Tuesday, October 12, 2010

The Cost of Talking from Ma Bell to Facebook

In 1950, when I first remember the phone it was so different. Dad and Mother had Michigan Bell but grandma had an older system with wooden phones and cranks that you turned and yelled "Florwnce, Florence is that you?" into the mouthpiece so Florence Vttengroover down in Millington at the switchboard would know to pull and plug wires on the switchboard to make connections Grandma did almost all the taking on this Mystery. Grandpa didn't touch it once a year.

Our phone was much more modern. We had a four digit number, 3502, that other Vassar phones could dial with their black rotary phones with no operator involved.

Cost was very high. Three dollars for three minutes when we called Grandma Crane in Vermillion, South Dakota and it took an hour to make the connection.

Grandma Welsh who lived only a mile and a half away was with Millington Wolverine Telephone Co. So she was long distance. Calling her was fifteen cents so that was seldom done either when Dad made two dollars an hour.

Today we live in the sold of free communication. Things are very different.

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