kityss@att.uucp (Arnette P Baker +1 708 510 6437) (09/07/90)
I want to relate a story on the subject of "time limits" imposed on phone calls by the telco. I grew up in Towanda, Il. - population 578 (now over 650!) When we moved there in 1972 we had 5 digit dialing on local calls, plus a forced time limit of 2 minutes on the same local calls. We had 7 digit (well 10 counting NPA) phone numbers, but for any other number on the stepper we only dialed 5 digits. After two minutes a warning tone would sound, and then 10 seconds later you would be disconnected. In '74 the telco (Inland Telephone of Il.) upgraded the switch to a more modern (????) step-by-step and the 2 minute limit, along with 5 digit dialing was eliminated. This time limit only existed on calls within the switch, to call anywhere else in the universe we had (still do) to dial 1+ to get an outgoing trunk. 1+ calls were never affected. So, anyone out there ever hear of this kind of limit?? I presume it was done to reduce the load on a switch that was under engineered for the amount of traffic, but I really have no idea why it existed. Actually I always thought it was a telco plot to make it difficult to "share" math homework answers over the phone. :) Arnette Baker kityss@ihlpf.att.com AT&T Network Systems [Moderator's Note: It sounds likely they had a very dinky little switch with very few talk paths available. Two or three local conversations at once going on probably was all it could handle. PAT]
john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) (09/09/90)
Arnette P Baker +1 708 510 6437 <ihlpf!kityss@att.uucp> writes: > So, anyone out there ever hear of this kind of limit?? I presume it > was done to reduce the load on a switch that was under engineered for > the amount of traffic, but I really have no idea why it existed. When I lived in Martinsville, VA in 1966, the local calling area consisted of Martinsville and neighboring Collinsville. It stated right in the Lee Telephone Company directory that local calls to and from Collinsville were limited to five minutes due to a limited amount of circuits between the two communities. After three minutes of conversation, you got a tone and then two minutes later you were cut off. No exceptions. The work-around, of course, was to call back over and over again. I'll bet a lot of teenagers got sore fingers. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
"Otto J. Makela" <otto@jyu.fi> (09/09/90)
In article <11852@accuvax.nwu.edu> ihlpf!kityss@att.uucp (Arnette P Baker) writes: [description of time limit on phone calls...] >So, anyone out there ever hear of this kind of limit?? Yes, I ran into a phone system with the same kind of a limit. When I was in the Army, I was stuck at the local Army HQ (right in the middle of the town), and had to figure out a way to burn time. One evening I came up with the idea of calling one guy I met during basic training, who was situated at another local HQ. So, I walk out to a quiet corner of the office, and use a MIL-standard digital line to call the HQ (of course, that way no-one gets billed anything extra - the army has their own leased hardened lines). When the officer of the day answered, I asked for my opposite number (I knew that if the setup was even remotely similar to the one at my location, he'd not be able to tell if the call came from a MIL- line or just a local dialup - they were all routed through the same exchange under normal conditions). So, I chatted with this friend of mine for around 25 minutes or so, and suddenly we were cut off. Strange, I thought, these lines are supposed to be VERY fail-safe. I redialed, and about 3 minutes into the 2nd call a military operator suddenly cut in: IS THIS AN OFFICIAL CALL? I naturally lied my ass off... Otto J. Makela <otto@jyu.fi> Phone: +358 41 613 847, BBS: +358 41 211 562 (CCITT, Bell 2400/1200/300) Mail: Kauppakatu 1 B 18, SF-40100 Jyvaskyla, Finland, EUROPE
larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) (09/09/90)
In article <11852@accuvax.nwu.edu> ihlpf!kityss@att.uucp (Arnette P Baker) writes: > I want to relate a story on the subject of "time limits" imposed on > phone calls by the telco. I grew up in Towanda, Il. - population 578 > (now over 650!) When we moved there in 1972 we had 5 digit dialing on > local calls, plus a forced time limit of 2 minutes on the same local > calls. We had 7 digit (well 10 counting NPA) phone numbers, but for > any other number on the stepper we only dialed 5 digits. After two > minutes a warning tone would sound, and then 10 seconds later you > would be disconnected. > So, anyone out there ever hear of this kind of limit?? I presume it > was done to reduce the load on a switch that was under engineered for > the amount of traffic, but I really have no idea why it existed. The only CO apparatus I know of which offered this "feature" was pre-1940 Automatic Electric SxS intended for very small rural CDO's (Community Dial Offices). This feature was particularly used on multi-party lines. I have never seen it actually installed, though. A "single-frame" factory-wired SxS CDO could typically handle only 200 subscriber lines with sometimes a few as ten calls being able to exist at any one given time. Since considerable field wiring in the CO was necessary to provide any expansion beyond the first factory CDO apparatus frame, effort was often expended to make user requirements "conform" to the limitations of that first CDO apparatus frame. If it meant timing conversations to eliminate the requirement for additional selector and connector shelves, then so be it... Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. "Have you hugged your cat today?" {boulder||decvax||rutgers||watmath}!acsu.buffalo.edu!kitty!larry VOICE: 716/688-1231 || FAX: 716/741-9635 {utzoo||uunet}!/ \aerion!larry
knop@duteca.tudelft.nl (P. Knoppers) (09/10/90)
In article <11852@accuvax.nwu.edu> ihlpf!kityss@att.uucp (Arnette P Baker) writes: >local calls, plus a forced time limit of 2 minutes on the same local >calls. >[Moderator's Note: It sounds likely they had a very dinky little >switch with very few talk paths available. Two or three local >conversations at once going on probably was all it could handle. PAT] My guess is that real metering equipment was too expensive for local calls and the phone company elected to force you to make several calls for long conversations. Back in 1973 (or there-about) I was in Kent (England) and there the public phones also had a 2 minute limit on local calls. I don't know if this also applied too private phones. In the Netherlands local calls used to be unlimited in time (price was one unit). Then it was discovered that some big offices used dialled lines where they should have used rental lines. Combined with the growth of long lasting computer calls (mostly at 300 baud) the phone company decided that too much of their equipment was tied up without making them any money. The first proposal was to impose a time-limit on local calls (this was the cheapest option), but this was considered too unfriendly. Therefore they decided to add the equipment to charge for local calls dependent on duration of the call. Nowadays one unit is charged when the call is answered, one additional unit for every 5 or 10 minutes (depending on time-of-day). (In non- local calls, the period is 47 or 94 seconds.) The first period may be up to 1/6th shorter due of mechanical restrictions in the metering equipment ... Yes, much of this is still mechanical, and it is supposed to last up to 30 years ... BTW, one unit is about US $ 0.08. Of course, there is also a monthly charge (about US $ 12.00 / month / line). Can you believe that calling the US from here is only about US$ 1.25 / minute ? That is cheaper than a non-local call using a payphone in the US (which cost me US $ 2.05 for the first minute). (Payphones in the Netherlands cost about 50% more per unit than private phones.) P. Knoppers, Delft Univ. of Technology, The Netherlands, knop@duteca.tudelft.nl