My mother insisted on having a phone before she would move into their new house in 1944. With it came The Telephone Directory.
I had my first mobile (cellphone) in 2000. It was originally a requirement of my work when I wanted to go and see my parents (in England) because I was involved in a case where I had to be in touch with my work. The unit was the size of an attache case and involved considerable embarrassment if one went somewhere for lunch and 'hid' it under one's chair.
I have never been without a mobile phone since then. I still have the same number (with additions as the mobile networks expanded) and I have been with Vodafone and its predecessor since the start.
Skype arrived in August 2003 and was groundbreaking. So far as I'm aware when it started it just allowed voice calls from PC to PC and little else. It went on to be an 'alternative' world phone service. I think Skype has now to all intents and purposes been discontinued.
We very much relied on phone books. Having grown up mostly in the country, we had Melbourne residential phone book, a Melbourne business phone book and then local regional books of both varieties. The last I heard of phone books here was that they were available on request but I will guess they have gone here. Stacked, they were probably close to one foot high.
ReplyDeleteHard copies of phone books are still available here.
DeleteAndrew, looking back I realise just how important the phone book was to us.
DeleteI once visited a pupil's threadbare home in Sheffield where the only two books visible were "The Yellow Pages" and "The Telephone Directory". No wonder he struggled with school work. Being a teacher with an unusual surname, I was ex-directory for decades.
ReplyDeleteYP I'd quite forgotten about the Yellow Pages.
DeleteWe discontinued our landline. I tried to opt out of receiving the phone book. It simply was not something we used. Imagine my surprise to discover my name couldn't be removed from the list because I was not on the mailing list. I gave them the name and address on the new phone book that I had right in my hand. 2 years later, we are still getting the phone book.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous that really is the stuff of "1984" combined with "Catch 22".
DeleteThat was Debby
DeleteThanks, Debby.
DeleteThings have changed quickly. we don't even know what will be out there ten years from now.
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps even 5 years Red.
DeleteWe haven't had a Phone Book for years. Most land-line calls are from scammers these days. I tend to use WhatsApp for calls.
ReplyDeleteCro, I have a landline for my emergency alarm but I never use the phone except for incoming calls occasionally. I have a BT call monitoring phone so don't get any scam calls.
DeleteUntil some years ago, Yellow Pages and phone books for our town were still delivered automatically and for free to every household in town. Then the system changed to them leaving postcards in every mail box, inviting everyone to go to their nearest post office to pick up both books there. I don't know when that ceased, but I do know that I never went to pick one up, since I had no need for them. Every phone number or other contact detail I want I can found easily on the internet. And with my friends and family, we mostly communicate via text messages on our mobile phones, with the occasional email when there is more to write (I don't like typing much on what goes for a keyboard on any of my mobile devices; I much prefer a "proper" keyboard).
ReplyDeleteIn the business world, Microsoft Teams has replaced nearly all other forms of communication.
Meike, I've not seen a Yellow Pages for years. I'm not sure if they are still produced here. (Just checked it's now "Yell"). Oddly (well I suppose not that odd as I've not been in business for nearly 20 years and I'm an Apple user) I've not heard of Microsoft Teams. Every day is a school day.
DeleteI didn't realise the Phone Book was still in existence. I haven't had a landline, other than for my broadband, in years. X
ReplyDeleteJules, I'm realising fewer and fewer people use landline telephones.
DeleteStrange coincidence because I was only thinking about the Phone Book a few days ago and how I never look at it now. Life without it was unimaginable. When BT split the Norfolk directory into two we had to buy the half of the county we weren't in. It was as if at the boundary they had chosen for the split we would no longer want to know their numbers or have anything to do with them. It was considered madness by everybody. As a child I used to read the phone book when my father was going through the ads in the local paper's agricultural column and attempt to spot the phone numbers and get the sellers names for him as most of the ads had phone numbers only. My former partner would read the Yellow Pages. Going back to the other day, I was wondering if I dare take the great leap and throw the Phone Book out knowing that I haven't looked at it in years and will probably never do so again. The Yellow Pages I finally threw out last year.
ReplyDeleteRachel I had forgotten just how important the Yellow Pages and the Phonebook used to be to us all.
DeleteAnothe raspect of our changing world We don't have a land line or a phone book anymore.
