Wednesday, March 09, 2011

“At the Tone, the Time Will Be…”

I can’t remember the last time I used a regular phone to get the time and weather. For the past 70 years Verizon has provided residents the current time by dialing (410) 844-1212 and the current weather by dialing (410) 936-1212. As of June 1st that service will be discontinued.

In his column in The Washington Post today, John Kelly suggests that “this is no reason to mourn.”

“After all, the precise time is available on our cellphone screens. As for the forecast, there's "weather on the 8s," not to mention an entire cable channel devoted to rain, wind, sun and snow. Do we really need to employ a 19th-century technology - Alexander Graham Bell's telephone - to decide if we should wear a sweater or carry an umbrella?”

Like I said, I can’t recall the last time I used this service. In fact, until I read his column this morning I didn’t even know that the phone company still provided it. It turns out that we are one of the only places in country that still has dial up time and weather.

“This is the last area where Verizon provides the weather forecast, although you can still get the time in Massachusetts.”
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