John Cowan <cowan@marob.masa.com> (04/02/90)
In article <5863@accuvax.nwu.edu> stanley@stanley.UUCP (John Stanley) writes: > You didn't ask, but I will. "How does the CO know on a party line >which party is making a call?" Well, you all had untimed service and >the operator asked you on long distance calls. Newer systems put a >load from tip or ring to ground to indicate which party you are. This >was well beyond the old step-by-step we had, so "your number please" >on all LD calls. I have four-party service from Taconic Telephone at my summer house. (Until the recent arrival of a new family on the road, we had seven-party service, the maximum allowed by NY State.) I believe the "tuned ringing" method is used here, as we have been warned that answering machines are forbidden -- they will pick up on calls to our neighbors. The filtering isn't perfect, though; when my neighbor gets a call, my phone rings very softly. Long distance calls are handled by dialing 1+7+number, where 7 is a digit printed on the phone's number plate and labeled "DDD Code". I assume this code is different for all parties on the line, and signals the CO who is calling. Seems it would be awfully easy to cheat, but of course I don't. (no :-)).
eravin@rutgers.edu> (04/08/90)
I once lived in a residence hotel with a very old fashioned operator switchboard. The operator would hold down a key to ring a phone in a room, and would pick up the key to listen if anyone had answered. So I often picked up my Radio Shlock one-piece phone with the automatic chin disconnect button and heard the buzz of the ring voltage in my ear until the operator finally noticed I had picked up the phone. The el cheapo phone is none the worse for the experience, and neither are my ears (it wasn't that loud, mostly a scratchy buzz). Though we couldn't make outgoing calls, if I held onto the line after someone who called me hung up, I would get the CO dial tone in a few minutes. Luckily for the hotel, they didn't have touchtone service, and pulsing the line usually made the operator pick up the phone wondering why the light on the console was flashing. Ed Ravin | hombre!dasys1!eravin | (BigElectricCatPublicUNIX)| eravin@dasys1.UUCP | Reader bears responsibility for all opinions expressed in this article.