a current Internet phone modem? I'm not looking to use it for Skype or Google phone, I'm hoping this can be used as my home phone.

Thanks in advance.

[deathsled]

Here you go, it'll be the 4th link for "pulse to tone converter"

http://bit.ly/AsqwNl

Your google-fu is lacking

[Ziggy]

Hmm, that's strange. I have a rotary phone that works fine with my digital phone line. It just doesn't work with caller ID boxes.

Congrats on your phone, Luke! I love my rotary phone. I have a nice black one, like this:



I keep it in my retro room. The ringer on low is insanely loud. Turned up all the way, it could wake up the dead! I have two others that are the same form that I got from my grandfather, another black one and a beige one, but they need repairs.

PS: If your red phone is the same type as mine, you have to make sure you get a nice long phone wire for it. That way you can hold the phone up to your ear with one hand and hold the base in the other hand (it has a little handle for this) and walk around with it like they did back in the day. Also, you must master the technique where you smack the phone with one hand and catch it with the other as a way of answering it.

Just watch the scene with Val in his apartment in the movie Payback. I tried to find an image or video clip, but couldn't.

[CRTGAMER]

Finally grabbed the bright red rotary phone I've been wanting since I was a kid. The thing weighs a ton, but it's pretty gorgeous.

It works, but not with my digital phone service. RadioShack doesn't seem to have any adapters, and my Google-Fu hasn't been of much help. Is there any way to use a rotary phone with a current Internet phone modem?

@ Luke - My Cable provider supports pulse signals for Rotary Phones, you might have to call your provider to enable it. Bound to be some on Amazon somewhere. Oh you gotta post a pic of the red beauty!

Found this: http://www.oldphoneworks.com/pulse-to-t ... erter.html

Or This: http://www.oldphoneworks.com/rotatone-p ... erter.html


@ Ziggy - Beautiful Phone! When I get home I'll have to take a pic of mine!

[gtmtnbiker]

No interest from me in going back to a rotary phone. Especially in Mass where you have to 11 numbers for every call.

[god]

In Australia our emergency number is 000. Just hope your emergency isn't too urgent

[MrPopo]

Are you planning on getting a direct link to the Kremlin? That's what those red phones were used for in the movies.

[Luke]

Here you go, it'll be the 4th link for "pulse to tone converter"

http://bit.ly/AsqwNl

Your google-fu is lacking

Thanks but that was my first search and it is of no help. Trust me, I've googled "rotary phone adapter" and searches of that ilk with no avail except finding adapters that "may work".

@CRTGAMER: That was the first thing I did. The cable provider service guy thought I must have been 100 as he said "Um, no one uses rotary phones, and no one has used them since the 70's". I was told there was no adapter I could use, which doesn't make sense as it worked fine at my parents house, but it could indeed be my service provider.

@Ziggy: Beautiful phone. I'll have to take a pic of mine and share.

[fvgazi]

This topic is so weird because while at band practice today I noticed this old rotary phone table thing. I was also wondering how I could hook it up to a modern phone line. It has a marble top and the phone is built into it.

Maybe I can convince my friend's parents to part with it and I can restore it!

[gtmtnbiker]

as he said "Um, no one uses rotary phones, and no one has used them since the 70's".

I remember using a rotary phone through college because I didn't want to pay $2/month for touch tone service.

I believe after the divesture of ATT in 1984, we started getting a lot more options for phones. I think prior to that, you had to rent the phone.