Old Telephone Dials?

Question

Can anyone explain to me what the lettering on the old style dial telephones was for? and how you used them? Have asked some older aquaintances and they dont seem to know.

I remember seeing them under the numbers on the dials.

Thanks for that folks, its been bugging me for a while, one of those silly things that keep you awake at night!!

Answer 1

In the days when the Post Office ran the telephone service, there were different telephone exchanges all over the country. These were manned by persons on a switchboard. there were different codes for these areas like we have today, but they used letters for the code instead of numbers. For instance, if you wanted to call someone in london from Birmingham you would dial something like Lon 1234, birmingham could be Bir 2345 Etc. If you didn't know what code in letters for a certain town, you mcould call the operator for it, or ask them to connect you. Phonecalls were 2 pence for three minutes ( pre decimal)

Answer 2

The first telephone numbers took the form of three letters and four or five numbers, e.g. PAV 1234 (That exchange would be Pavilion). As there were only 10 numerals on the dial, it was necessary for two or three letters on the dial to be assigned to one digit. Even today, some companies request phone numbers that spell out some feature of their business when the letters are read instead of the numbers. For example a plumber might have

7586237

By dialing PLUMBER on the keypad you would be dialling the number 7586237.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

You must be young, the numbers are the same as your cell phone. Except instead of text messaging, phone # started with letters like Liberty -9000 (Li-9000) which meant to dial 54-9000 or sometimes it would be liberty 9 -9000 (Li9-9000) which would mean 549-9000 All you had to do is stick your finger in the hole and rotate until the dial stopped, then let go. I still have one of those at home just to get laughs from guests.

Answer 4

The lettering was for dialling exchanges. i.e. way back in the black and white days people in London had telephone numbers called Mayfair 1234 or Dryden 35499 or Byron or Whitehall, there were many exchanges in local areas. To dial the number you had to put the first three letters of the exhange. i.e. for Whitehall 1212 - which was Scotalnd Yard - you had to dial WHI 1212. Hope this helps D.

Answer 5

It was used as a memory aid in identifying a neighborhood or telephone switching office. People living for example in Atwood district would post their number as AT9-4555. If you lived in Atwood and was calling another phone in Atwood you could just dial 9-4555.

Answer 6

All three of the first responders seem to have been referring to British phone numbers. It also applied on the other side of the pond; in New York, there were exchanges such as Murray Hill, and Pennsylvania. The latter lingers on in the title of a popular song (PEnnsylvania 6-5000).

Answer 7

The letters were introduced so that people could dial the area of the number they wanted, they were the exchange names. Letters were used and not numbers as now.

Answer 8

THE YANKS STILL USE IT AS IN 1900 SUCK YOU OFF....CATCH MY DRIFT?