Star (*) & Pound (#) on a Rotary Telephone

While Rotary Phones do NOT have Star and Pound Keys, in certain limited situations, you can still use these features. The most common situation is with verticle service features (TouchStar® Features). **This does NOT work in all areas, and compatibility depends on the type of switching equipment used by your Telephone Company's Central Office.**


Instead of Star (*) dial "11"

Instead of Pound (#) dial "12" or wait for 4-seconds.

Helpful Hints:

1. When using a substitution for Pound (#), in Verticel Service Feature Menus, if dialing "12" gets an error, try simple waiting 4-seconds. and vise-versa.  Also, try waiting 4-seconds for menus that ask you to dial Star (*) at the end of an entry.
2. This will NOT work on most modern voicemail systems, although if you use a very old voicemail system, you may be the exception to this.
3. You can also purchase a "Pocket Dialer" (this is mostly a mid-80s gadget, try ebay?) which is a small portable dialing keypad you hold up to the microphone end of your telephone receiver.
4. If you feel comfortable opening up your telephone, and doing some re-wirng, there is a device you can install called a "Rota Tone" which will convert pulse-dial to touchtone. Also available is an external Pulse-to-Tone converter box. Both devices are available from OldPhoneWorks.com