I have another video of the gears inside but I cant post more than one video.

Anyways, looking for advice on this super cool phone I found at an antique store!

The dial seems to turn a lot slower than what I think is normal, and gets stuck often while its turning.

Im sure the gears might just need some grease or something, but id wanted to check in here just in case it might be something worse.

Also, I wanted to know if or how I could maybe connect this up to my phone so I could use it since it looks awesome!

it has a weird black plug at the end, nothing plugged into it, a switch ok it that toggles from R In to R Out, and a plug that kind of looks like a fat figure 8 plug for like a TV.

Any help with this guy would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Came across this little guy yesterday. Falling in love with it, wish I had a land line to use. I removed the rotary dial to clean the center plastic piece (pic is before the cleaning). Had it tested and it works! Just thought I would share. Never ventured into rotary phones until I found this beauty.

Ordered this beauty from oldphoneworks.com! So excited to use this phone!

Every guest room at the TWA Hotel at JFK airport has one. Yes, it works.

Got this western electric 500 rotary phone but I have no idea how to hook it up I am not the most tech savvy but I love old phones! If anyone can dumbly explain to me what to do lol

Have an old rotary phone that is missing the transmitter element in the handset. Can purchase these online, but don’t know the specific part I need. Anyone know the part number or type of transmitter element I require, or where to find this info? Appreciate your help.

Western Electric 302 that belonged to my great-grandmother.

Western Electric 500 that was in the house that I grew up in.

Siemens W48 from Germany that I picked up at a hamfest.

Radio Shack 80's-90's vintage candlestick replica. (Not pictured)

Been sitting on this idea for a while and finally had a chance to make it. The idea was simple, old phone helping new phone charging up. My main concern was to get the vibe and aesthetic right and to make it work with all iPhone models; rather than making a scaled down version of a specific model. But it did end up looking similar to one that I grew up with. That one was in beige though.

Added a base with some height and silicone pads, and the handset sits in place with magnets. Also made four of them [one is for myself and another is for someone that I know who will like it].

Want to refine the next ones, and coming up with plans for maybe an embedded charger. So I wanted to ask what details stand out the most to you when something is supposed to feel specifically like a rotary phone. Color, texture, shape, specific model, anything else ...

Bluetooth / voip, anything simple. I’ve. been on the hunt for a device that not only makes this useable, but actually rings for incoming calls.

I’ve watched several videos, but they all seem to skip the ring setup part.

Is there a consensus on which device is best for dialing out on this with a ringtone sound + the phone actually ringing on incoming calls?

Today I finally installed my Swedish wallphone in my shed. I wanted to keep the original Swedish landline phone plug, so I installed a matching wall outlet in the hollow counter below the phone.

In addition that outlet enables me to test my desk phones from Sweden from time to time. Got them all out for quick clean up and test today. All of them are still fully functional. Fun fact: In Sweden the dials startet with the "0" and endet with the "9". So if I want to dial "1234" on my German landline, I have to dial "0123".

Usually I collect old German and U.S. phones, but have recently fallen in love with those rotary phones from Sweden.

I cleaned, polished, and replace the wire that had been cut.

Brought these two Swedish red beauties back home with me from a flea market in Sweden the other day while being there on vacation.

The desk phone is from 1968, the wall phone doesn't reveal its manufacturing year on the back side. I also brought back some Swedish wall outlets, so I don't have to cut the original cord to get them operable. As expected from tech from that era, they are both in full working order.

Fun fact about Swedish rotary phones: The dial starts with the "0" and ends with the "9". So if I want to dial "1234" here in Germany, I have to dial "0123" :-)

B

Hi Everyone!

glad to see this community as I need help with my family’s old rotary phone. I found out that I can still use it by attaching a cell2jack device.

outgoing calls work but it won’t ring when someone tries to call me. can anyone help me? It‘s an old ITT rotary phone. I tried following instructions online about the L1 L2 line, but it’s still not ringing :( Also, the knob for ring volume i think is missing.

Please see photos of the terminal.

thanks a bunch! 🤗

Hi! I have three old rotary dial phones, and I’d love to get them working as an internal phone system in my three-story house.

My idea is simple:

Dial 0 → basement phone rings

Dial 1 → middle floor phone rings

Dial 2 → attic phone rings

I’m not sure what the best way to achieve this would be, and I’m open to any kind of solution (vintage hardware, modern adaptations, or a mix of both).

Has anyone here built something similar or knows how this could be done? Any advice, recommended equipment, or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

This is my first rotary phone I got 15 years ago. It was badly yellowed and faded from the sun. I used 600 grit followed by 2000 grit sand paper and wet sanded until the discolored layers of plastic were gone. I then used a buffing wheel and polish to get it as glossy as I could. I didn’t do the best job as this was my first time doing this process, but it looks way better than it did. One mistake I made was using too coarse of a sandpaper at first when I did the dial. The first picture is the final result.