gmw1@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener) (08/10/89)
Ok folks, here come two more:
1) Why are they called "toll stations" anyway? Why aren't they simply called
"non-dialable points" instead?
And, of course, the one I've been asking about all week!
2) If they're running a cable out there to hook up a toll station, why not
just wire them right into the switch and assign them a telephone number
like any other telephone subscriber?
-G
[Moderator's Note: Regards (1): "Toll Station" is the historic term for
these places. They were around from long before almost anyplace was dialable,
thus 'non-dialable' points, while perhaps an accurate description now, was
not very descriptive when they first where installed many, many, many years
ago. The difference between a manual exchange, or 'non-dialable point' and
a toll station is that a toll station is essentially a manual exchange as
far as billing is concerned, but an 'exchange' with just one subscriber,
or more precisely, combination phone operator/subscriber!
The difference between a toll station subscriber and an ordinary subscriber
on a manual exchange is that the former have historically been listed as
'places' in the Bellcore, nee AT&T database rather than individuals listed
in a telephone directory of the exchange (which is also a 'place' in the
database. Covert pointed out yesterday that there are actually entries in
the database which are *the names of people* rather than towns. One of
my favorites was "Mary's Ranch, Nevada, Toll Station 1".
Regards (2): Yes there is a pair of wires running there, just as you would
find from any manual exchange to the subscriber premises, but the 'normal'
exchange (and again, I am talking from a historical perspective) was
relatively small in geographic coverage. Some, if not all toll station
subscribers are 50-100 miles or more from the exchange that serves them.
We are talking about very desolate, very deserted wilderness areas such
as the vast amounts of desert in Nevada and the huge forest/wilderness
areas in Idaho and Washington State. The idea behind a toll station was
that '...everything is a long distance call from here....'. Toll stations
have NO local calling area, and to make them part of a 'local exchange'
with, say, a thousand other people in town who get to call all of a mile
in any direction as their 'free local calling area' would be wrong. If you
did it this way, *they* would get 50-100 miles 'local calling area' versus
the folks in town who would not.
So those few phones in wilderness areas which of necessity make a long
distance (or toll) call everytime they go off hook are described as
toll stations, and listed in the database for lack of any legal name for
the wilderness area by the name of the person who subscribes. In summary,
'toll station' is an historic term with much accuracy and a specific
meaning. "Non-dialable point' may describe a toll station, but 'toll
station' does NOT describe the majority of non-dialable points, although
admittedly, toll stations are among the few types of non-dialable phones
still around. John Covert, can you add to this or correct anything I
have stated? I might add that for billing purposes, toll stations are
generally marked on the toll ticket as 'other place', while for manual
exchanges, the mark will usually be the area code for the geographic
environs, plus some theoretical three digit 'prefix'. PT]jimmy@denwa.uucp (Jim Gottlieb) (08/13/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0285m06@vector.dallas.tx.us> gmw1@cunixd.cc.columbia. edu (Gabe M Wiener) writes: >And, of course, the one I've been asking about all week! >2) If they're running a cable out there to hook up a toll station, why not > just wire them right into the switch and assign them a telephone number > like any other telephone subscriber? There are others who know more about this than I (i.e. joe@mojave.cts.com), but since they have not spoken up, I'll pretend that I know what I'm talking about. Many toll station lines are in fact not a pair of wires or even a cable. They are run on what are called "open wire" lines. It is a single thick piece of wire. Ground is used as the second conductor. These wires may often serve several toll stations in the area, with different ring patterns for each station. So to start serving an area with a real switch, a real cable must often be run (if only for the few pairs necessary to set up a remote switch) a distance of 50 to 100 miles. I have a tape recording of a call made on one such phone shortly before it was replaced with automatic service. If I can find the tape, I will put it up on a number that people can call to hear how wretched these things sound(ed). -- 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