Party Phone Lines Were Fun and Maddening

I remember having a party phone line. I didn't like it, but most of the time I didn't make phone calls anyway so it didn't matter. I don't think I would like to have to put up with that kind of thing now since it would be very difficult to deal with someone listening in or having to wait if you needed to make a call now. I'm so glad they have cell phones now. Speaking of which, I finally got one last week so that if I have a problem on the road, I can get it fixed.

Hi. margeryann. I have never heard of this before at all. This is something really new! I have however, heard a conversation that went on with my neighbor across the street. She was talking on the phone about some things. And another time, a woman, I am not really sure who she was, was fussing on the phone about this neighbor. Apparently the neighbor across the street from us had an tendency to run off at the mouth. And the woman was upset about something that she had said that was not true about her. I never repeated this to my neighbor about what I had heard. It was so shocked because this woman was talking mad trash about the neighbor that lived across the street from us! This is the only time that I have actually heard any conversations that were through other people.

I remember the party line phones. Everyone in my family had one but we weren't all on the same line. But all of the people on the same line knew each other and if one needed to make a phone call, they just picked up the receiver and let the current user know. Of course, this meant that everyone knew everyone else's business most of the time. When the private lines were offered, at increased rate, most of the family went that route.

yes of course i remember as i was a kid when about everyone had them. i to would listen in to many of the conversations, as i lived in a neighborhood where a whole bunch of people were on our line. it was funny sometimes if someone could tell anyone was listening. they didnt know who and would say, get off the phone. im trying to have a private conversation here. some would deliberately harrass you if they needed the line to call someone.

Naughty! I heard of the party lines but I never had one. I would have probably listened too. I would be mad if I wanted to make a call and the neighbor wasn't sharing..lol..

hi there margery! we also had party phone lines when I was young. it was in the office of my mother and i too would sometimes badly listen to the people talking on the phone. It was really annoying because when we had to call someone urgently we will have to wait. One time we cant wait anymore we cut their conversation. They were angry at us but we explained :)

I have not heard of this existing. lol I do remember owning one of the first wireless land line phones where you had to often change the channel to get good reception. One time I placed in my back pocket while I was in garden cleaning up and apparently my phone answer button was pushed while I was leaned over picking up stuff from the ground. All of a sudden I hear a conversation and I wondered, how can that be. Apparently it picked up signal and as I listened I heard my neighbors 13 year old talking about a s@x encounter with a boy. I was in shock, and could not really say anything to her mother because they were fairly new on my block and for some reason refused to greet anyone. So I wondered for a long time what this kid was doing.