telephones

[alfie jones]

why do normal house phones have letters on the keys as well as numbers?

[ursula62]

Years ago the local exchanges all had names instead of numbers, e.g. Byron, Alexander, Pope. These were translated into numbers when the exchanges became automatic.

[Pinotage]

Its true the old telephone numbers were a mixture of letters & numbers but when they went to all number numbers BT started supplying phones wheich had only numbers and no letters. Until recently our house phones had only numbers on the keys.

  The reason (I think)  phones now have both letters and numbers is that since the liberation of telecommunications BT no longer manuafactures its own phones, and you can buy a phone from anyone. Companies that make phones want to be able to sell them in a wider market than just the UK and since the US has continued to make use of letters, they made them to suit the US market.

[Ouisch]

In addition to the reasons already given, having letters on the telephone makes it easier for businesses, especially ones that advertise on the radio or TV....it's simpler for potential customers to remember "1-800-FLOWERS" or "1-800-COLLECT" than a full set of digits.

[Lindy Loo]

Also if you have a phone with an address book memory, you need the letters to add names

[ian.miller]

and you can also SMS from some phone now - but Lindy Loo and Ouisch are correct as to the main reasons current phones have them.

[Beaks]

did you also know that you can dial out from phones by using the button that cuts the call of when you put the phone down, ie you tap this button the same amount of times as each single number in the whole number you are trying to call, a complete waste of time now but in the old days when i was a kid it was funny when your parents put a phone lock on only to find out the bill was still huge.