Guest CharliePS Posted February 2, 2012 Posted February 2, 2012 Not too long ago, I complained here about the difficulty of finding a regular plug-in keyboard for my desktop computer. Now it's the normal plug-in tabletop landline telephone. Yesterday I kept getting phone calls from people who said they knew that I was on the line, but they heard nothing from my end. I checked by phoning my partner at home from my cell, and sure enough, he could hear me fine, but I heard nothing from him. So today I went out to find a new phone (the old one was more than 20 years old). Staples had only one normal phone model, and it was out of stock. Office Depot had the same one, but in black, which I didn't want. Wal-Mart had the one from Staples, but the only three items in stock were in boxes that had obviously been opened. I finally found it at Target and grabbed it. When I got it home, I discovered it is much more complicated than the old one, with a manual the size of Moby-Dick (OK, a slight exaggeration). Does no one make the kind of phone that used to be standard, that one took out of the box, plugged in, and started using? I don't know what I am going to do when I need a new buggy whip. Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted February 2, 2012 Posted February 2, 2012 I bet there are many options at Amazon.com. I'm finding that almost everything I need is available there and usually for free shipping. Quote
Members Lucky Posted February 2, 2012 Members Posted February 2, 2012 Amazon calls this an old-fashioned telephone, but note the dial! It is $86.14 with free shipping. Here is a plug-in phone for $133.95. Much more in Charlie's price range is this one for $19.57 Quote
Guest FourAces Posted February 3, 2012 Posted February 3, 2012 So today I went out to find a new phone (the old one was more than 20 years old). WOW Charlie you are thrifty. You have used the same phone for 20 years? I change cell phones every 6 - 12 months lol. I recently added a landline, actually VOIP via my cable co, and found a old cordless phone to use with it. Its hard to imagine going back to a stationary phone after so many years of freedom Quote
Guest CharliePS Posted February 3, 2012 Posted February 3, 2012 Amazon calls this an old-fashioned telephone, but note the dial! It is $86.14 with free shipping. Here is a plug-in phone for $133.95. Much more in Charlie's price range is this one for $19.57 The one I bought was $31.95. Outrageous! Quote
Guest CharliePS Posted February 3, 2012 Posted February 3, 2012 WOW Charlie you are thrifty. You have used the same phone for 20 years? I change cell phones every 6 - 12 months lol. I recently added a landline, actually VOIP via my cable co, and found a old cordless phone to use with it. Its hard to imagine going back to a stationary phone after so many years of freedom I don't believe in getting rid of anything that still works properly, just because it has been superseded by a newer model. I have owned only three cellphones over the past twenty years, and two CD players (Bose makes good stuff). I have had only five computers, and three printers, since 1984. My back-up TV set was bought 27 years ago. I wear two sweaters that I bought in 1960, since they still fit me. Why waste money on something new? Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted February 3, 2012 Posted February 3, 2012 I don't believe in getting rid of anything that still works properly, just because it has been superseded by a newer model. I have owned only three cellphones over the past twenty years, and two CD players (Bose makes good stuff). I have had only five computers, and three printers, since 1984. My back-up TV set was bought 27 years ago. I wear two sweaters that I bought in 1960, since they still fit me. Why waste money on something new? Very green and very practical. I'm also doing a similar thing. I only buy what I absolutely need and I'm slowly dwindling down my clothes as they wear out and I'm not replacing if I don't need it. The only thing that I've replaced a bit faster than I probably need to is my iPhone. But I've given my older phone to my nephew. So he knows he gets my hand - me - downs. Quote
Members lookin Posted February 3, 2012 Members Posted February 3, 2012 Check this out. Radio Shack also has simple inexpensive landline phones. If your broken phone has the round mouthpiece like the one below, try unscrewing it, shaking out the microphone and buffing the contacts with a fine emory board or sandpaper. It may come back to life. AT&T built those suckers to last. Quote
Members Lucky Posted February 3, 2012 Members Posted February 3, 2012 To Charlie's credit, he is still using the same operators he did when he started making phone calls! Quote
Members JKane Posted February 3, 2012 Members Posted February 3, 2012 I was just going to suggest Radio Shack! I don't know why anybody goes there, but if they don't have some conventional phones I don't know who would! One interesting option is Panasonic has (cordless) phones that can both plug into a landline and bluetooth connect to your cell. So no chasing through the house to get to your cell in time, just pick up any number of extensions. Sadly no text message capability last I checked though. Fry's? Quote
Members RA1 Posted February 3, 2012 Members Posted February 3, 2012 To Charlie's credit, he is still using the same operators he did when he started making phone calls! Hey, my great aunt was one of those operators. She was a long distance operator when that meant something. In those days LD calls were very expensive, something difficult to comprehend these days, but true. She got as a company benefit a certain amount of LD calls per month. When she retired, she refused to have a going away party because "others" would then know her age. Personally, I remember visiting another great aunt who had a party line and also one needed to talk to the operator to make "any" calls, to include local calls. That seems very strange to me now, but it is within my lifetime. Best regards, RA1 Quote
Guest CharliePS Posted February 3, 2012 Posted February 3, 2012 Hey, my great aunt was one of those operators. She was a long distance operator when that meant something. In those days LD calls were very expensive, something difficult to comprehend these days, but true. She got as a company benefit a certain amount of LD calls per month. When she retired, she refused to have a going away party because "others" would then know her age. Personally, I remember visiting another great aunt who had a party line and also one needed to talk to the operator to make "any" calls, to include local calls. That seems very strange to me now, but it is within my lifetime. Best regards, RA1 We had a party line when I was a kid, and I can remember getting our first dial phone. My best friend's family also was on a party line, and his mother was a very judgmental gossip. One day she was gossiping with a friend about a neighbor, whose teenage daughter had got knocked up. She was carrying on about the poor parenting by the girl's mother, and never heard the mother pick up the phone to hear her diatribe. At the end of the call, the mother broke in and blasted my friend's mother, and the father came over to complain to my friend's father. His mother never gossiped on the phone again until they got a private line. Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted February 3, 2012 Posted February 3, 2012 Maybe this is why he wants an old fashioned phone. . . And the next link is from her comedy album that I used to own. This is hilarious: Quote
Members TampaYankee Posted February 3, 2012 Members Posted February 3, 2012 I don't know what I am going to do when I need a new buggy whip. Not to worry Charlie. Check below to set your mind at ease. But do not tarry, who knows what tomorrow will bring. Maybe best to get a back up now? Quote
