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[–] 2 points 1 month ago* (1 child)

I knew about 5-digit dialing, but never knew people used to dial only 4 digits. That's pretty neat, and probably made life with a rotary phone much easier than people my age realize.

I'm a younger millennial so it was no big deal to grab the landline and dial 1+10 digits to call my girlfriend long distance in 2009. On a rotary phone, it'd probably have taken til supper just to dial lol

I did find a rotary phone in a box at my great grandmother's house once and played with it because it was fascinating to me. Then I dialed a random 800 number on it and remarked that it was kinda amazing that so many people bought things over the telephone in the day.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    ..never knew people used to dial only 4 digits..

    Yup... the trick was having your LATA code be on the mechanical switcher. They could address 9,999 numbers. Which in a town that at the time had maybe 1,900 people.. it was glorious.

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