john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) (09/11/89)
After sounding off in this forum about GTE, I thought it only fair to
point out what phone service was like in Los Gatos *before* GTE came to
town in the mid-sixties. Before then, it was the Western California
Telephone Company and was it a lot of fun! (As some of you may know,
GTE has spent a considerable amount of its resources buying up Ma and Pa
phone companies.)
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). The 356 ringback sounded
like terminal flatulance.
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.
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.
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. 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).
Considering everything, it was probably a step up for the citizens of
Los Gatos when GTE came to town, but it took away the fun of endless
hours of playing with that weird system. When GTE took over, they
immediately replaced the CO equipment with standard issue AE
directorized step, which had no interesting quirks other than it being
totally unreliable at completing calls. Even all that is now gone and
is now electronic (354=EAX and 356=GTD5). This October the 354 office
will probably become a remote from the 356. Los Gatos now has six
prefixes.
Glossary term of the day:
foreign exchange; a service GTE provides customers who really need
phone service, usually provided out of a Bell
service area.
--
John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395
john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !