Many things to love here in this 1984 photo. The TRS-80 model 100. That guerrilla acoustic modem coupler. And whatever the “Computing Across America Technomadic Bicycle Adventure” was. (Guessing it was some RS promo)
Image Description: A woman and a man, both in Army uniforms, kneel on the floor next to large racks of telephone wires. Both are holding telephone receivers to their ears to test lines.
It’s becoming harder and harder to find payphones after the mass decommission, so I always take time to have a little moment whenever I do stumble across one.
Memories… Sweet memories of RadioShack-powered boxes, mini tape recorders, calling my long distance girlfriend, disrupting the asshole staff at my Junior High, learning neat tricks to show people, and just having harmless fun before the Internet truly hit.
May 1983. ‘Here’s an ear-ful on phones – and how to buy your own.’
If you were paying for TouchTone use in your area in 1983, you were being scammed since it had already become the standard.
By 1990, the number of carriers still using pulse dialing had rapidly declined. Same story if you were renting a phone from the telco; phone stores (yes, that was a thing back then) and regular stores with phones for sale were everywhere.
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