For those of older Millennials we do in fact understand this concept. I remember long distance calls were still a thing when I was a kid. Then cell phones came around. I remember being told all the time “talk to your friends during the free minutes (nights and weekends)” “you only have 200,text messages a month, they’re 10 cents each after that!!”
Long distance charges and evening/weekend discounts are still a thing in Canada with Bell’s landline services. My parents do not have a long distance package so they pay by the minute when calling long distance.
That’s crazy to think about! I can’t remember the last time I worried about long distance charges. My grandma had siblings in many states, I remember their calls were a lot shorter back then! Then after long distance charges went away their calls would last close to an hour. Sadly, my poor grandma has no siblings left to call
Wild, why not just use/get a cell phone instead
Edit: guys I’m responding to the person above me who said their parents still incur long distance charges on their landline. 🥹
Believe it or not, there was once a time when there were no cell phones. It was back in the time when the earth was young, when men were men and sheep were nervous.
*^(/s, in case it's needed)*
First cell phone I had at 15 racked up 1200 in first month not realizing there was roaming, long distance to the next area code, etc.. man that was a learning experience
As another 1989 baby I refuse to accept the tag of Elder Millennial haha, we're Mid/Peak Millennial! Elder Millennials imo were born between 82 and 86 inclusive.
First cell phone I had at 15 racked up 1200 in first month not realizing there was roaming, long distance to the next area code, etc.. man that was a learning experience
I'm an older Milennial too! I remember special discount dial codes for long distance calls like 10-10-321 or for my family in Philly, 10-BPA or 10-NJB. To this day, my dad, who almost exclusively uses a cell phone will end a call with me to accept a call from someone calling "long distance." Maybe he just doesn't want to talk to me lol
This gives me anxiety just looking at the ad. I had a fiance who was going to college 300 miles away and we had to spend 2 semesters mostly apart. It was an expensive time.
The discount for directly dialed calls was instituted to get more people to make long distance calls without the assistance of an operator, as there was a shortage of them (and equipment) to handle the growing population. It may seem like a simple thing to us to call an 11 digit phone number starting with a '1', but it was still very new to people in 1971, and people would instinctively dial the operator instead.
It had only been about 10 years since phone numbers starting with place names had began to be phased out. (Watch a show or movie from the 40's and 50's, and you'll hear things like "Klondike 5-4-2-3 or Murray Hill 3-5-9-1-2". The phone company began to run out of these geographically named numbers, and began to get rid of them entirely at the beginning of the 60's. People actually protested this, one such protest group was called "The Anti Digit Dialing League", and was run by a future US Senator, Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa.
This is really the point of the ad, so thank you for your explanation. I (Gen X) remember the expense of making long-distance calls, but not the direct-dial vs operator assistance thing. The only operator assistance calls I ever made were collect to my mom to pick me up after school and then she would yell at me for not having a quarter (because the collect calls were a lot more than paying the phone directly)
The end goal was to get rid of operators entirely, which brought us eventually to things like automated collect calls, kicking off the whole "Bobwehadababyitsaboy" era.
The first two letters (Or first letter of 2 words) are digits. Klondike or K-L would be "5-5", so it would be 555-423 (Yes, some areas had just six digits in phone numbers). Murray Hill would be 6-4.
Klondike was heard so much in movies and TV because 555 was not used by telephone companies. It's the equivalent of when you watch a more modern show and someone says "Yeah my number is 555-3928".
It was the exchange you were calling, usually a place name of some sort.
The exchange was run by a central office of operators who routed the calls.
Here is an example of what it sounded like.
https://youtu.be/wMPgvGIv1Y4
Originally calls were hand recorded by operators and then entered into a ledger.
Later on electromechanical means were used, first meters on homes that read pulses sent over the line, then later punch tape recorded in the offices(followed by magnetic tape), which was a system known as [Automatic message accounting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_message_accounting).
