Instructions ... forever

Joined
Nov 17, 2009
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15,192
City & State/Province
Webster, MD.
Just bought a land line phone for the house since the old one has seen much better days. Hooked it up and plugged in the phone line then started to read the instruction booklet that came with it. SIXTY PAGES on how to operated this creature. What ever happened to the phone that rang, you answered it and that was it. It didn't tell me the time, location, personal history, and anyone's guess what I next will find,
 
At least you got a book with it. Most things these days you are forced to look up instructions on a web page.
Not real handy sitting outside in the car with new dash cam, trying to get it hooked up to the phone while using same phone to try and decipher instructions. A book would have been really handy.
 
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Just bought a land line phone for the house since the old one has seen much better days. Hooked it up and plugged in the phone line then started to read the instruction booklet that came with it. SIXTY PAGES on how to operated this creature. What ever happened to the phone that rang, you answered it and that was it. It didn't tell me the time, location, personal history, and anyone's guess what I next will find,
I have the one of the few that are not in a museum or landfill. AT&T can have my landline phone when they pry it from my cold dead hands. ;)
 
What on earth is this strange “land line” thingy you speak of? :unsure::ROFLMAO:
Within the last year fiber optic finally made its way out our dead-end rural road, so our 'phone service now arrives via that new, modern method. The "glass" was strung from the existing electric service poles, exposed to the weather. Our old land line was buried all the way from I-don't-know-where, rarely ever troubled by weather, and then safely buried up to our house. Can't help but wonder if this is an improvement or not. :unsure: I'm still attempting to use the new cordless hand sets and all their associated features.

We still have all the old 'phones, even one with a rotary dial that still worked just fine until modernity struck. Think I'll leave the one hanging on the kitchen wall in place, just for grins. ;)
 
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I still have one hard wired into my phone line in the back room. I had to hand wire in a filter because of the DSL line, no plugins for this phone, heheh. The one thing though, it still works during power and or cell outages. No school like old school. :)

I was told that the rotary dial may stop working soon (2yrs ago), if it does, I have another that is push button in the shed. ;)

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I have hesitated to buy a new car because my old (2016) came with over 600 page owners manual(s).... I've heard that it even worse now because you may not even get the 600 pages; you have to go "on line". It's gonna be hard to "book mark" the few "features" that an old person will care about (like how to turn on the heat and then, how to adjust the temp if you actually do get it on).
J. :cry:
 
I still have one hard wired into my phone line in the back room. I had to hand wire in a filter because of the DSL line, no plugins for this phone, heheh. The one thing though, it still works during power and or cell outages. No school like old school. :)

I was told that the rotary dial may stop working soon (2yrs ago), if it does, I have another that is push button in the shed. ;)

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That one reminds me of the recent picture I put on here in a thread of the 1970s era phone we still have here and keep as the bedroom phone, but it is push button and not rotary. The kitchen phone is landline but is a reproduction of the old candlestick style of phone.
 
We have a 'landline' that provides internet service and an answering machine and I provide my own phone. I've been a 'member' of our local telephone cooperative for almost 50 years and receive a substantial patronage refund yearly. I'm not complaining.
 
I still have a landline but no phone is hooked up to it. I am on some type of package with the cable company that includes cable TV, internet and the land line telephone. When I asked the cable company how much I would save on my monthly bill if I give up the land line, I found out that my bill would go up, not down, because I would no longer be on the package that I have had for about 20 years now. So I still own the number, and have the line running to my house, but we have long stopped using it. Like most folks, my wife and I rely upon our cell phones for everything.
 
I borrow my neighbor's when I want to make a call...
 

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I have hesitated to buy a new car because my old (2016) came with over 600 page owners manual(s).... I've heard that it even worse now because you may not even get the 600 pages; you have to go "on line". It's gonna be hard to "book mark" the few "features" that an old person will care about (like how to turn on the heat and then, how to adjust the temp if you actually do get it on).
J. :cry:
I feel for you. We are still driving 2005 and 2006 Toyota Highlanders.