ReplyDeleteDiane, I'm quite surprised just how many have joind the 'no landline phone' brigade.
DeleteWe have just abandoned our landline. We never use it. I must remember to let those couple of people who use it to contact us that it is no longer in service, or they'll think we're 'ghosting' them!
ReplyDeleteJanice, I do have a dyed in the wool friend who cannot get it into his head that I don't use the landline any more and then complains when I don't return the call I didn't even know he had made.
DeleteWe got rid of our land line about a year ago and have not missed it all. I can’t even remember the last time we had a physical ‘phone book. Actually, I find that in general we get few actual calls. Texting and email seem to be our primary mode of communication these days.
ReplyDeleteSorry, David. Your comment went to spam. How we communicate now will be my next post.
DeleteThe phone directory and yellow pages were so useful for propping up things to a level needed!
ReplyDeleteGZ you made me laugh. That was the last use I made of the previous phonebook. It was perfect for one side of the printer which overlapped two surfaces.
DeleteThe historical telephone directories are a great resource for genealogy research.
ReplyDeleteTasker, I missed your comment. Apologies. I had completely forgotten just how much they were used for that genealogy research.
DeleteI remember phone books that were 3" or more thick :-}
ReplyDeleteWe too received our "last ever" phone book a few weeks ago and it was the size of a slim paperback. I briefly considered keeping it for nostalgia and then put it straight in the recycling.
Jayne, apologies for missing your comment. I don't recall phone books that were that thick. I have a feeling that the Liverpool Directories were split into areas. I was about to put mine in the recycling bin when I noticed that it was the last so kept it to remind me to blog about it. I was tempted to keep it. But why? It's gone.
DeleteI haven't seen a phone book in years... Your post made me check just now and I find that the last ones here were printed in 2016. The landline system here is also being gradually dismantled and from 2027 probably won't be in use at all any more. Apparently it costs too much to maintain it. I moved my old landline number to my fibre cable broadband some years ago. But since I got my new mobile phone last spring (and changed that to a monthly subscription) I don't really use the other one at all. One or two old friends still sometimes try to call me on that one but I often don't detect that now until long after, because I forget to check. I'm really just keeping it as a backup "just in case"... whatever... - Skype still works, or at least it did at Christmas 2023. (My brother and I have been using that for our traditional Christmas Eve video chats...)
ReplyDeleteThanks for all that information, Monica. It looks like our landlines are being discontinued gradually too. The Skype information took me by surprise though.
DeleteI still have a landline and use it about half the time, altho, I am now using my cell phone more and more. I keep the landline for emergency purposes. Sometimes, I can't find where I have left my cell phone or I left it upstairs and I am downstairs. I imagine being ill or hurt and thinking "where is that cell phone?" but I always know where my landline is and I could crawl to it for help. Silly but that's how I think!?!
ReplyDeleteEllen, I wear an emergency alarm ever since I had an accident outside the house. It requires a 'landline' to connect to the alarm centre. However concerns have arisen because I believe the Government's aim is to have all telephone physical lines eventually replaced by cellphone technology.
DeleteInteresting how history has moved along the phone lines.
ReplyDeleteYour post reminds me, there was a time when I often used the phonebook to find a business in the area. I missed the no phonebook transition here as it has be over a year since the small directory was in my mailbox.
My first cell phone was circa 2002ish. I didn't give up the landline until maybe 2010. As for Skype, never used it. I've done one face appointment on my computer via I think Zoom. Otherwise, I never use video calling. It freaks me out actually.
Maywyn, I'd actually forgotten about Zoom. I use video calling a lot as it happens. I've had three today!
DeleteAs I recall, Skype was the "in" thing for the first lockdown 4 years ago for contacting GPs, but Zoom rapidly took over. As far as I am aware is is still working.
ReplyDeleteHi Will. Thanks for mentioning Skype. Apparently it is just Skype for business that has been virtually discontinued. Skype itself is still used but by fewer people. I obviously misread the article.
DeleteYes, isn't it amazing how things change? Do you recall the era of "pagers"? Back when Bear and I were dating, and I was a flight attendant going all over the place for work, we devised codes - series of numbers for different messages: "call me", "love you", "miss you", "good night", etc. - I was required to wear a pager when I was a flight attendant, in case I got called to work, so we just paged each other messages until we were able to get hold of a land line (usually from whatever hotel room I was at in whatever state I was in) and talk on the phone.
