Just for fun: Pre-Cell Phone Stories

[Anonymous]

This is a fun thread, I love reading all the posts on life before cell phones.

Some of you guys amaze me w/how you worked the system.
Lol.

I once shared an apartment w/a roommate when I was in my early-20’s.
We had our differences + eventually we mutually agreed that it would be best if she moved out.

After she moved out > I got my phone bill in the mail & saw that she had called her parents in Mexico City in the evenings when I was working.

I ended up having to pay a few hundred to cover it & had to set up a payment plan in order to keep my phone service on.
I was so mad for awhile I remember.

[Anonymous]

Let's say you didn't know what time it was. There was a phone number you could call to give you the accurate time:

"At the tone the time will be [beeep] 8:26 PM"

I think there was maybe another number for the weather. Anyone remember this?

[Anonymous]

Absolutely remember the number for current time, and we always needed it after a power outage.

I remember lots of waiting around in bus and train stations hoping to hell that the person who was supposed to get me would actually show up!

[Anonymous]

Brady Bunch re-runs keep popping up on me FB feed and I just watched an episode where they are fighting over the single phone that all 8 of them share.

("Marsha...get of the phone I'm expecting a call!") No call waiting even!

It was interesting to me that they budgeted for a phone bill of $40 per month. Made me feel pretty good that I pay about the same for phone, unlimited 4G, text, and long distance fifty years later!

(Also - Mr. Brady calls the phone number to get the time pp!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brady Bunch re-runs keep popping up on me FB feed and I just watched an episode where they are fighting over the single phone that all 8 of them share.

("Marsha...get of the phone I'm expecting a call!") No call waiting even!

It was interesting to me that they budgeted for a phone bill of $40 per month. Made me feel pretty good that I pay about the same for phone, unlimited 4G, text, and long distance fifty years later!

(Also - Mr. Brady calls the phone number to get the time pp!)

At the time it probably felt sooo modern. I was a Brady fanatic, so I appreciate this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, so many!

My grandparents often made a three hour drive to visit us. My grandmother always wrote out a note and pinned (with a straight pin) it to the rear passenger seat:

“We are Lyle and Lily Larlo, ages 76 and 77, on our way to visit our daughter Jane at 123 Main St, Rico Suave, CA. Her phone number is [phone].”

Also, before my grandparents would leave their house, my GF would call the State Police barracks adjacent to a steep mountain pass to ask for a weather report. This was a common customer question as the location was prone to becoming impassable during high winds, snow or rain. If the trooper at dispatch gave the all-clear, they’d leave.

But, they’d call our house phone and let it ring 4 times and hang up - our signal that they were leaving and so we could start timing their arrival.

We’d do the opposite when we’d arrive safely home - let their house phone ring 4x and hang up. No long distance charge this way.

How would the family know not to pick up the phone if your grandparents were calling to let it ring 4 times?

This PP. Phones didn’t ring all the time. We’d generally know that our grandparents would be home 4 hours later. So, if our phone rang 4 times and stopped, it was our grandparents. If it rang a 5th time, we’d pick up.

DH family took it a more complicated step further; his grandparents and parents would collect call using a code name. The operator would call, someone would answer and then the operator would announce “Collect call from Mr. Crabapple, will you accept the call?” You’d say no that you wouldn’t accept and no charge for the call. Sometimes, you might be able to talk over the operator and get in a quick “love you!”

Freshman year in college I did the call collect from the payphone trick. I worked late in a design studio so I gave my parents and best friend the payphone number. When I needed a break I could call them collect and give the code name. They would reject the call but then call me back. It was cheaper for them to call then me to put change in the pay phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember trying to meet people and changing my voicemail to say where I was. “Hi, you’ve reached so and so. If this is John, we left xyz club and are heading to…meet us there!”

OMG, I completely forgot about changing up the message on your answering machine.

I remember I was mad sophomore year of college (mid-90s) that my roommate changed the answering machine to some broody Mariah Carey song. I didn't have a cell phone, so that was the number I gave out to potential internship employers, and I was HOT that she had changed it from the "professional" greeting that I recorded.

[Anonymous]

Who else eavesdropped on their family members phone calls? You answer the phone, holler for mom, sister etc to pick up, and then quietly cover the mouthpiece and listen to them spill the tea?

[Anonymous]

When I was 12 or 13 I went to sleep away French camp in Bemidji, Minnesota (read: I was a DORK). The plane from Bemidji to Minn-St Paul airport was a tiny puddle jumper and of course, I missed my connection back to DC.

Naturally, I wanted to check with my parents which flight home and to which DC airport was best for me to take and relay the info about pick up once I returned to DC. I called home from a payphone in the airport and it was BUSY...multiple times! So, having memorized the neighbor across the street's number, I called them and their 10-year-old ran down the street to tell my mom to get off the phone because I was trying to call!

Fun times!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who else eavesdropped on their family members phone calls? You answer the phone, holler for mom, sister etc to pick up, and then quietly cover the mouthpiece and listen to them spill the tea?

hahaha, yes, and my sister and I used to call it "monkey-looking" instead of eavesdropping. :p

[Anonymous]

I just found the receipt for my first cell plan (Cellular One). I paid $7 a month. Calls were 35 cents a minute in prime time and 15 cents off prime. I have no recollection of the phone number. Clearly at that price I only used it for emergencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who else eavesdropped on their family members phone calls? You answer the phone, holler for mom, sister etc to pick up, and then quietly cover the mouthpiece and listen to them spill the tea?

Larla are you listening?? HANG UP THE PHONE!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who else eavesdropped on their family members phone calls? You answer the phone, holler for mom, sister etc to pick up, and then quietly cover the mouthpiece and listen to them spill the tea?

Larla are you listening?? HANG UP THE PHONE!!!

Yep. Fun times!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's say you didn't know what time it was. There was a phone number you could call to give you the accurate time:

"At the tone the time will be [beeep] 8:26 PM"

I think there was maybe another number for the weather. Anyone remember this?

Time:
TI4-xxxx (any 4 numbers)

Weather:
WE6-xxxx

703-TI4-2525 still works!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who else eavesdropped on their family members phone calls? You answer the phone, holler for mom, sister etc to pick up, and then quietly cover the mouthpiece and listen to them spill the tea?

hahaha, yes, and my sister and I used to call it "monkey-looking" instead of eavesdropping. :p

Lol! 🙉
I used to refer to it as -> “ear hustling…..”