The rotary telephone
You lifted the receiver, waited for the dial tone and dialled each digit separately. A mistake on the last digit meant hanging up and starting again.
How you dialled a number
You put a finger into the hole for the first digit and turned the dial clockwise to the metal stop. Then you released it. As the dial returned, the phone sent a series of electrical pulses to the exchange. Those pulses indicated the digit you had chosen.
How it worked
- 1Lift the receiver
A steady dial tone told you the line was available and you could begin.
- 2Dial digit by digit
For zero, the dial made almost a complete turn. Long numbers therefore took time.
- 3Listen to the tones
The ringing tone meant waiting. A short, repeated tone meant the line was engaged.
- 4Replace the receiver
This ended the connection and made the line available again.
The telephone belonged to the house
Many Dutch families had one phone, often in the hallway or living room. Everyone could hear a call coming in — and sometimes listen to the conversation. A second phone in the bedroom was a luxury. You knew numbers by heart or looked them up in an address book and the thick telephone directory.
The coiled cord, the note of important numbers beside the phone and the heavy bell ringing throughout the house.
What replaced it?
From the 1980s, push-button phones became increasingly common. They made dialling faster and gave access to new telephone services. Cordless home phones and later mobile phones eventually freed calling from that one fixed spot.
_img.01.jpg){kind=link}
