larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) (09/17/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0365m02@vector.dallas.tx.us> john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: > In those days there were two COs: 354 and 356. Each has its own > peculiar brand of non-standard SXS. Each allowed five-digit dialing > with Los Gatos. The 354 office had this weird PBX-style ringback with > short rings and a fast cadence. 356 had short rings with a very slow > cadence; in fact 1A2 key systems used to time out between rings. WC > hardly ever installed standard key systems, however. Instead they had > these Automatic Electric phones that had a hold button next to each > line and required no backroom equipment (KSU). Those three-line key telephones were the 575-series, and were made by AE, ITT, Stromberg-Carlson and Northern Electric (later called Northern Telecom). This "key system" (I use the term loosely) design was really the pits. There was no visual ringing indication, although using an external transformer one could wire the sets with lamp illumination for line use and hold. Hold was accomplished by bridging a couple-hundred ohm resistor across the line when the companion hold key was depressed (it LOCKED in place until released by the line key). Northern Electric had a small optional accessory unit which could be used with these sets; I don't remember exactly what it did, but it may have provided lamp flashing for a ringing indication. > The 356 ringback sounded like terminal flatulence. Some of the tone generators for older SxS, XY and Leich CO's used vibrating reed interrupters (like old car radio vibrators) instead of AC generator windings on a motor-driven ringing machine/interrupter. It sounds like the ringback tone (probably dial tone and busy tone, too) was generated in such a manner. > To call the neighboring communities of Saratoga and Campbell, you > dialed the seven digit number. The prefix would land you in the > appropriate Bell CO, and the last four digits were counted by the > distant switch, which at that time was either crossbar or SXS, depending > on the prefix. To call any of the other local destinations, it was > necessary to first dial "9", wait for second dial tone, then dial the > seven digit number. "9" connected you with the San Jose tandem, which > accepted the entire seven digit number dialed directly from the Los > Gatos subscriber. The second dial tone is rather unusual for a central office. I have seen a number of weird CO dialing schemes used by independent operating telephone companies, but have never run across one where there was actually a second dial tone - especially on a 9-level, which is strangely similar to that of a PABX. > Long distance was reached by dialing "112" plus the ten digit number. > An operator would ask for the number you were calling from. Some of us > found a better way for long distance, however. After dialing "9", the > tandem restricted the calls to local only, however we discovered that > if you dialed a local call, then flashed the switch hook, there would > be a ka-klunk-plunk, then silence. Dial pulses seemed to have no > effect, so we tried something else: MF. Jackpot! You could key > "KP+[anynumberknowntomankind]+ST", and you had a free call. What you relate is uncommon. Usually the DC open on the local loop which results in a signaling open toward the tandem that is long enough to release and reseize the tandem office is long enough to collapse the local switch train - thereby precluding this type of fraudulent call. Most people with "blue boxes" have plied their art through the use of 2,600 Hz SF tone to release and reseize a tandem office, thereby not affecting the local switch train. Blue box fraud was actually less common in areas using Automatic Electric apparatus since GTE/Lenkurt was usually used to supply the N-carrier and associated signaling. Most GTE/Lenkurt installations that I have seen utilized 3,700 Hz out-of-band signaling, thereby precluding the use of simulated SF tones to release and reseize a tandem office. > The standard phone issue was, er, well uh there was no standard phone > issue. It seems they used anything they could get. There were AE, > Kellog, Stromberg, you-name-it. This is a rather common characteristic of smaller independent operating telephone companies. There were several companies in the U.S. which sold refurbished 500-type sets for between $ 8 and $ 12 apiece, with no choice of vendor. Many independent telephone companies with tight budgets bought their telephones from these refurbishers, which was one reason for the variety. The variety of telephones was also confusing to IR (installation-repair) personnel; while WECO, Northern Electric (Telecom), and ITT telephones pretty much used the WECO wiring conventions, AE and Stromberg-Carlson were different from each other - and the rest of the world. These were in the days of non-modular telephones, so line and handset cords had to be replaced wire-by-wire, sometimes leading to confusion if one forgot to which terminal a particular wire connected. I once coined a term to describe this variety of telephone set vendors and models, and suggested to the owner of an independent telephone company that he place a sign in the business office announcing the "Telephone Du Jour". Strangely enough, though, he failed to see as much humor in this suggestion as I did. :-) > According to some of the GTE switchmen > I talked to later, the cable plant was in about the same shape. From > the CO to any given subscriber, no one could be sure how many times the > pair changed wire types and gauge. Trying to create equalized loops was > a nightmare (even more than GTE's usual). One of the problems which results in this situation is that many independent operating telephone companies with 2,000 lines or less have no engineering personnel who can assure that cable plant and central office apparatus is installed according to generally accepted engineering practices. While times have been changing and there is now better formal education among plant personnel in smaller independent telephone companies, it is not uncommon to see technical operations of an independent telephone company planned and supervised by someone whose knowledge of telephony was largely self-taught or learned from a family member, with some additional experience from some short courses taught by vendors of telephone apparatus, and possibly from experience in the military. As a result of the above, much outside plant has been installed which may work for POTS service, but which is less than optimal for carrier, data or radio program circuits. Improperly changing gauges of cable and failing to install the proper loading coils at the proper spacing will result in cable which simply cannot be adequately equalized or repeatered using the balance and build-out networks in off-the-shelf apparatus. The problem is that the personnel responsible for the original cable installations simply didn't know any better, later resulting in a situation that is very expensive to correct. Once upon a time I was speaking to the owner, and, um, "plant superintendent" of a small telephone company about the transmission on his intertoll trunks to a Class 4 office. This fellow had a rather profound regional accent, and could probably understand me on an equally poor basis. A real puzzled look came across his face when I started talking about VNL (Via Net Loss). He finally interrupted me and thought I had changed the subject and was taking about venereal disease! While he did know something about veneral disease, he knew nothing about VNL - which I guess proves my point about lack of engineering skills in smaller independent telephone companies. :-) <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?"