My neighbor passed away (shortly after buying a high end Toyota with computerized everything). His, out of the area, nephew asked me to start and run it occassionaly while he tried to settle the estate. No manual, so I downloaded an electronic version....100s of pages. After several attempts, I still could not figure out how to start it AND put it into gear. And I have a desktop, 2 laptops, two tablets and a smart(er than me)phone.
 
In days of yore, a land line telephone was powered by its own electrical current - supplied by the phone company. The phone company did this to insure telephone service was not terminated if the home's electricity was shut off (for any reason).

Here's my understanding of "modern" land line phone service: A modern land line phone is, in most cases, a VoIP phone (VoIP = Voice over Internet Protocol - i.e. the land line piggybacks your internet service). The land line only operates when there is an internet connection. The internet connection is provided by your home computer. Your home computer is powered by your home's electrical power. Bottom line, phone service available only for so long as there is electrical power to provide internet connectivity to your home computer. So, if your home's electricity is shut off, you lose that VoIP phone service.

Long gone are the days when the loss of electrical power to you home did NOT cause you to lose your land line phone service. [Of course, you can use your cellphone, but only if you can recharge your cell phone through other power sources - your car's electrical connection, etc. But that is different from your land line phone service.]
 
In days of yore, a land line telephone was powered by its own electrical current - supplied by the phone company. The phone company did this to insure telephone service was not terminated if the home's electricity was shut off (for any reason).

Here's my understanding of "modern" land line phone service: A modern land line phone is, in most cases, a VoIP phone (VoIP = Voice over Internet Protocol - i.e. the land line piggybacks your internet service). The land line only operates when there is an internet connection. The internet connection is provided by your home computer. Your home computer is powered by your home's electrical power. Bottom line, phone service available only for so long as there is electrical power to provide internet connectivity to your home computer. So, if your home's electricity is shut off, you lose that VoIP phone service.

Long gone are the days when the loss of electrical power to you home did NOT cause you to lose your land line phone service. [Of course, you can use your cellphone, but only if you can recharge your cell phone through other power sources - your car's electrical connection, etc. But that is different from your land line phone service.]
I have a cell phone that only works in my home through my computers wifi router. So, no power, no cell phone. I also have a land line that I've had for 20 or so years. Its power comes directly from a telephone pole next to my house. When the electric goes out, that land line phone still works.
 
I have a cell phone that only works in my home through my computers wifi router. So, no power, no cell phone. I also have a land line that I've had for 20 or so years. Its power comes directly from a telephone pole next to my house. When the electric goes out, that land line phone still works.
Of what use is a cell phone that only works from home through the computer wifi? In my experience, once I'm out of the computer's wifi range, no wifi cell service. [Even with my eero mesh routers, my wifi signal extends only another 25 yards or so.] If yours is different, please let me know the brand of cell phone. It must be very special, indeed.

As for your land line whose electricity is provided directly by the phone company - good for you. That's why I stated, "A modern land line phone is, in most cases, a VoIP phone." AT&T stopped providing electrical power to the land lines in my area many years ago.
 
Of what use is a cell phone that only works from home through the computer wifi? In my experience, once I'm out of the computer's wifi range, no wifi cell service. [Even with my eero mesh routers, my wifi signal extends only another 25 yards or so.] If yours is different, please let me know the brand of cell phone. It must be very special, indeed.

As for your land line whose electricity is provided directly by the phone company - good for you. That's why I stated, "A modern land line phone is, in most cases, a VoIP phone." AT&T stopped providing electrical power to the land lines in my area many years ago.
Of what use is it? I live in the Lakeview Mountains in kind of like a valley between mountains. It doesn't pick up anything from cell towers. Once I drive out maybe a mile and a half, it works just like any other cell phone.

I did not buy that cell phone for use at my home because I knew that cell phones don't work here. But, I found out that it will make and receive calls using my computers wifi router. I have internet service from a company that provides service coming from a big antenna on a higher mountain than my place. I have an dish antenna on my place and it picks up the signal from that. It's a line of sigh thing. Never had a problem with it either.
 
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