From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!duke!unc!brl-bmd!TELECOM@Usc-Eclb
Newsgroups: fa.telecom
Title: TELECOM Digest V2 #131
Article-I.D.: brl-bmd.489
Posted: Wed Dec 15 15:40:07 1982
Received: Fri Dec 17 05:55:25 1982
TELECOM AM Digest Monday, 15 November 1982 Volume 2 : Issue 131
Today's Topics:
Telephone Net History - To 1+ Or Not To 1+
Product Query - Telephone & Terminal Combination
Collecters Corner - 3 Slot Coin Phone
Product Reply - Telephone & Terminal Combination
(800) Dialing Glitch
NY NPA Split - '718', Like Calling Scranton
Buying The Phones You Rented From TPC
Now You Can Dial An Ocean?
V&H Map Trivia - 215 NPA & Surrounding
Uses You Can Make Of All This V&H Map Trivia
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Date: 8 Nov 1982 2303-EST
From: John R. Covert
Subject: Why 1+
Sorry, folks, but 1+ to prevent children from dialing long distance is
pure baloney.
All of the first places to get DDD (Washington, D.C. area, New York,
Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, etc.) did not have to
dial 1+. 1+ (or some other access code; many places required more
than just a 1) started in areas where SxS equipment was common, where
it was quite expensive to handle routing calls based on the second
digit rather than the first.
NPAs had a zero or one as the second digit to distinguish; the 1+ was
not required. That also was not to reduce the chance that a child
would dial; it was because NNXs (they were NNXs in those days, not
NXXs) didn't ever have a zero or one in them because NNXs were
actually office codes consisting of one, two, or three letters.
(Standardization on two letters and a digit occurred in the early
fifties.)
The reason that the letters started on the "2" rather than the "1" is
explained in an old document describing Panel, dated 1921:
It will be seen from the photograph that no letters appear under the
"one" or "zero" holes, so that no numerical office codes can begin
with either "one" or "zero." The use of numerical office codes
starting with "1" is undesirable due to the liability of a subscriber
causing a "preliminary pulse" when making a call. A preliminary pulse
may be produced by an unintentional momentary interruption of the
subscriber's line at the switchhook springs after the receiver is
lifted and before dialing is started, as might be caused by
accidentally striking the hook with the receiver. A preliminary pulse
may also be caused by a P.B.X. operator when plugging into a trunk.
When a preliminary pulse occurs the mechanical switching equipment is
affected the same as though a "1" had been dialed. Numerical office
codes beginning with "1" are therefor avoided since such codes would
in effect be dialed whenever a preliminary pulse occurred on any call.
Avoiding such codes permits the central office equipment to be
arranged so as to absorb all pre- liminary pulses, thus allowing a
call on which a preliminary pulse occurs to be properly completed.
The #1 Xbar which served me in the 50s ignored all initial "1"s.
------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 9 Nov 1982 10:35-PST
Subject: Combinations of Telephones and Terminals
From: norm at RAND-UNIX
I am looking for products which combine a CRT terminal and a
telephone. I recall seeing several advertised but can't recall the
vendor names.
Any pointers to the makers of such gadgets would be appreciated.
(I already know about Northern Telecom and Mitel.)
I am:
Norm at Rand-Unix
or
Norm Shapiro, 1700 Main Street, Santa Monica CA 90406
or
(213) 393 0411 - Norm Shapiro
------------------------------
Date: 9-Nov-82 17:04:09-PST (Tue)
From: harpo!ber@Berkeley
Subject: 3 slot coin phone
Could someone help me purchase a three slot coin phone? I had seen
them for sale in department stores a few years ago. I didn't buy one
then and now I don't see them anywhere. Ideally I would like a WECo
phone that hasn't been modified for home use.
brian redman
harpo!ber
(201) 386-2884
------------------------------
Date: 10 Nov 82 17:04:35-EST (Wed)
From: Ron Natalie
To: norm at Rand-Unix
Subject: Re: Combinations of Telephones and Terminals
Bell makes this CUTE little CRT which is part of a telephone, and has
a little full ascii keyboard detached from it. I think it's called a
Datascan? Anyhow, the DoD DEERS project is interested in them for
putting ASCII terminals in cramped quarters (I believe the application
was pharmacy counters in Veteran's centers).
