Retro Ring

I stumbled upon an old touch-tone telephone on Facebook Marketplace a couple of weeks back and was immediately bitten by the retro bug. I remember playing with a similar-looking phone in Grandma Viring's house when we lived in Macopa Street back in the eighties. It had the same shape, dimensions, AND weight to it... except that it was black and had a rotary dial. 

I was intrigued and asked the seller if the phone works on a modern Wi-Fi modem. She said it does and right then and there I was bent on getting it. We agreed on the price, payment, and shipping. After all the details were settled and accomplished, all I had to do was wait for it to arrive. When the package arrived, no one knew what was inside. I told Issa that it was the replacement phone I bought for her. She donated her mobile phone to her cousin who needed it more than she. I promised her a replacement, and this was an opportune time for a little joke. She was skeptical right away since the package had some heft to it. When the phone was revealed, everyone had a nice laugh. 

I saw that it had the same jack connector as the current modern phone. It turns out our Internet service may be super modern, with fiber optics and all that jazz, but the phone system still works with dinosaur-age tech. The phone was a thing of beauty. It was creamy in color, quite heavy, even the handset alone had a definitive tangibility to it. Not like modern phones that seem to pop off the hook with just the slightest bump. I tried calling to and from one of the mobiles and it connected fine. The sound is crisp and clear and the ring... ooh the ring, what music to the ears. I kid you not, no electronic tone can ever beat mechanical bells housed in a piece of history.