Who wants in? We can talk about what is was like to write a letter to your grandma or having no other way to ask someone out other than by calling them on the phone. Or checking out movies at Blockbuster or whatever your national equivalent was (we usually checked out videos at the grocery store, actually).
We’re cool because we can actually remember the USSR and “East” Germany. Although not as cool, I can remember when homophobia and transphobia was so much more widely accepted and the “default” position for most Americans. Not as cool.
I’ve found that at least the models from the late 70s also still work perfectly fine, they use the same plugs as modern phones in my country. Audio quality on them is excellent, too.
Well now I want to try this out.
the western electric 500 and 554 were so ubiquitous that even a mint condition one will sell for around $50 on ebay. they’re built so well that it’ll probably keep working for another 50-100 years with occasional maintenance
if only landlines were cheap.