"John R. Covert 01-May-1991 1646" <covert@covert.enet.dec.com> (05/01/91)
[Moderator's Note: Message forwarded to the Digest. PAT] From: Dale Neiburg Subject: Information Wanted on Chapel Hill Phone System Organization: NPR Engineering In volume 11, issue 297, Thomas B. Clark III of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recounts some puzzling problems with wrong numbers on his hunt group. I have no wisdom to offer on that, but would be interested in knowing how the Chapel Hill phone system works generally. Reason being: when I attended UNC-CH (graduated '67), the town phone system was operated by the University, as were the town laundry, the hotel, the water works, and lots of other things. Back in those days, it had the reputation of being abysmal. How Bad Was It? It was so bad that being taken over by GTE was a big improvement. Sorry, I don't have any anecdotes about my personal experiences with the ancien regime. I was enrolled there for only four years, and there was a five-year waiting list to get a phone.... Disclaimer: Opinions are mine, not NPR's or GTE's. UNC and I gave up speaking for each other in 1967.
Stephen Tell <tell@cs.unc.edu> (05/06/91)
In article <telecom11.327.4@eecs.nwu.edu> Dale Neiburg requested information on the Chapel Hill phone system. I just arrived in Chapel Hill recently (OK, two years ago) and don't know very much of the history, but I can get the discussion started. > I have no wisdom to offer on that, but would be interested in knowing > how the Chapel Hill phone system works generally. Reason being: when > I attended UNC-CH (graduated '67), the town phone system was operated > by the University, as were the town laundry, the hotel, the water > works, and lots of other things. Back in those days, it had the > reputation of being abysmal. > How Bad Was It? It was so bad that being taken over by GTE was a big > improvement. Actually, GTE didn't take over, Southern Bell did. Someone once told me that there were discussions with both GTE and Southern Bell at the time though. Southern Bell took over the whole system, and now UNC has a huge Centrex system, with two prefixes, 962 and 966. They have five-digit dialing between them. Other Chapel Hill and Carrboro (the little town right next door) prefixes are 929, 932, 933, 942, 967, and 968. Having the other local prefixes start with "9" is convenient; if you forget you're behind a centrex, the second dial tone after the "9" reminds you that somthing special is going on. I don't know much about the Centrex; here in Computer Science we're behind a nice digital PBX. > I was enrolled there for only four years, and there was a five-year > waiting list to get a phone.... Back in September, I got a second line in my appartment in less than a week, and most of the waiting was for a free day in my schedule to stay home and wait for them. He had to come back a second day after I had arranged to get access to the attic through another appartment; it seems there is a splice box up there in addition to the typical green metal box on the side of the building with the protectors and a punchdown block. He characterized the whole installation as more of that "old University mess." The installer said that they are still trying to get the outside plant cleaned up to their current standards, even though its been years since the university ran things. He was complaining that his boss wanted him to clean things up in every cross-connect box he opened, instead of just doing the minimum necessary for the job at hand, but not allowing the extra time this would take on every service call. Steve Tell tell@cs.unc.edu H: +1 919 968 1792 #5L Estes Park apts CS Grad Student, UNC Chapel Hill. W: +1 919 962 1845 Carrboro NC 27510