ReplyDeleteAs for my current state of phonefairs: I have a classic antique black bakelite phone on my desk (the kind you see in the films noir) and it was hooked up to my landline, and functional - but it did not have a ringer. I could make calls out from it, which suited me fine. Then the powers that be decided to disable the functionality of rotary phones, so it no longer dials out either. It's cell phones only now. Kind of sad, because I really loved using that old phone.
Marcheline, I do recall pagers although I was never in a job or organisation that used them. I recall all the hospital doctors used to have them. I assume that it has recently changed but in the UK if you had a landline it had to be capable of making a call in the event of a power cut ie you had to have a 'wired' phone in reserve to plug in if your main phone was a 'hands free' phone which required an electricity supply for the base station.
DeleteGraham, you mention that you use your landline for your emergency alarm, and that concerns have arisen because your government too aim to have the physical lines replaced by cellphone technology. I forgot to add to my previous comment that emergency alarms too are gradually being replaced here, to such alarms that work via cellphone technology. So imagine they must be working on that in Britain as well...
ReplyDeleteThanks for that piece of information, Monica. It makes sense. Up to now it's been hard to make sense of a lot of what's been happening. Large parts of the UK still do not have mobile phone or, indeed, internet coverage.
DeleteI no longer have a landline and the only time I miss it is when I want to ring my own cellphone to find out where it is hiding. The last phone book I saw, a few years ago, was as slim as the cowboy books my dad used to read when I was a child.
ReplyDeleteOur generation has seen so much technological change. There was no phone in the home when I grew up or in the first home of my married life. I worked on the last telephone exchange in New Zealand where the police station was Mgto 1, the railway station Mgto 2, and the dairy factory Mgto 3. Our phone at that time was on a party line where we shared the line with 4 other families, our no was 33a. No, maybe it was 33u. Can't believe I've forgotten but our ring was three short bursts of the bells. It was like Morse Code, each household had a different code and some of the exchange operators were so fast it was hard to decipher a short-long-short from 3 shorts.
Sorry, I got off the track.
Pauline, you've really brought back a blast from the past. Party lines where if you lifted the phone you could hear what was going on in other conversations. I know that my Mother always refused to have one and as there was no spare capacity in our road at one time. She was rather unpopular with a few people. She did eventually acquiesce (I had some difficulty spelling that!) for a while because a neighbour we were friends with desperately needed a phone. Mum used the phone a lot.
DeleteI don't have a mobile phone, and have no intention of getting one. I have landline and am happy with it. To talk on a mobile while out shopping at my local supermarket isn't something that I'd do, and it annoys me when I see people talking on their phones while wandering up and down the aisle. (I'm a cranky old thing, aren't I?)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, mobile phones don't work in my abode. I tried once when I had a temporary one when the landline was being fixed. To make calls and to receive calls I had to go outside to do so, and that is not convenient for me.
I'm content, at my age, to remain old-fashioned! :)
Take good care, Graham...
Mobile's are not for everyone, Lee. However, for others they are a way of life. For me, for example, during the day I am more often out of the house than in it and it's the only way most people can get hold of me.
DeleteWe do still have a land line of sorts. It is not the one I recall from years past where there was an actual phone jack that it plugged into. Instead, this one plugs into an electrical outlet and service is through the Internet (VoIP?). The reason we keep one is that it’s the number we give out to everyone who we do not want to call our cell nos. And that includes medical offices, who if given a cell no. will be sending text messages. We have managed to control any spam calls by blocking them and the same goes for the cell phones.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice I think all our 'landline' phones are eventually going to be via the internet too. I have a landline phone which only accepts stored numbers. Otherwise it asks people to announce themselves. Computers can't so all those spam calls are automatically lost in the ether. I prefer all my medical calls to come to my mobile otherwise I stand a good chance of missing them or they leave a message on my housephone and I eventually have to try and get back to them.
DeleteI loved phone books. As a kid I was particularly keen on all the free recorded information services listed in the book: weather and time are all I remember now but i know there was a long list. And directory services, does that exist at all anymore?
ReplyDeleteKylie, the phone book was so important. I'd forgotten about the recorded information. Directory Enquiries is all computerised and on line now in the UK anyway.
Delete