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