Touch tone phones (DTMF) were first deployed at scale in the US in 1963, but they would have been in development at the Bell System for quite a while before that. Possibly also some limited deployments. This ad from 1956 teases a future without rotary dials.
DTMF also led to the rise of Blue Boxes and Phreaking.
22 Comments
I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 21d
"Thank you for calling Customer Service. If you are calling from a touch-tone phone, please press one now. If you are using a rotary dial phone, please stay on the line and an operator will assist you momentarily."
fartographer@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 20d
*pulse dials 1 on the touch-tone phone*
TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 20d
“We also provide customer service through our website where you can chat with an AI 24/7.”
tacosanonymous@mander.xyz · 15 pts · 21d
I love that they thought we'd want something less comfortable to hold with more empty space. Brilliant.
EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca · 15 pts · 21d
By the time the real DTMF phones appeared, they did get the the keypad into the base, so the handset part was still slim. Not sure if that was all of them, or just some models. But it looked like so:
ButteryMonkey@piefed.social · 4 pts · 20d
DTMF - dial tone, motherfucker?
brachypelmide@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 20d
DTMF - dual-tone modulated fone
smeenz@lemmy.nz · 3 pts · 20d
Dual tone multiple frequency
EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca · 2 pts · 20d
That's the version Sam Jackson gets.
verity_kindle@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 20d
Chunky and satisfying, like banana bread
fartographer@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 20d
Those things made an impressive noise when Russell Crowe used them
morto@piefed.social · 4 pts · 21d
I also love how corporations always fail to predict the future and think people want complex overdesigned stuff, instead of simple and functional things.
anomnom@sh.itjust.works · 17 pts · 21d
We had tons of phones that eventually looked like that future phone more or less. That was 30 years before this phone was everywhere.
Also people used their shoulders to hold phones while the took notes with a pad and pen. So thicker phones were a thing. They had plastic banana shaped things on the smaller handsets.
rhythmisaprancer@quokk.au · 4 pts · 21d
I grew up in a house with what I thought were rotary phones that looked like this, with the dial on the wall mount, but I can't find any pictures. I know they were rotary, but I'm guessing I don't remember the handset correctly. One of them was this color! The other was a darker brown. We did a bunch of work to the house in the mid 90s, but kept one of them. It caused a lot of problems when my folks switched from dial-up internet to DSL. They had to get rid of it.
anomnom@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 20d
There were also rotary phones with keypads for a while.
When you pressed a key, you would hear a “dit, dit, dit” sound (for 3 as an example). My first phone in my room was a hand me down that worked that way.
rhythmisaprancer@quokk.au · 1 pts · 20d
Wow, I don't think I ever saw one of those! The first phone I had in my room was a touch tone I made from a kit haha. It was just a handset, I don't remember how the hook worked. Maybe it had an on/off switch?
anomnom@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 19d
I made a phone kit too later and it wasn’t a real dual tone phone either actually.
When you pressed the 9 button, it just sent 9 pulses at 10 pulses a second.
EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca · 1 pts · 20d
morto@piefed.social · 1 pts · 20d
But were they advertised as the future, or did people just choose them to be the future?
anomnom@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 20d
It’s not exactly the same, but it’s close to the one in the ad.
valar@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 21d
Seen plenty worse shaped phones back in the day. I don't think they were wrong.
Danarchy@lemmy.nz · 3 pts · 21d
Could I date my sexy bowling pin future phone?!
xeno_the_warrior_prince@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 20d
NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 21d
bitteroldcoot@piefed.social · -1 pts · 21d
What? No musk neural chip?