Also, if you were in a rural area that had the LATA code (the first three numbers after the area code) on a mechanical switcher, you did not have to use the LATA code. Could just dial the last 4 digits. My dad’s farm was in a town that was still sitting on a mechanical switch until the early 2000’s so in the early 80’s we had a budget party line (we were one long ring, while the neighbors had two shorter rings and there was a third person - whom we did not know, that was a phenomenally LONG call maker - you’d sometimes have to wait an hour or so for the guy to get off the line) and all of our friends were just 4 numbers… Can remember many - 8345, 8652, 8033 (<- my best friend in 10th grade…)
It was a decidedly different, and less expensive, world.
I knew about 5-digit dialing, but never knew people used to dial only 4 digits. That’s pretty neat, and probably made life with a rotary phone much easier than people my age realize.
I’m a younger millennial so it was no big deal to grab the landline and dial 1+10 digits to call my girlfriend long distance in 2009. On a rotary phone, it’d probably have taken til supper just to dial lol
I did find a rotary phone in a box at my great grandmother’s house once and played with it because it was fascinating to me. Then I dialed a random 800 number on it and remarked that it was kinda amazing that so many people bought things over the telephone in the day.
Yup… the trick was having your LATA code be on the mechanical switcher. They could address 9,999 numbers. Which in a town that at the time had maybe 1,900 people… it was glorious.
TIL, thank you for that!
Also, if you were in a rural area that had the LATA code (the first three numbers after the area code) on a mechanical switcher, you did not have to use the LATA code. Could just dial the last 4 digits. My dad’s farm was in a town that was still sitting on a mechanical switch until the early 2000’s so in the early 80’s we had a budget party line (we were one long ring, while the neighbors had two shorter rings and there was a third person - whom we did not know, that was a phenomenally LONG call maker - you’d sometimes have to wait an hour or so for the guy to get off the line) and all of our friends were just 4 numbers… Can remember many - 8345, 8652, 8033 (<- my best friend in 10th grade…)
It was a decidedly different, and less expensive, world.
I knew about 5-digit dialing, but never knew people used to dial only 4 digits. That’s pretty neat, and probably made life with a rotary phone much easier than people my age realize.
I’m a younger millennial so it was no big deal to grab the landline and dial 1+10 digits to call my girlfriend long distance in 2009. On a rotary phone, it’d probably have taken til supper just to dial lol
I did find a rotary phone in a box at my great grandmother’s house once and played with it because it was fascinating to me. Then I dialed a random 800 number on it and remarked that it was kinda amazing that so many people bought things over the telephone in the day.
Yup… the trick was having your LATA code be on the mechanical switcher. They could address 9,999 numbers. Which in a town that at the time had maybe 1,900 people… it was glorious.