Hey Kids A Phone With A Dail On It

Widow Rented Rotary Phone for 42 Years

A widow rented a rotary dial telephone for 42 years, paying what her family calculates as more than $14,000 for a now outdated phone.

Ester Strogen, 82, of Canton, first leased two black rotary phones — the kind whose round dial is moved manually with your finger — in the 1960s. Back then, the technology was new and owning telephones was unaffordable for most people.

Until two months ago, Strogen was still paying AT&T to use the phones — $29.10 a month. Strogen's granddaughters, Melissa Howell and Barb Gordon, ended the arrangement when they discovered the bills.

Okay so like back in the 90s my Gran was still renting her phone too. Her and my mother was on it one day trying to rent a new one because the cord was hopelessly tangled and lead to a lot phone quickly on floor moments.

It took me abit to even realize what their problems was in not just buying a cordless phone. They was and being advertised everywhere. I was showing them ads and they was talking as though they thought those phones wouldn't work on the phone line they had. Puzzled look walking away.

We don't always pay attention as things change. And when a letter from the phone company arrives telling you of changes it's usually is an advertisement. I was not paying a phone bill back in the days when you had to rent a phone. So when I finally got what they were saying I was like hands in the air slapping my thighs stuttering out the word wha wh w what...! I Grabbed Sunday sale papers and found a phone for $30 and plugged it in.

And no they just didn't turn in the phone. They tried find what they had to pay for having that one instead. My granparents had been renting since the 40s but I think like with this story you can count the years when you could get a phone from some other than at&t.

"I'm outraged," Gordon said. "It made me so mad. It's ridiculous. If my own grandmother was doing it, how many other people are?"

New Jersey-based Lucent Technologies, a spinoff of AT&T that manages the residential leasing service, said customers were given the choice option to opt out of renting in 1985. The number of customers leasing phones dropped from 40 million nationwide to about 750,000 today, he said.

Like it's a matter of choosing and of not being informed eh.

Oh an spam spam spam spam any color of spam you as long as it's black.