Originally published at: How to connect a landline phone to a car | Boing Boing
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Telephone simulators do more than provide dial tone. I once used one to debug a FAX machine.
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I want to hear about that, @klossner! How cool! Was it to verify the transmission worked, etc?
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Awesome article. Feels like author is letting us in on a simulator for old school boing boing.
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Hmm…so you just plug your cell phone into a converter box that connects to an old-ass phone? It’s just not the same. Where are the perverts that randomly call numbers in the local phone book to heavy breath or demand to speak to Candy in their creepiest voice? Because that’s what we (girls/women) used to get on those old phone lines before caller ID and *69.
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INSTRUCTIONS: This device is designed for senior citizens to understand, […] This makes the phone findable as a Bluetooth device; you then pair with your phone.
Those two statements are incompatible.
At best, they’ve made it easy for the grandchildren to set up the phone for gramps.
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This is why I keep coming back here.
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Just based on the title and not the article, the only possible answer is:
“With a really long wire”
I’ll show myself out.
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That’s a Teltone", not Celtone. Just sayin’. 
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Bollocks.
My dad’s (86) words, not mine.
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I keep wanting to get my grandma’s phone from the '40s operational. I wonder if this thing has enough power to get this Western Electric Spacesaver to ring again.
This isn’t mine but I have the exact phone all boxed up in my attic. The wife and I talked on it while we were dating and it was in our first house when we got married.
I would love to hear that monster ringer again.
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This is top-class nerdery. 10/10.
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Now a days I get more of a SkyNet / big brother vibe with +10 random “local” calls on my cell phone. If I answer, which is super rare, it’s 6 seconds or so of silence and then a disconnect.
I love this. I work in telecom and have an obsession with obsoete technoogy such as 8 & 16mm fim, manual typewriters, Victrolas etc…so naturally I have some sweet vintage rotary phones about. I excited to be able to use them again. Thanks!
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HOW IT WAS DONE IN 1946!
“In the case of a call from a vehicle, it is transmitted from the car to the nearest of the several stationed receiving antennas…” (Damn, Bell Labs was the coolest)
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Cheers on that! It looks like the main concern would be to first modify the wiring of your WE Spacesaver to have an RJ11 connector. (RJ11 are modern telephone cables) It looks like this guide might get you there: https://www.instructables.com/Restore-and-Rewire-a-1930s-Telephone/ - Doesn’t appear to require any soldering, just simple twisted wire with a screwdriver. The RJ11 cable (telephone cable sticking out of the modified phone in the pictures) would then connect to a Cell2Jack.
Edit: From those instructions it does look you might need to solder to tin the wires. It’s easy to do if you’ve never tried. I’d avoid the suggestion to use steel wool, that’s just cosmetics. I’m not sure of the wiring on your grandmother’s phone but there’s many tutorials online for upgrading them to the modern RJ11 cable. Seems like a fun very rewarding project, just match the wires correctly.
There are many services that seem to do this for a fee, too. Here’s a video of someone who has gone the fully professional route with a full RJ11 port:
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I just sent an email to the company in the video. I can do the rewire myself but what I really want is to hear the original ringer. It’s my understanding current line voltage won’t do it but there is a piece of equipment that will provide the proper voltage.
Thanks for the video, it may have been enough to finally get me off my behind and get this phone working.
I asked for a ballpark for a professional rewire and get the ringer working. For me nostalgia from my past is almost blank check territory. We’ll see what the number is though.
Thanks so much.
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Ah! GTE, the good ol’ days* Well, not this old…
*As someone who worked for them before the merger buyout
ETA: Back to the topic at hand, my dad bought one of these for my uncle. Something about him not getting used to his cell phone, so they’ve rigged up the old house phone to use the flip phone’s connection. The drawback is if my uncle takes the flip phone with him to the dining room, it will unpair the bluetooth connection.
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