I really like using a "real" phone.

[Greg G.]

I didn't realize how much until I hooked up some vintage phones.  My black WE 56 model 500 sits at my 'puter desk and is my "main" phone.  I called and chatted with a friend this evening, and there is something satisfying about dialing, cradling the handset between head and shoulder, and just throwing the receiver down.  Even the "clunk" sound.

[McHeath]

Same thing happened for me, it'd been years since I really last used my old 84' made model 500, years of fumbling with little cell phones and cheap-o cordless units.  Years of crappy sound quality, dropped calls, dead batteries. 

Then last summer, after seeing some rotary phones hooked up in a magazine on mid-century modern homes, I pulled out the 500 and put it on my desk.  Shazam, it was like a whole new phone experience, like the difference between using a crummy tool for years and getting used to it, and then suddenly getting a top of the line model and being shocked at how much better the good tool is. 

[HobieSport]

Hear hear. Last year when I got tired of squinting to punch the little buttons on my remote phone, and then the battery running out in the middle of a call, I unhooked it and hooked up my '57 500. Wow! Suddenly the reception was loud and clear, I never misdialed again, and oh, that soft sweet ringing sound of real bells. It was indeed like finding an old friend again.

[foots]

My 3 daily drivers are my ITT 500 by my bed and a GTE Starlite & Stromberg Carlson 1243. Y'all are right, its so nice to hold well designed handsets that are both comfortable for my head and hand. My cordless phones are basically flat 6" X 2" X 1" block and I can't stand how all those buttons are always against my face. A rotary dial (or touch tone) only takes a few seconds to dial a number and I find that dialing a number vs. pushing 1 button for speed dialing helps me to remember phone numbers better which is great if I have to call somebody and don't have my cell on me. Its also nice just to pick up the handset to answer a call vs. having to push a button just to answer a call.

[Dan/Panther]

Cell phones have their purpose, but NOTHING beats a good vintage dial landline Telephone.
D/P

[Dan]

Amen to that. Anyone ever heard of "magic Jack". My friend uses it with his rotary phone. Unfortunately, it only has enough "juice" to ring one  "bell" phone. Others go silent

[Phonesrfun]

I got my son a Magic Jack for Christmas last year.  He is away at school.  I have heard mixed reviews, but mostly I think you have to "tune" them to your computer.  My son's is always --- emphasis on always---- cutting out and it is really annoying.  I have talked to othes who have it and ther is no problem.  I have Vonage at home and have had it for probably 5 years now.  It works very well for me. 

[mienaichizu]

same with me, my visitors when they visit my house wonders "where is that vintage ringing sound coming from?" I said, I don't use new telephones and cordless phones here, I use the REAL telephone

[foots]

Speaking of a REAL telephone, is it just me that's annoyed at that sound these cordless phones make when they ring, or even worse, hearing a song when someone gets a call on their cellphone?

[Greg G.]

...even worse, hearing a song when someone gets a call on their cellphone?

I absolutely LOATHE those, especially if it's (c)rap. The song is only nice to YOU. And the cell phone may have good VOICE quality, but music still sounds like &^%$@!

[carl]

Me too! My cell phone is set to ring,not sing! Carl

[McHeath]

That's an interesting point about how modern cordless phones, and even cell phones, put the buttons or user interface right against your face when you use them.  The iPhone is clever enough to turn off the interface when it's placed against the head, but then you get massive smudge city from skin oils, same as with cell phones.  The old Trimline recessed the buttons or dial so that you did not contact it with your face. 

[mienaichizu]

my cellphone's ring tone is WE500 ringer

[rp2813]

I agree with the original post here.  My '50 500 sits on my desk and is my "main" phone.   I've stated here before that I neglected 500's until recently and never had anything newer than a 302 hooked up for a vintage phone.  I pulled my '50 500 from storage when I started dialing into conference calls from home.  The handset feels beefy, it's perfectly sized, easy to cradle, reception is second to none, the black sets are masculine in their design, and I, too like the "clunk" of a bakelite G1 against a soft plastic cradle.  I don't think another sound made by any other device comes close to speaking "durability" loud and clear like that clunk does.  All I have hooked up around here now are 500's.  Four of them ranging from 1950 to 1959 and they all ring.  Only a cheap pushbutton Trimline knock-off survives in the kitchen for practical purposes, but even that one has an old-timey sound to its real bell.

Long live POTS!

Ralph

[Greg G.]

... I don't think another sound made by any other device comes close to speaking "durability" loud and clear like that clunk does.  ...
Ralph

Especially when you think of how many times it's been SLAMMED down in anger during its lifetime!