A few weeks ago I put a query in the Concord Monitor asking if anybody in the area still used a rotary phone. I expected few, if any, responses, because I had gotten nothing from various online attempts.
Instead I was overwhelmed – in a few days more than 60 strangers contacted me to let me know that dial phones are alive and well. This anecdotal collection is kind of useful, actually, because as I note in the story: “If you’re wondering how many people still use a rotary phone, the answer is – nobody knows. No data exists about how many dial phones are still hooked into networks in New Hampshire or, so far as I know, anywhere else.”
You can my whole story, including some tidbits about phone tech history courtesy of the New Hampshire Telephone Museum – right here.
Return to the Concord Monitor
I still have a rotary WE302 from 1948 hooked up in my house. The only landline I ever use.
The phone in the bedroom is as rotary-dial phone, as is the phone in the back room of the house. The phone in the kitchen is a Touch Tone though, but a Western Electric one, not a Japanese one.
I have five in my house. Four are hooked up. A 1941 WE 302, 1972 WE, 1962 WE, 1960 WE & a candy red 1962 Princess in mint condition by the bed. Sort of a collector. Old radios as well.
I am so longing to use a rotary phone – personal, private – true conversation w/o big tech listening. Although a helpful tool @ times, I detest smart phones. – They are intrusive, and open up to the w private medical & financial information & on & on. Legislators should have been watch dogs protecting our privacy.
If you do have a land line but it went from analog to digital, this is what I did. I purchased the X LINK BLUETOOTH GATEWAY. It connects to my cell phone: the phone rings, dials in and out and allows me to dial any number to prompt an automated call like CVS pharmacy. It saved my bell. Hardwire western electric all the way. Located in central Jersey: a friend went to New Hampshire she shared she was delighted that the air BNB had a black hardwire 500 soft plastic phone with the G1 Bakelite handset working as it should and always has.