Used to have an uncle who worked in India. We called him once a year from New York. It had to be set up in advance by a local operator, a “long lines” operator, and a foreign operator. I think it was like $25 for a five minute call or so. I was just amazed that I was talking into a phone and someone on the other side of the planet could talk back to me! Honestly, I’m still always amazed how good communications have gotten, that it’s become a trivial thing to send a random cat picture to a friend in France!
I am thinking of two girlfriends, two different times I ran up over $100 phone bills, which back then was a ridiculous amount. I remember a lot of yelling about it from my grandmother but not too many other consequences.
When I was a kid (73 now) , my parents and uncle would make reel to reel tapes and send to each other. We were in Indiana, later Pennsylvania and they lived in Massachusetts. Cheaper to mail than call. But then, I also remember postage was a penny less if the envelopes were not sealed. Really saved at Christmas card sending
When my wife drove back to college in the 70s, her folks had her place a collect call to their home, and when the operator asked if they would accept, they answered no. It was a cost free way to signal that she was back in the dorm.
Speaking of dorms, there was only one pay phone on the floor and you had to have a bag of quarters for calling home. What a PITA.
Early ‘70 and I remember my mother explaining why we had to keep calls quick when we were wishing her parents Happy Birthday. Even back then I questioned why calling long distance costed so much when all the equipment had been in place for years.
For those of older Millennials we do in fact understand this concept. I remember long distance calls were still a thing when I was a kid. Then cell phones came around. I remember being told all the time “talk to your friends during the free minutes (nights and weekends)” “you only have 200,text messages a month, they’re 10 cents each after that!!”
Long distance charges and evening/weekend discounts are still a thing in Canada with Bell’s landline services. My parents do not have a long distance package so they pay by the minute when calling long distance.
That’s crazy to think about! I can’t remember the last time I worried about long distance charges. My grandma had siblings in many states, I remember their calls were a lot shorter back then! Then after long distance charges went away their calls would last close to an hour. Sadly, my poor grandma has no siblings left to call
Wild, why not just use/get a cell phone instead Edit: guys I’m responding to the person above me who said their parents still incur long distance charges on their landline. 🥹
Believe it or not, there was once a time when there were no cell phones. It was back in the time when the earth was young, when men were men and sheep were nervous. *^(/s, in case it's needed)*
According to the yoots, we are old. I’m 35. Just saw blink 182’s All The Small Things on the vintage station 😅
First cell phone I had at 15 racked up 1200 in first month not realizing there was roaming, long distance to the next area code, etc.. man that was a learning experience
I remember buying calling cards from the 7-11 in high school because the rates were so much lower than using the phone company provided long distance.
Yes! Did this in college to call home.
Thanks for sharing that! What year were you born, if you don’t mind divulging?
1989
As another 1989 baby I refuse to accept the tag of Elder Millennial haha, we're Mid/Peak Millennial! Elder Millennials imo were born between 82 and 86 inclusive.
First cell phone I had at 15 racked up 1200 in first month not realizing there was roaming, long distance to the next area code, etc.. man that was a learning experience
I'm an older Milennial too! I remember special discount dial codes for long distance calls like 10-10-321 or for my family in Philly, 10-BPA or 10-NJB. To this day, my dad, who almost exclusively uses a cell phone will end a call with me to accept a call from someone calling "long distance." Maybe he just doesn't want to talk to me lol
This gives me anxiety just looking at the ad. I had a fiance who was going to college 300 miles away and we had to spend 2 semesters mostly apart. It was an expensive time.
I feel ya. We were all so acutely aware of time back then. Is it 11 o’clock yet?
Right! Or the weekend. Even evening rates were better than nothing.
Via an inflation calculator, a 70¢ phone call for 3 minutes would equate to $5.40 today. Imagine getting a three-minute phone call for $5.40. Yikes.
