HackerTube.dev

The Dial Comes To Town

PVid88 · 1.2M views · 2012-12-14 · 20:20

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

A 1940 Bell Telephone educational short teaching customers how to use their new dial phones and why the change was happening. It is a period piece about rolling out a new technology to ordinary people.

On Hacker News

Cited as a charming example of the effort once made to teach the public a new technology, in threads about phones and teaching seniors.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2021–2026

Topics

History of computingTech company stories & documentaries
Search by tags
rotary phonebell system1940instructional filmdial service

What people said

tzs · 2021-01 · Recommendation

For those who don't know how to use a rotary dial phone, here is a 1940 educational movie by Bell Telephone they made to teach customers about this new technology [1]. [1] [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
Stratoscope · 2026-07 · Reference

The Bell System did this when dial telephone service was first introduced. They held town meetings with a giant rotary dial onstage where someone explained it and demonstrated how to dial your calls. And they made an instructional film about it! [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
2143 · 2026-06 · Reference

I think this “awesome”, “amazing”, “super exciting” phase came much later than the moon walking era. Remember it’s been over 50 years since humans walked on the moon. Much has changed. See these old videos, where people talk in a straightforward way: Car transmission [LINK] How to dial your phone [LINK] The dial comes to town [VIDEO] Now go watch that Apple video again and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by PVid88, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks
  • SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
  • Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources