larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) (08/13/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0285m01@vector.dallas.tx.us> john@zygot.uucp writes: > Something that every reader of this group should do is take a tour of a > local central office. I would kill for that opportunity now with all > the advances in the past few years such as COSMOS, electronic > switching, etc. But I never will forget the several times I toured > local offices, both officially (with a public tour) and unofficially > (with a friend who was a supervisor in the office). It is becoming extremely difficult for even an organized group to tour a central office in any BOC area. BOC's are particularly paranoid (perhaps rightfully so) about outside people being in any central office. There is virtually zero chance of any individual being afforded a tour of a central office, unless it is, ahem, an "unauthorized" tour courtesy of a friend (who may do so with considerable risk to their job). Independent operating telephone companies may be much more accomodating, however. Some independent telephone companies even encourage customers to "see their wares". As an example, the closet independent telephone company in my area, Sanborn Telephone Co. (part of Iroquois Telephone, which is part of the Continental System) has a large window in their business office which looks out into the switchroom. However, Sanborn is a rather "small town" area with well under 4,000 telephone subscribers. When's the last time you could pay your telephone bill and watch the switchgear at the same time? :-) > There was a room with a bunch of little odometer-like counters, > thousands of them. While I was standing there, suddenly the lights went > out, there was a flash, and then the lights came back on. They actually > photographed the dials for traffic studies. For many years photographing message registers were the only way to BILL subscribers for message rate service. <> 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?"
ron@hardees.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) (08/15/89)
I've always found it much easier to get a tour set up with an AT&T installation than with the local phone company. I guess they decided they need the PR more. -Ron
john@apple.com (John Higdon) (08/15/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0294m01@vector.dallas.tx.us>, kitty!larry @uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) writes: > It is becoming extremely difficult for even an organized group > to tour a central office in any BOC area. BOC's are particularly paranoid > (perhaps rightfully so) about outside people being in any central office. Things must have been different in years gone by. Twice (in the early 60's) there was a little bill insert inviting the subscriber to an "open house". There were two dates given and when you showed up, you got a tour of your (my) central office. This was the ANdrews (San Jose) office that served my telephones. Around that same era, a friend of mine got a similar invitation in his bill to tour the AXminster (Santa Clara) office. About fourteen years ago Pac*Bell invited radio engineering types to visit the downtown San Jose office. We saw the crossbar, the ESS, the AT&T tandem (it was all AT&T then), and even the employee lunch room! About three years ago, radio engineering types were invited to tour the Bush/Pine office in San Francisco where we saw the ESS, the video switching center in the Grant St. building, and a Telephone Pioneers exhibit. > There is virtually zero chance of any individual being afforded a tour of > a central office, unless it is, ahem, an "unauthorized" tour courtesy of a > friend (who may do so with considerable risk to their job). Oh, I was reminded of that in no uncertain terms (I was palmed off as someone from the Fresno area that worked for Pacific Telephone!) But organized tours have been most plentiful. Pac*Bell is very image conscious and they may feel that this is one way of enhancing that. -- John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.uucp | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
davef@brspyr1.brs.com (Dave Fiske) (08/19/89)
> In article <telecom-v09i0285m01@vector.dallas.tx.us> john@zygot.uucp writes: > > Something that every reader of this group should do is take a tour of a > > local central office. I would kill for that opportunity now with all When I was in college in Ithaca, NY (in the 70s), they had an open house at the CO. It was definitely a good time. Strangely enough, the staff were extremely open with us. First, we were walked through the racks, and a technician asked one person in the group what her phone number was. He traced over and down and showed her where her line was connected. "That's your phone number, right there." I remember being impressed with the amount of time they spent just checking their equipment and cabling--according to the technician, 75% of their efforts were just spent testing. While we were there, a bell started ringing, and a bare light bulb mounted over a door started flashing. "Oh, don't worry, just a minor alarm", he said, and ignored it. (Of course, I also remember thinking about how little work they performed in turning on your service--being a student, I was acutely aware of how much it cost!) Next, we were bussed over to a separate location, where the operators and other staff were located. They showed us their latest equipment acquisition--which they seemed particularly proud of--a PPCS board (Person-to-Person/Collect/Special, or so they told us). This was great, they said, because if someone were making a collect call, they could dial the number right in, and it was displayed on the board for the operator to see. I remember they also told us how operators had to listen for the beeps made when someone was inserting coins in a pay phone, and even admitted that sometimes people put the coins in too fast for the operator to keep track of. I was surprised to hear them say this, since it's almost inviting people to rip them off, but it shows how honest they were being. I asked how long they waited before re-assigning phone numbers, since I had been getting a lot of calls for the previous assignee. They said they waited a year, but when I mentioned my problem, they admitted that, in neighborhoods where there was high concentration of students (obviously with a high turnover rate) they would sometimes re-assign them in only 9 months. Well, at least they didn't cop out. I wish I could remember more of what I saw, and that I had had more knowledge then about what I did see. But I agree, it definitely is worth doing if the opportunity ever comes up. -- "ANGRY WOMEN BEAT UP SHOE SALESMAN Dave Fiske (davef@brspyr1.BRS.COM) WHO POSED AS GYNECOLOGIST" Home: David_A_Fiske@cup.portal.com Headline from Weekly World News CIS: 75415,163 GEnie: davef
jimmy@denwa.uucp (Jim Gottlieb) (08/20/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0298m07> bovine!john@apple.com (Higgy Baby) writes: > >In article <telecom-v09i0294m01@vector.dallas.tx.us>, kitty!larry >@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) writes: >> It is becoming extremely difficult for even an organized group >> to tour a central office in any BOC area. BOC's are particularly paranoid >> (perhaps rightfully so) about outside people being in any central office. > >Things must have been different in years gone by. I believe they were. In the late 1970s, I got tours of several COs just by picking up the phone in front of the building and asking if I could come in and look around. I can't imagine them letting someone in like that today. My first tour, in fact, was on a Saturday. The lone switchman on duty let my friend and I in, and we must have been there 4 hours, just chatting and touring. He did make us promise that we would not tell anyone that he let us in, but I just can't imagine someone risking his job like that in this current age of hackers and outright criminals. -- Jim Gottlieb E-Mail: <jimmy@denwa.uucp> or <jimmy@pic.ucla.edu> or <attmail!denwa!jimmy> V-Mail: (213) 551-7702 Fax: 478-3060 The-Real-Me: 824-5454