It was called a "rotary dial".
Normally you dial * then 6 then 7. If you are using a rotary phone, you can dial 1167 instead of *67.
The rotary dial phone used a wheel to dial a sequence of numbers. It went into use as early as the 1890s to overcome the need for an operator to connect all calls. The rotary dial remained in use until the 1980s and beyond.. Even today, many telephone exchanges still support the rotary dial signalling.
There are many places an individual could purchase a retro corded phone with a rotary dial. A few of the more commonly used places are Amazon, Retro Planet and eBay.
They had to choose somehing, and 911 is:Easy to rememberEasy to dial by feel in smoke or darkness (including on a rotary dial phone)Quicker to dial on a rotary dial than 999 (traditional in UK) though not 112 (standard throughout Europe)Unlikely to be dialled by accident on a touch phone (common problem with 999)Unlikely to be dialled by accident during maintenance on a pulse dialing network (common problem with 112)
To dial, you first take the receiver off the hook and listen for the dial tone. You put your finger in the hole for the desired number, and rotate the dial around clockwise until your finger hits the stopper. Take your finger out, and wait for the dial to resume its normal starting position. Continue to do this until the number has been fully dialed.
In the United States, *89 is the code to cancel call return. If you dial *69, the phone system will attempt to call back the last person who called you, and will continue to try until either the call goes through or you dial *89 to cancel. If you have a rotary or pulse-dial phone, you can dial 11xx instead of *xx for any of the "star codes" (vertical service codes).
The old fashioned rotary dial telephone has almost completely fallen out of use. The touch tone phone is tremendously more convenient.
Originally to use a phone you had to enter the numbers using a rotary dial. Then with digital phones, it became possible to enter numbers using buttons. These button phones were called "touch" phones.
You should dial *67 and then dial the phone number.
Most voicemail systems use *86 to access voicemail. You can dial 11 on a rotary phone to substitute for the *, so you'd dial 1186 instead. However, automated systems are only capable of recognizing DTMF (touch-tone) digits, and would be unable to recognize the pulsed input from a rotary phone, and therefore you'd be unable to enter your password, or navigate through the menus. You could play the digits through the receiver, but that really defeats the point. The short answer is you can't do it, unless you have a separate answering machine.
The new Dodge Ram trucks with the eight speed transmission do not have any other option besides the rotary dial.