Polish Fingerwheel

[19and41]

I like to see variations on design features I take for granted on US phomes.  What is the little red dealie on the first phone pictured?

[KaiserFrazer67]

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say it's an indicator light of some sort; either indicating a call in progress, off-hook situation, or that it may flash along with the ringer.  I've noticed lights on some older RWT phones as well, such as this photo from a recent eBay auction (see below).  I'm sure someone more familiar with these phones can clarify.

[19and41]

It might be a periodic indicator.  The duty phone in the radio station in Germany I operated had a counter that would advance periodically during a call to indicate the call duration for logging purposes.

[Jack Ryan]

I had the same thing happen from time to time clicking links to random (legit) websites. As far as I understand it's a fraud called "ad cloaking"? Someone manages to redirect random queries to his own fraudulent site. It should be harmless as long as you do not follow further links.
The linked site seems legit to me.

How rude!

I don't think I've seen that before - if there was a redirection, generally someone had hacked the site. That's why I reversed out rather promptly.

Thanks
Jack

[countryman]

Would such phones, including the newer one you have posted, work properly on U.S. POTS landlines? 

I'm quite convinced they would.
The basic difference between rotary phones from different countries is the make/break ratio of the dial pulse contact. Modern POTS exchanges should be tolerant concerning minor differences. The basic function never changed. My VOIP router has no problems with various european and american phones. It has problems with dials that have noisy (corroded, bent,...) contacts though.

Regarding the light on the front panel: On the before mentioned polish site I found a diagram of the "Storczyk" (Orchid) phone that shows a neon lamp in parallel with the ringer. It should light up when a call comes in.

German phones had counters relatively often. The Bundespost would bill in units of 23 Pfennig. A local call costed 1 unit (later an 8 minute time limit was introduced). The time until 1 unit was used up was much shorter for long distance calls. A 16 kHz signal indicated a unit and the counter would advance. People sharing a phone could keep book over the cost this way, or employers had control of the phone usage of the staff.