The discount for directly dialed calls was instituted to get more people to make long distance calls without the assistance of an operator, as there was a shortage of them (and equipment) to handle the growing population. It may seem like a simple thing to us to call an 11 digit phone number starting with a '1', but it was still very new to people in 1971, and people would instinctively dial the operator instead. It had only been about 10 years since phone numbers starting with place names had began to be phased out. (Watch a show or movie from the 40's and 50's, and you'll hear things like "Klondike 5-4-2-3 or Murray Hill 3-5-9-1-2". The phone company began to run out of these geographically named numbers, and began to get rid of them entirely at the beginning of the 60's. People actually protested this, one such protest group was called "The Anti Digit Dialing League", and was run by a future US Senator, Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa.
This is really the point of the ad, so thank you for your explanation. I (Gen X) remember the expense of making long-distance calls, but not the direct-dial vs operator assistance thing. The only operator assistance calls I ever made were collect to my mom to pick me up after school and then she would yell at me for not having a quarter (because the collect calls were a lot more than paying the phone directly)
The end goal was to get rid of operators entirely, which brought us eventually to things like automated collect calls, kicking off the whole "Bobwehadababyitsaboy" era.
I never understood the whole ‘Klondike 5423’ thing. I kinda still don’t lol
The first two letters (Or first letter of 2 words) are digits. Klondike or K-L would be "5-5", so it would be 555-423 (Yes, some areas had just six digits in phone numbers). Murray Hill would be 6-4. Klondike was heard so much in movies and TV because 555 was not used by telephone companies. It's the equivalent of when you watch a more modern show and someone says "Yeah my number is 555-3928".
It was the exchange you were calling, usually a place name of some sort. The exchange was run by a central office of operators who routed the calls. Here is an example of what it sounded like. https://youtu.be/wMPgvGIv1Y4
How did phone companies charge and bill for calls before computerized billing systems?
Originally calls were hand recorded by operators and then entered into a ledger. Later on electromechanical means were used, first meters on homes that read pulses sent over the line, then later punch tape recorded in the offices(followed by magnetic tape), which was a system known as [Automatic message accounting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_message_accounting).
Used to have an uncle who worked in India. We called him once a year from New York. It had to be set up in advance by a local operator, a “long lines” operator, and a foreign operator. I think it was like $25 for a five minute call or so. I was just amazed that I was talking into a phone and someone on the other side of the planet could talk back to me! Honestly, I’m still always amazed how good communications have gotten, that it’s become a trivial thing to send a random cat picture to a friend in France!
God I remember running up my family’s phone bill to hundreds of dollars just calling my girlfriends who lived less than 20 miles away.
What is the end of the story?Did you guys get married or did you get super grounded?
I am thinking of two girlfriends, two different times I ran up over $100 phone bills, which back then was a ridiculous amount. I remember a lot of yelling about it from my grandmother but not too many other consequences.
Luckily my sister made those mistakes for me. I remember buying tons of phone cards bc my parents would go over all outgoing calls.
Gen X checking in... When my dad was in the military in the '70s, we used an egg timer to call my grandparents to track the minutes.
When I was a kid (73 now) , my parents and uncle would make reel to reel tapes and send to each other. We were in Indiana, later Pennsylvania and they lived in Massachusetts. Cheaper to mail than call. But then, I also remember postage was a penny less if the envelopes were not sealed. Really saved at Christmas card sending
When my wife drove back to college in the 70s, her folks had her place a collect call to their home, and when the operator asked if they would accept, they answered no. It was a cost free way to signal that she was back in the dorm. Speaking of dorms, there was only one pay phone on the floor and you had to have a bag of quarters for calling home. What a PITA.
Early ‘70 and I remember my mother explaining why we had to keep calls quick when we were wishing her parents Happy Birthday. Even back then I questioned why calling long distance costed so much when all the equipment had been in place for years.
I remember I made a long distance call an hour long to talk with a friend and it was $20.
Yeah, and $20 in 1970s/80s money! 😳
“And the operator says 40 cents more for the next three minutes “
PLEEEEEEESE Mrs. Avery ..
God how they gouged us
While I wasn’t born during that time period due to the media I’ve watched I sorta understand the concept.
10-10-220 sent John Lithgow's kids to Yale.
Also this reminds me of when I had my first cell phones and had to pay a fucking quarter for a text messages!