Dial Rotary facts

While investigating facts about Dial Rotary Phone and Dial Rotary Phone Video, I found out little known, but curios details like:

The rotary phone was invented by an undertaker. The operator in his hometown was married to his competition, so the rotary dial was a way to bypass the human operator.

how to dial a rotary phone?

The biggest cities, like NYC (212), Chicago(312), and Los Angeles (213), were assigned the shortest area codes so they could be dialed fastest on rotary phones; that's why Anchorage (907) got the short end of the stick.

What number took the longest to dial on a rotary phone?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what is a rotary dial telephone. Here are 11 of the best facts about Dial Rotary Phone Western Electric and Dial Rotary Switch I managed to collect.

what is a rotary dial phone?

1. When area codes were first introduced, they were set up so the highest populated areas would be the easiest to dial on a rotary phone. New York was 212, Los Angeles 213, Chicago 312, and Detroit 313.

2. The area codes that are easiest to dial on a rotary phone, 212, 213, 312, 313, which are 5, 6, 6, and 7 clicks respectively, were given to the biggest cities, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Detroit. Places like Anchorage got numbers like 907, which is 26 clicks.

3. U.S. area codes were designated so that the most populous regions have codes that are quickest to dial on a rotary phone without making an error.

4. The 'Chatter Telephone,' a toy designed to help kids learn to dial a rotary phone, was given wheels because the designer's daughter would drag around a standard metal phone by the handset receiver while playing

5. The reason the area codes of NYC (212), LA (213) & Chicago (312) are similar is because they take the shortest time to dial on rotary telephones

6. Large cities have area codes consisting of smaller numbers because they took less time to dial on rotary telephones

7. In the 1980s, the anti-drug Fairlawn Coalition in Washington D.C. fought to have the telephone company install rotary dial pay phones in the neighborhood. The old-time phones discouraged loitering by drug purchasers since the dials could not be used to call dealers’ pagers.

8. The 'Chatter Telephone,' a toy designed to help kids learn to dial a rotary phone, was given wheels because the designer's daughter would drag around a standard metal phone by the handset receiver while playing

9. President Eisenhower never used a rotary dial phone in his time in office and had to learn how to use one upon his retirement in 1961. Here were his first personal phones.