Bell Telephone 1957

[myvintagevogue.livejournal.com]

Comments

[benbenberi.livejournal.com]

It's easy to forget how expensive long-distance calls used to be. (Even the concept of "long distance calls" is hard to grasp, these days.)

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

No kidding! Can you imagine being in Chicago and paying $1.39 a minute to call Denver? I'd be mad to pay that much to call anywhere in the world these days, but I'm old enough to remember when making a long distance call was a big deal.

[danthered.livejournal.com]

Actually, the $1.30 for the first minute from Chicago to Denver, adjusted for infltion, would be $9.95. Each additional minute would be $2.68. That's in 2010 dollars; the 2011 figure is probably very much worse on account of present shenanigans in Washington.

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

Exactly! That was kind of my point that when we think 1950s prices are outrageous, then there has certainly been a change in expectations.

As for the shenanigans discussion, I won't touch that one! I try to keep things light here and save my political rants for other venues. :)

[baron154.livejournal.com]

Was wondering about this: were all the charges for "long distance" sort of a scam? For decades? If the pipes and phone lines were there and laid down, why would a long distance call be so exorbitant back then? Maybe to pay for the pipes and phone lines I suppose, but I also think it was sheer scammy profit-making for as long as they could get away with it.

[roeskva]

100,000,000,000 miles = 0.017 lightyears = about 1100 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. Yeah, I'll say her daddy travels quite far away sometimes ;)

[adrienneee.livejournal.com]

I REALLY wanted this to be an astronaut's kid or something.

[spuzzlightyear.livejournal.com]

Nowadays, you need a credit card for that type of call.

[caerfrli.livejournal.com]

"Hello Central, get me Heaven..."

[whoseline_wlsc]

Green phone! :D I want that phone!

[vix.livejournal.com]

I love it! I have a heavy black one like it but have no idea where it is. I wonder if I could trick out to work on voip.

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

"Okay, Jimmy, we'll go over it one more time. *THIS* is the phone. NO, this. The thing I'm pointing to. Right here. Jimmy! Oh jeeze, I give up."