djcl@contact.uucp (woody) (09/21/90)
Someone wanted some details on a publication called "The Phone Book" written by an ex-Bell employee. The Phone Book - What the Telephone Company Would Rather You Not Know by J. Edward Hyde (a nom de plume) The copyright on it was 1976 Publisher: Henry Regnery Company of Chicago (Canadian publication by Beaverbooks in Pickering Ontario) Library of Congress Catalog Card #: 76-6275 ISBN: 0-8092-8008-6 Indeed, it is something of an inside scoop of the old Bell monopoly; it is now something of a historical reference what with the divestiture and other technological changes ... however, some rather shady stuff, and some rather humorous stuff, gets an airing. More details can be provided if there is interest. [Moderator's Note: Why not! It is an old book, and somewhat out of date as a result of divestiture, but if you would care to quote a few of the juicier tales I imagine some readers would enjoy it. PAT]
cambler@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Fubar) (09/24/90)
djcl@contact.uucp (woody) recently informed us: >The Phone Book - What the Telephone Company Would Rather You Not Know >by J. Edward Hyde (a nom de plume) A quick jaunt down to the Cal Poly library found this book on the shelf, so I checked it out and read it the other night. I agree, it's interesting, but quite dated. Pre-breakup, pre-ESS (well, not really, it's mentioned, but in the vein of "here we have this new thing that will make it all better")... Very biased. The author does NOT like the phone company. I suppose my favourite part is where the author lists the rates for DX calling in 1976, and muses on what they will be 10 years hence. Heh. He also lists some possible future scenarios, like vidphone, call forwarding, call tracing (hints at ANI) and other things. He mentions that all of these things "can be done today, but because of [blah blah I-hate-the-phone-co] you won't see them for years." As of this time, he's about 50% on the mark. All in all, interesting, but I'm sure there's better... Christopher(); --- cambler@polyslo.calpoly.edu --- chris@fubarsys.slo.ca.us
djcl@contact.uucp (woody) (09/27/90)
Here are a few items contained in J Edward Hyde's _The_Phone_Book_, a
tome that exposes pre-MFJ, pre-divestiture Bell System:
* billing punch cards: in the good old days when punch cards were sent
with the phone bills, there was some creative carving done to those cards.
In one case, a customer cut a few holes in one of those cards. The result
was free phone service indefinitely. However, someone else did a few
slices to the card, only to wind up paying for 387 red phones instead of
a single black one.
* The story of T.O. Gravitt, a Southwestern Bell Texas Operations
Chief who decided not to play by the rules of the big boys and started
on a reform program. Unfortunately, Gravitt found himself persecuted
and eventually committed suicide. Much of the information on this
section of the book came from James Ashley, from a 1975 interview. In
Gravitt's suicide note contained the words "Watergate is a gnat
compared to the Bell System."
* {Ramparts Magazine} printed instructions on how to build a "mute
box" (something to suppress call supervision on incoming long distance
calls). While Ramparts was in rather illegal territory with that
article, the actions Ma Bell took were probably the issue here. Bell
agents were ordered to find all extant copies of the offending
{Ramparts Magazine}, trying to get the subscription lists, going after
newsstand dealers, threatening any radio stations that mentioned the
action, etc.
* A group of Miami students set up phone service under the name S.E.
Bass; meetings were scheduled with the Bell reps at the end of a pier
and at Marineland when the question of the bill's non-payment came up
(the intent was to meet this fictitious "S.E. Bass"). Several months
later, Bell discovered that the previous residence was the Gulf Stream
and the occupation: a mantelpiece.cramer@uunet.uu.net> (09/29/90)
In article <12711@accuvax.nwu.edu>, djcl@contact.uucp (woody) writes: > * {Ramparts Magazine} printed instructions on how to build a "mute > box" (something to suppress call supervision on incoming long distance > calls). While Ramparts was in rather illegal territory with that > article, the actions Ma Bell took were probably the issue here. Bell > agents were ordered to find all extant copies of the offending > {Ramparts Magazine}, trying to get the subscription lists, going after > newsstand dealers, threatening any radio stations that mentioned the > action, etc. My mother was working for Los Angeles County Library at the time the Ramparts article appeared; orders came down from the top to cut out the offending article and destroy it. But she made a copy first and brought it home. (Not that we ever did anything with it -- she just felt uncomfortable having stuff disappear into "the memory hole"). Clayton E. Cramer {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!cramer You must be kidding! No company would hold opinions like mine!