news@uunet.uu.net (Randy Bush) (12/13/89)
Yep, you read it right .. Northern 3CL Cord Boards! I'm looking for
some. Need them desperately. We've chased down every source we can
think of and have come up absolutely dry so far. Any leads (pun
intended) anyone can give me, no matter how tenuous, will be greatly
appreciated.
Since alternative solutions to my problem are also quite acceptable,
here's my problem. We are relocating all of our operator positions to
another city. Most of the positions are TOPS or TOPS/MP running off
our DMS-200 toll switches so those present no problems. However, we
have some services that are inconvenient to do on a TOPS position (tie
up a position for too long), would require extensive (ie: expen$ive)
mods to TOPS, or are just flat impossible to do on TOPS in any useful
fashion in any reasonable time frame.
The service giving us the worst fits is General Mobile Telephone
Service (GMTS). And we have _lots_ of GMTS all over the province and
it isn't likely to go away any time soon. So far it appears that
there really isn't any other convenient way to provide GMTS service
than with a cord board because of its nature, and that's the way we
are doing it right now.
The characteristic that is the killer is the requirement for a
"revertive calling" capability.
For those who don't understand "revertive calling" (I didn't until a
couple of weeks ago, and barely do even now <g>), an example may serve
best.
When a GMTS mobile wishes to make a call, s/he calls the mobile
operator to set up the call. At the time the calling mobile places
the call, they may say something like "George is out at the well-site
and probably won't be able to answer right away so let it ring for
awhile.". The operator plugs into the trunk associated with the
channel the called mobile should be on and then she will let the thing
ring for up to 3 minutes (mobile users _are_ quite frequently unable
to answer in much less time than that, and mobile phones are usually
wired to make the horn beep when the phone rings). If there is no
answer, the calling mobile may then say something like, "Well, George
may be over on the other channel .. could you please try that one."
(We have many areas where there are as many as 4 channels available so
you can iterate this last scenario up to four times!)
Of course if the operator had to actually sit there and listen to the
silly phone ring for 3 minutes each time through the loop, s/he
wouldn't get a heck of a lot done, right?! Which is where the cord
boards are so well suited to this task. While the phone is ringing,
s/he can go on and handle other calls and simply plug into the one
that s/he left ringing periodically to see what's happening. A good
mobile operator can have some number of calls on the go at any one
time ....[
....and most importantly, ALL OF THOSE CALLS _STAY_ AT THAT POSITION
so s/he can manage them all and doesn't lose any of them.
And _there's_ the flaw with most of the other possibilities we've
looked at. With any ACD- or PBX-based alternative we have looked at,
you can't keep the call at that position without staying "plugged
into" it, and in most cases you can't keep it there under any
circumstances. In most cases with the "agent" positions on ACDs and
PBXs, as soon as you set up the outgoing loop, the operator is dropped
out of the call automatically, with no way to monitor progress or get
the call back. In the few cases where the operator can hold the call
at that position, they can only do it by staying hooked into the call,
making it impossible to do anything else for the entire duration of
the call, which could be more than 10 minutes (see above).
Why would she have to stay hooked in for the entire duration, even
when the call is connected to the called party? Well, the billing on
these calls is done with manual tickets so the operator is also timing
the call(s) and needs to know when they're finished. All of the ACDs
and PBXs we have looked at so far either have no "billing" capability
at all, or the "billing" system is only looking at "lines" and not
"trunks" (the GMTS channels are all coming and going on "trunks"),
and/or comes up way short in some other area(s) that makes it
unusable.
So if anyone knows of a system that can have "trunks" connected to it
and has operator or "agent" positions that will handle multiple
simultaneous calls at each position and let the operator keep the call
at that position (with a light or some other indication that the call
is still present there) without having to stay plugged into the call
so s/he can handle other calls concurrently, I would be overjoyed to
hear about it. And if you actually sell a product that will do what I
need, so much the better!!
Otherwise, keep those leads on where I can get some Northern 3CL cord
boards coming in....please!!
Ken Ganshirt, Network Standards Manager - Switch/MUX
SaskTel, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Voice 306-777-2155 (days, CST)
FidoNet: 1:140/18 Compuserve: 76247,230 Envoy: GANSHIRT.KJ
I can also correspond via uucp-FidoNet gateway at:
"keng@m2xenix.uucp" or "..!uunet!m2xenix!keng"
uunet!{ tektronix!nosun!qiclab, oresoft, intelhf }!m2xenix!news Randy Bushjulian@bongo.uucp (julian macassey) (12/16/89)
There are some places in the U.S. that are still using Cord
Boards. Crown City Plating, Rosemead CA, used to have one - may still
do. You can call them at (818) 444-9191 and ask. I once told them they
would be happy with a Mitel, they scowled. They are a pretty high tech
plater of plastics etc. Kinda funny to see an attendant (telephonist)
sitting at a board in the eighties.
But I digress. About five years ago when I was meeting with
some British Telecom people from Martlesham, they told me that BT was
still producing cord boards. So try giving BT a bash. Maybe a BT type
will write in and give an address/number where these devices can be
bought shiny and new.
Some countries in Europe were still using cord boards in COs
up till the seventies. I remember seeing a creaky old mahogany board
in a Norwegian CO. Screwed to the mahogany top was a Touch Tone pad.
Yup, you rang the operator and she dialled Oslo for you on the Touch
Tone pad. So maybe some Europe telcos have warehouses of these things --
Cord boards, not TT pads.
Now Northern Telecom U K has been selling switches into
Europe, Africa and Asia where they have replaced cord boards. Maybe
they have taken these things away as a trade in deal. Ask them if they
have any, when they have stopped laughing maybe they will let you have
them cheaply. NT UK Tel # (628) 33211.
By the way, in my kitchen I have an old Western Electric
operators high chair. Built like a battleship. Good luck with the
search.
Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo.info.com {ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian
N6ARE@K6IYK (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495