About the photo...

Last year, my daughter Aurora and I were walking around in Muir Woods and we came across this payphone.

It's weird to me it's designed for kids. It's like something out of a horror movie. But that's not what this post is about.

Installing a payphone in my house | bertrand fan

The first part of blog is...

When I was growing up in the 90s, I remember wanting to get on the Internet. My parents weren’t going to help me, so I called up an ISP and said I wanted to set up an account. They asked for my name and I gave them a fake name. And then they asked for a credit card number and I told them I had to find my wallet and call them back.

There's more information that I'm sharing for science. I don't know how old he was at the time (a teenager?) but he figures out a way to use the net for free via payphones and clever math.

The second part is how/why he installed a payphone in his house. Their daughter "calls" him or his wife.

  • My daughter is 5 - I don’t want her dialing 911.

  • I also don’t want her calling up an ISP and convincing them to make an account for her - I’m not quite ready to reap what I sow.

  • Technically the two phones could talk to each other, but first a call would have to be made to get into “Dad, get off the phone!” territory. Do those phone numbers that tell you the time still exist? Do they stop talking after a while?

This is when I discovered a crazy piece of technology, a phone line simulator.

[...]

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, but at random hours in the day I’ll be working in my office and the payphone will ring and my daughter will tell me about her dolls for a minute or so and then I’ll say, “That’s great, but I have to get back to work.” and we’ll say goodbye until the next time. Most of the time, it’s a nice break.

  • SkibidiToiletFanAcct [none/use name]
    ·
    9 months ago

    I think intercoms, speaking tubes, and phone line simulators are cool. I want some situation where I have an excuse to set up a working pair of Western Electric 2500 or 2554 telephones. no dialing, just pick up and talk, and maybe one aftermarket button for ringing every other connected phone. Maybe instead of a button, a dynamo crank for a very retro feel. or perhaps in addition to ringing, you also have small red incandescent indicator bulb that illuminates on every Telephone when receiver is lifted.

    • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
      ·
      9 months ago

      a dynamo crank for a very retro feel.

      "Ahoy hoy - this is kitchen. We are receiving..."

      small red incandescent indicator bulb that illuminates...

      That sounds cool.