Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!amdahl!pacbell!att!occrsh!occrsh.ATT.COM!rjd From: rjd@occrsh.ATT.COM Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: phone dialing Message-ID: <131500002@occrsh.ATT.COM> Date: 15 Jun 88 18:22:00 GMT References: <361@tiger.oxy.edu> Lines: 23 Nf-ID: #R:tiger.oxy.edu:-36100:occrsh.ATT.COM:131500002:000:1106 Nf-From: occrsh.ATT.COM!rjd Jun 15 13:22:00 1988 ::What is the difference between a dial phone and a pushbutton phone. :: ::Is it the signal that is sent to indicate a certain number? :: ::And why is it more expensive to use a pushbutton phone? A dial phone uses pulse dialing, which is the method whereby the phone uses a timed series of on/off/on hook pulses to send the number to the phone switch (you can do the same thing by pushing the on-hook button in the proper pattern). A pushbutton phone can be either of the two methods of touch-tone or pulse dialing. If it uses pulse dialing (as most cheaper ones do), then the phone company does not charge any more. If it uses touch-tone, the phone transmits a mixture of two tones for each number (in practice, it happens to be one tone for the column and one for the row). The only reason it costs more is because the phone company wants to charge more. The equipment is newer than the old pulse-dialing decoding, so perhaps they are trying to re-coup the upgrade investment, but the equipment to decode touch-tone is actually cheaper, I hear, than the pulse-dialing decoding equipment. Randy