>> > ... even though you cannot dial the old rotary phones any longer.
>>
>> Are certain about that or are you merely assuming?
 
> I'm told that at my mother's place you still can.  Here where I live,
> I was unable to do so.  I tried and it confirmed what they said in my
> bill when they discontinued it.
 
Indeed ... depending upon the telephone switch you can still manually dial
a number by rythmically clicking the receiver "on-hook". In the
newer exchanges this is not possible anymore, but some still do ... I
figured this was a neat feature to still dial a number even if the keyboard
was disfunctional.
 
 \%/{at}rd 

--- D'Bridge 2.41