<![CDATA[Have you ever...]]>Have you ever...

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/82f1d57c-73c7-4cae-9297-3d4e4fb51577/have-you-ever...RSS for NodeMon, 06 Apr 2026 16:39:05 GMTSat, 04 Apr 2026 16:12:34 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:22:25 GMT]]>@neil I just used my DNS]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://friendica.rogueproject.org/objects/b71a4a1e-1069-d148-d146-e3f019043196https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://friendica.rogueproject.org/objects/b71a4a1e-1069-d148-d146-e3f019043196Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:22:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:16:33 GMT]]>@neil

All of those, and I've also used a party line.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.ca/users/Downshift/statuses/116347567694255781https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.ca/users/Downshift/statuses/116347567694255781Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:16:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:48:10 GMT]]>All but one of the above. I never did the exchange thingy. But the rest, yeah, in my early teens.

And only reverse charged my parents, with their agreement in advance!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://gamepad.club/users/FibroJedi/statuses/116347456108280227https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://gamepad.club/users/FibroJedi/statuses/116347456108280227Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:48:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:47:21 GMT]]>@neil Stop reminding me I'm old, will ya?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.ai/users/SharkAttak/statuses/116347452897102046https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.ai/users/SharkAttak/statuses/116347452897102046Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:47:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:47:19 GMT]]>@gsuberland @neil wing entrusted with the parents’ phone card in the 1990s naturally replaced the previous “emergency call home” system in the 1980s, which was reverse charges (“collect calls” here in the US).

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://c.im/users/dpnash/statuses/116347452742365630https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://c.im/users/dpnash/statuses/116347452742365630Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:47:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:46:02 GMT]]>@neil Yes I know, I'm feeling old!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/jlapoutre/statuses/116347447729003109https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/jlapoutre/statuses/116347447729003109Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:46:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:44:56 GMT]]>@neil I still have the last phone book that was delivered here, maybe 15 years ago now. Probably not much good for anything other than holding up a potted plant.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/wollman/statuses/116347443411530561https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/wollman/statuses/116347443411530561Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:44:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:44:43 GMT]]>@girlonthenet @neil
So that really worked, eh? I've only ever seen on TV or movies when calls come in to a phone booth, never in real life.

When I was a kid I was 100% unreachable out of the yard; I'd just end up eating leftovers if I happened to be out late and missed supper.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wandering.shop/users/silvermoon82/statuses/116347442526997560https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wandering.shop/users/silvermoon82/statuses/116347442526997560Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:44:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:44:27 GMT]]>@ColinTheMathmo @neil 100% on all of them. I also remember the loud "cuckoo" tone on inbound calls to a payphone (to prevent reverse charge calls being made via the operator), also during late 1980a if you tried some calls on level 1 such as 16 (Dial a disc) and another one (it was some number like 159) you would just hear a loud cuckoo sound from *inside* the phone box and the call would be abruptly cleared down (presumably this is because a metering pulse had come down the line but you hadn't put any money in)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.tchncs.de/users/vfrmedia/statuses/116347441469712651https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.tchncs.de/users/vfrmedia/statuses/116347441469712651Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:44:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:44:14 GMT]]>@TheOneDoc Yes

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116347440609462520https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/users/neil/statuses/116347440609462520Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:44:14 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:44:03 GMT]]>@neil I've received a call on a pay phone exactly once. It wasn't for me, the box was just ringing so I answered it. The caller asked for Sarah. I said "sorry, nobody carried Sarah lives here" and they rather surprised me by asking "are you sure?"

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/andrewt/statuses/116347439914792041https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/andrewt/statuses/116347439914792041Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:44:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:43:29 GMT]]>@argv_minus_one @neil Mastodon is a just a seperate interwebs for elder Millennials, Gen-X'ers, and Boomers. Sometimes we let the kids hang out with us because we're cool like that. And oh yeah, rumor has it that John Mastodon is like 68 or something.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/galacticstone/statuses/116347437646188921https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/galacticstone/statuses/116347437646188921Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:43:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:41:59 GMT]]>@neil when I was a teenager, we all used to hang around at a park on a corner by a phone box. Our mums all had the phone number of that phone box so they could ring us and let us know when it was time to come home for tea.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/girlonthenet/statuses/116347431773575073https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/girlonthenet/statuses/116347431773575073Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:41:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:41:31 GMT]]>@neil @gsuberland the standard prepaid magnetic cards or the international cards with a secret number to input?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/_hic_haec_hoc/statuses/116347429923239521https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/_hic_haec_hoc/statuses/116347429923239521Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:41:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:41:01 GMT]]>@neil I've done all but two (reversed charges & dialed from one exchange to another).

I am an old.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/courtcan/statuses/116347427954016403https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/courtcan/statuses/116347427954016403Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:41:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:41:00 GMT]]>@neil

7 out of 8 boxes ticked. <sigh>

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/mmiasma/statuses/116347427891475696https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/mmiasma/statuses/116347427891475696Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:41:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:40:50 GMT]]>@gsuberland @neil I’m not sure if there’s a UK vs elsewhere distinction here but: in the US a “phone card” often meant something kind of like a phone company-account specific access card. It was also called a “calling card”. You’d dial a number (with an extra code/digit string to enable “calling card” mode), wait for the phone to make a “ka-BONG” sound, then dial the phone card ID number, and your call would go through and be billed to the account associated with the card. My parents gave me the phone card number for their account when I was in college in the 1990s so I wouldn’t have to worry about phone charges calling them.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://c.im/users/dpnash/statuses/116347427285015827https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://c.im/users/dpnash/statuses/116347427285015827Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:40:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:40:27 GMT]]>@neil "Were you alive 40 years ago?" 🙂

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://piaille.fr/users/slaettaratindur/statuses/116347425770778416https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://piaille.fr/users/slaettaratindur/statuses/116347425770778416Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:40:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:40:24 GMT]]>@neil and made free international calls, by a number of methods.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.social/users/Extelec/statuses/116347425546521072https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.social/users/Extelec/statuses/116347425546521072Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:40:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:40:21 GMT]]>@neil are you under 46?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://tech.lgbt/users/TheOneDoc/statuses/116347425377842760https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://tech.lgbt/users/TheOneDoc/statuses/116347425377842760Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:40:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:40:12 GMT]]>@neil Most I'm not sure what "Dialled from one exchange to another" means specifically, maybe a UK thing?

I did buy this bad boy new in box from my local thrift store last week. I have a Bluetooth dongle in my house so that I can make calls with it. Fake dialtone and everything!

Link Preview Image
]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://glammr.us/users/jessamyn/statuses/116347424780711120https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://glammr.us/users/jessamyn/statuses/116347424780711120Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:40:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:39:20 GMT]]>@neil

if you said yes to more than two of these, you're overdue to schedule your next colonoscopy... 🙂

(which reminds me...)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/paul_ipv6/statuses/116347421354126660https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/paul_ipv6/statuses/116347421354126660Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:39:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:37:57 GMT]]>@neil this is just an age test. No need to be cruel.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.treehouse.systems/users/ska/statuses/116347415917915454https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.treehouse.systems/users/ska/statuses/116347415917915454Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:37:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Have you ever... on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:37:57 GMT]]>@neil Yes to all, plus for a summer I actually was a (human) telephone operator. Those overnight shifts were something else.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/CeciliaBell/statuses/116347415916835259https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/CeciliaBell/statuses/116347415916835259Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:37:57 GMT