zweig@brutus.cs.uiuc.edu (Johnny Zweig) (10/17/89)
I am curious if people know how long-distance billing used to be handled in days of yore. In particular, how did it evolve as technology went from patch cords to SxS to *ESS? I mean, in 1921 I gather you placed a long-distance call by telling the local operator to patch you through -- where did the billing information reside? I am also curious about how hotels have charged for phone-usage in the days since they started doing so. Before PBX's, it seems like they would either have had to guesstimate the charges or have some complicated arrangement with the phone company to inform them at the time the call is made how much it costs. Johnny Curious [Moderator's Note: Years ago, operators kept manual paper tickets which they wrote up as they placed each call. These tickets were stamped in a clock when the connection started, and stamped again when it ended. The tickets were collected by clerks who went around to each operator position picking them up every few minutes. The clerks computed the time and charges for each ticket, and when the subscriber had requested this information they were called back with details. The tickets were sorted by calling number and placed in each subscriber's folder where they were held for billing. Other clerks continually kept pulling these folders and posting tickets on the appropriate ledger card. Like today, subscribers were on cycle billing; that is, a certain number were billed each working day of the month. There were 22 billing cycles per month. I have in my grandparent's papers a phone bill from Illinois Bell dated May 13, 1931. The statement has a *handwritten* list of the long distance calls, plus a handwritten cover sheet showing the total bill for the month was $3.60. Hotels had an arrangement with telco which was that they (hotel) guarenteed payment for all guest calls in exchange for a commission for handling the call, as well as billing and collecting. Following a long distance call, the hotel was notified, usually within minutes and always within an hour of the charges for the call. They added this to the guest's bill and the guest paid when checking out, or immediatly, depending on his credit. The telco billed the hotel once a month, and gave typically a 10-15 percent discount on the total bill. If as sometimes happened, telco failed to quote time and charges in a timely way and the guest checked out without paying -- because the amount was not known by the cashiers when he paid his bill -- then telco had to absorb those charges. Usually in high traffic locations, telco would call the hotel every few minutes to quote time and charges for the calls just completed. Sometimes they used a telex machine to transmit this information. PT]