These phones were made to be used with a human operator in the loop. The button sends an alert signal to the operator so they know you want to be connected to another person.
A long time ago you picked up the phone and then told the operator who you wanted to talk to. That person then connected a physical cable from your jack on their panel to the other person you wanted to call’s jack. The Soviet Union likely kept that system for longer than most because it created jobs for people to do and also made tapping phone conversations trivial.
Yes, so glad to be in the land of the free where all of my telecommunications are entirely secure and private and there is no national surveillance agency with the power to listen in for any or no reason at all....
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u/byteminer 5d ago
These phones were made to be used with a human operator in the loop. The button sends an alert signal to the operator so they know you want to be connected to another person.
A long time ago you picked up the phone and then told the operator who you wanted to talk to. That person then connected a physical cable from your jack on their panel to the other person you wanted to call’s jack. The Soviet Union likely kept that system for longer than most because it created jobs for people to do and also made tapping phone conversations trivial.