Over the course of telephone history, there have been many different analog telephone switching systems used in North America – primarily the Step by Step, Panel & Crossbar switches. By the late 1990s, most of not all of these switching systems were long gone, but not forgotten! Before these switches were torn down for scrap metal, many people including myself collected the sounds produced by these unique and wonderful systems. Enjoy the sounds of yesteryear here at the Vintage Telephone Sounds section.
Automatic Electric Step by Step
Various recordings of Step by Step (Strowger) equipment including dial tone, ringback, reorder & busy from GTE (Automatic Electric) switching equipment.
Stromberg-Carlson XY
Various recordings of Stromberg-Carlson XY switching equipment including dial tone, ringback & reorder.
Western Electric Crossbar
Various recordings of Western Electric (Bell System) Number 1 Crossbar (#1XB) and Number 5 Crossbar (#5XB) switching equipment.
Canadian Step By Step Recordings
Various recordings of Canadian Step by Step equipment.
What’s Old is New Again
“What’s Old is New Again” is a page of vintage telephone sounds that are recently recorded from real equipment! These are examples of modern-day operation of vintage telephone systems (Panel, Step by Step and Crossbar) and their associated tone plants to produce real authentic dial tone, ring, reorder, and busy signals! These are NOT recreations, these are the real thing! Most of these came from museums or private collectors.
Miscellaneous Vintage Sounds
Other vintage recordings not elsewhere categorized.
Main Telephone Sounds Pages
Modern Telephone Sounds
Vintage Telephone Sounds
What’s Old is New Again (vintage sounds from museums and private collections)
International Telephone Sounds
Miscellaneous Telephone Sounds
Time, Temperature and Weather Forecast Recordings
Wawina, MN Telephone Sounds
The Last Step by Step Switch on the PSTN?