fred@aficom.ocunix.on.ca (Fred Ennis) (04/02/91)
Someone was asking about the use of eight party lines when the telco only had four ringer options (tip +/- ground and ring +/- to ground). Back when I was growing up in the 50's and early 60's we had Nxx-5911 in our exchange. Dialing any last digit would still ring our phone, with 5912 giving two rings, 5913 giving three rings, I think 5914 gave us four rings and 5915 gave a long and a short. They were repeated at 5916 thru 5910. This is pure conjecture here now, but I'd assume Bell could run ten parties on such a system, because there could be five distinctive rings on tip to ground and another five on ring to ground. And, from our "That's not a bug, that's a feature!" department, I used to give out 5913 to my friends, so mother and dad always knew if the phone was for me. I now find it funny that telco marketing folks have rediscovered this concept and are now selling it as "distinctive ringing"! Plus ca change, c'est plus la meme chose! F.