Problems with the Nest batteries

Fred

Yep, That's the one

ChrisJ

Fred said:

Yep, That's the one

Just checked,
I have 3 Western Electric 500s, two have metal dials one plastic. I used to have a Western Electric 2554 wall hung, black.

All sounded the same, even replaced the carbon buttons.

Perhaps your Princess phone sounds better, I donno.

Fred

Lol

Jamie Hall

In defence of the carbon button (which my family has a close connection with!), may I point out one minor item -- they may not be hi-fi, but they are, quite literally, bullet proof. Short of a direct hit, they will take anything you can do to them and keep squawking.

ChrisJ

Jamie Hall said:

In defence of the carbon button (which my family has a close connection with!), may I point out one minor item -- they may not be hi-fi, but they are, quite literally, bullet proof. Short of a direct hit, they will take anything you can do to them and keep squawking.

Yeah,
Except for moisture.

Fred

Come on Chris. They worked in payphones, under the harshest conditions for years and years. many times the hand set was left hanging by its cord in the rain/snow and still worked fine.

ChrisJ

Fred said:

Come on Chris. They worked in payphones, under the harshest conditions for years and years. many times the hand set was left hanging by its cord in the rain/snow and still worked fine.

Yes, but moisture is a huge problem with them. That's why they have a protective rubber cover below the grill, but they don't always work.

Now it's true, you can put it in the oven and dry it out, but that's besides the point.

MarkS

Jamie Hall said:

In defence of the carbon button (which my family has a close connection with!), may I point out one minor item -- they may not be hi-fi, but they are, quite literally, bullet proof. Short of a direct hit, they will take anything you can do to them and keep squawking.

C'mon Jamie, you can't drop a teaser like that and leave us hanging. What's your family's connection to the carbon button?

ChrisJ

Jamie,
Are you related to Thomas Edison?

Bob Bona_4

Remember we had to pay monthly for those rotary phones? Oh wait...;)

Fred

ChrisJ said:

Jamie,
Are you related to Thomas Edison?

Jamie Thoimas Edison Hall, Has a nice RING to it!

Jamie Hall

OK, OK -- my great uncle, Shandy Goucher, (Frederick Shand Goucher) invented it. And several other things for Dr. Bell -- they were neighbours, in Nova Scotia.

ChrisJ

Jamie Hall said:

OK, OK -- my great uncle, Shandy Goucher, (Frederick Shand Goucher) invented it. And several other things for Dr. Bell -- they were neighbours, in Nova Scotia.

But everything I found said Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone?

Fred

He said, "invented it for Dr. Bell". You know the guys that get credit for all the inventions aren't actually the brains behind the inventions. They just fund the development and get the credit for them.

Jamie Hall

It's complicated. The very first carbon button microphones were invented by ... maybe Edison, maybe Berliner. Edison was meaner and had better lawyers, and got the patent. The later ones -- the ones used now -- were similar, but the carbon was packed more tightly. They were developed (invented may be too strong a word?) by Bell Labs, back in the days when Bell Labs was the place for invention. That's where Shandy got his patent for them.

It's true they don't work when they're soaked -- but then, neither does much else electrical. But even if they have been soaked, they work when they dry out. They are still used in some applications where you absolutely positively must have a working microphone, come what may.

Sal Santamaura

ChrisJ said:

Fred said:

They are a bit tinny but the clarity seems so much better than the cell phones. Many cell phones, including the iPhone also sound distant to me.

Are you sure you're talking about old carbon button phones like this?

All modern phones use a condenser mic, and yes they are better then most if not all cellphones.

Fred already answered for himself, but I'll additionally point out that any audio frequency shortfalls attributable to carbon microphones in POTS telephones pale in comparison to the panoply of cell phone "fidelity" artifacts.

From simplex connections (and the cutting in and out that results during conversation) to temporary periods of no audio during cell transitions to highly distorted voices resulting from inability to adequately repair streams that lose significant chunks of data, cell "phones" generally sound horrible. They do much better as portable computers, where one can wait for all the bits to arrive before being reassembled into displays. Check out Consumer Reports tests of these devices. Find any that earn close to the sound quality ratings even a carbon-miked POTS phone ever got, much less those with condenser (capacitor) mikes.

Most users don't know and/or care about sound quality. The younger ones don't even have (or never had) land lines as a frame of reference. I feel much better since I gave up hope.