Old Telephone Numbers
By hereandthere
@hereandthere (45645)
Philippines
October 13, 2016 12:18pm CST
We've always had and still have a telephone (landline). The telephone models were similar to this picture from Pixabay.
The rotary dial was heavy and we were very careful in using it. It stayed in the stand and we sat there throughout the conversation.
The push button was light and somehow had a longer cord, so we would pick it up and take it with us for more privacy.
The cordless phone was convenient, but you have to remember to charge it to avoid inconvenience.
We never had an answering machine, though, and I don't know of anyone here who has one at home.
I still remember all of our old telephone numbers, but cannot memorize this latest one, even if we've had it for many months now. I guess it's easy for the old numbers to stick and retrieve since each of our old landline numbers lasted for many years.
Are there home, friends, store or company phone numbers you still remember even if they no longer exist?
16 people like this
19 responses
@Letranknight2015 (51964)
• Philippines
13 Oct 16
I've been wanting answering machine because of the numerous calls we get every day.
3 people like this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
14 Oct 16
8 out of 10 incoming and outgoing calls here are for my mother.
1 person likes this
@Letranknight2015 (51964)
• Philippines
14 Oct 16
@cacay1 We use to have two phone numbers, Not sure why
2 people like this
@cacay1 (83495)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
14 Oct 16
Maybe you have business for you have many calls , fans or relatives
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
16 Oct 16
what i like about the old landlines is the reception is clearer and you can talk as long as you want because there is a fixed monthly charge, unless you made calls to the province, overseas or to a landline number.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (471508)
• Switzerland
16 Oct 16
@hereandthere Well, it's not a matter of fixed monthly charge for my landline, because I call my Mother every day and she is in Italy, it's an International call. Anyway it costs less than using a cell phone, my Mom is 95 and she cannot even understand what I say if I use a cellphone.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
16 Oct 16
@LadyDuck yes, i can imagine it would annoy your mother if the line is choppy.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
13 Oct 16
the old pay phones here were big and red, wall mounted. now they are black and i think you can even use phone cards on them.
2 people like this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
21 Oct 16
that's why cell phones were quickly adopted by filipinos.
same with television channels. some provinces have cable instead of local channels.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
14 Nov 17
we still have a landline, and it has a cordless extension.
i chose that picture from pixabay because we've had all those kinds of phones.
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
15 Nov 17
@Hannihar the three old ones because we've had them longest and they seem to have a "rhythm" to them. this new one has no 'repeat digits', if you understand what i mean.
@Hannihar (130218)
• Israel
15 Nov 17
@hereandthere
I see. so which do you like the best?
1 person likes this
@moonchild117 (1987)
• Philippines
13 Oct 16
Our landline number's still the same. We only had ours mid-1990s.
I have problems remembering mobile phone numbers since they're 11-digits long. Good thing there's an internal phonebook. Haha! 
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
13 Oct 16
we're on our 4th landline now. i can only remember my current mobile number.
1 person likes this
@moonchild117 (1987)
• Philippines
15 Oct 16
@hereandthere that's quite a number of changes. I guess it's hard to remember because you can still recall the old numbers...
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
16 Oct 16
@hereandthere Same here, when no electricity, our landline does not work as well. It is useless without electricity.
1 person likes this
@SIMPLYD (90722)
• Philippines
19 Oct 16
@hereandthere We used to have a Bayantel landline with internet . But since the internet is so slow and unreliable , we changed to Globe .
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
19 Oct 16
we've had pldt and bayantel landlines, no globe because i think it's per area here in metro manila.
1 person likes this
@epiffanie (11326)
• Australia
14 Oct 16
I had answering machine for years .. I wish I recorded all those messages because some were really funny ...
Yes, I still remember my first business phone number because I used it for 15 years ..but now I only use mobile phone number which I also have now been using for nearly 25 years .. that was when mobile phone were as big and heavy as a brick and and had a 5" antenna lol..
.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
14 Oct 16
oh my gosh, yes, i remember those phones! hahaha!
i would love to listen to those messages, too.
1 person likes this
@epiffanie (11326)
• Australia
15 Oct 16
@hereandthere you know those answering machines in those days had tapes but it never occurred to me to keep them and my answering machine..
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
16 Oct 16
since i still remember our old numbers, i was thinking of using them as part of my passwords now
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
15 Oct 16
I had an answering machine for years, not at home though, not sure why we never had one at home
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
16 Oct 16
answering machines are one of those things we (outsiders) read about in paperbacks and see in movies and tv shows, so we know about it, even if it's not something we have or do here.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
16 Oct 16
@hereandthere they had a point, once, now people just leave me a text
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
13 Oct 16
I can still remember my grandparents' 5-digit number from 1970. With those old rotary dial phones you could also make a call by rapidly pressing down the the little rests the receiver went on: once to dial '1', 10 times to dial '0'.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
14 Oct 16
really? i didn't know that. it's like morse code.
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3340)
• Bournemouth, England
14 Oct 16
@hereandthere A bit, except that the number of taps relates to the digit in the phone number. People used it when bosses put locks on the dials of phones to prevent their workers from making outgoing calls!
1 person likes this
@much2say (55607)
• Los Angeles, California
13 Oct 16
I do remember our 2nd to the last landline number (it was from the first apartment we had). All our reward cards had that number - and we never bothered changing it on the reward cards after we moved . . . so I actually used it for a long while after (that's why I remember it so well).
1 person likes this
@cacay1 (83495)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
14 Oct 16
That was the telephone style many years ago, then it was replaced with Samsung then this time so numerous capitalists introducing to us the latest gadgets or telephone landline.
@acelawrites (19272)
• Philippines
24 Oct 16
I can still remember my best friend's landline no. though it had been years that we don't call each other.
1 person likes this
@XinfulThotz (4140)
• Singapore, Singapore
14 Oct 16
yes, i have lots of numbers in my head. even though some don't exist anymore and some i no longer call even if it still exists...
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
13 Oct 16
yes because maybe they were disconnected, been replaced or the business no longer operational