------------------------------
From: tekmdp!laurir.Tektronix at Rand-Relay
Date: 10 Nov 1982 at 2100-PDT (Wednesday)
Subject: (800) dialing glitch
Via: tektronix; 10 Nov 82 23:17-PDT
Yesterday morn I tried to dial an (800) number which leads to Wicat in
Orem, Utah. I'm in Portland, Oregon. I tried several times, and each
time got a message of the form "the number you have dialed, xxx-yyyy,
is not in service..." with each digit of the number pronounced. The
problem was that all three digits of the exchange (xxx-) had been
changed.
Called the local operator, got no help and a rather surly send-off.
Called another local operator, prepared to ask for the supervisor, and
got a not-so-bored voice telling me that the local operating company
couldn't do a thing, I should call (800) 555-1212. Called them, they
couldn't do a thing 'cept take a trouble report, but fortunately they
told me that Wicat has more than one toll-free number.
The question: if there hadn't been an alternate toll free number, I
would have been quite peeved with my inability to get some action.
What should I have done? When I have this problem with toll calls,
somebody's always willing to invoke special inter-operator
communication circuitry to get me through.
-- Andrew Klossner (decvax!teklabs!tekmdp!laurir) [Usenet]
(laurir.tektronix@udel-relay) [ARPA]
------------------------------
Date: 11 Nov 82 01:09:36 EST (Thu)
From: Steve Bellovin
Subject: new area codes
Via: UNC; 11 Nov 82 3:31-EST
The following editorial appeared in Wednesday's NY Times:
'718' Is Like Calling Scranton
The telephone company, a friend from Brooklyn notes glumly,
contemplates a disturbing step: to assign a new area code to
that borough, along with Queens and Staten Island.
The company says it's running out of room in the 212 code.
The new code would mean dialing 11 digits to complete a local
call from Manhattan or the Bronx to the other boroughs, but
for our friend the issue is more than inconvenience.
"The area code contributes to collective identity," he says.
When it begins and ends with a 2 or a 3 -- the middle digit is
always 1 or 0 -- that connotes substance and class. The rest
of New York City would remain 212. Washington D.C. is 202.
Los Angeles is 213, Chicago 312, Detroit 313. Not only that
but some suburbs, such as in Connecticut and northern New
Jersey, have the built-in prestige of the codes 203 and 201.
"I don't mean to sound snobbish, but for the most part codes
that include numbers larger than 3 are for duller, smaller
cities like St. Louis (314) and Milwaukee (414), or for deep
country. Northern Kansas is 913, and the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan is 906.
"Most states with only one area code are strictly pickup
trucks and Sears Roebuck suits, and they usually have high
numbers: Utah (801), Montana (406), Vermont (802). Exceptions
only prove the rule: Connecticut, of course, with that 203.
Also, all of Colorado is 303 but it's the most chic of the
Rocky Mountain states. And Westchester County, with prestige
to spare, easily lives down its 914.
"The code to be assigned to the three boroughs is 718 --
clearly a dowdy figure. Calling Brooklyn, Queens or Staten
Island from Manhattan or the Bronx would be like calling
Scranton, Pa. (717), Council Bluffs, Iowa (712), or anywhere
in North Dakota (701). I don't have anything against
Scranton, Council Bluffs, or North Dakota, but Manhattan
already thinks of Brooklyn as being as remote as North Dakota,
and it's not.
"Some years ago the telephone company provoked complaints by
changing named exchanges like MUrray Hill 6 and TRafalgar 4 to
numbers -- 686 and 874. Substituting numbers for words, the
critics said, dehumanized the telephone. They overlooked a
fact of modern digital life: numbers can be human, too."
------------------------------
Date: 11 Nov 82 01:15:15 EST (Thu)
From: Steve Bellovin
Subject: buying phones
Via: UNC; 11 Nov 82 3:32-EST
It was suggested that before purchasing the phones currently
installed, you should exchange them for newer ones. Here's another
reason -- you may get a better phone. The unit I'm just rented from
Jersey Bell, an ordinary-looking TouchTone desk set, has a polarity
guard (the wires in my house were indeed reversed, as I discovered
when I tried plugging in my other phones), and has internal
connections to the black and yellow wires. One seems to go to the
hookswitch, the other to the keypad. I haven't traced things any
further yet; any help would be gratefully appreciated, as I will
probably purchase it when I'm offered the option (soon, I'm told).
The phone is marked "2500DMG R82-8"; I picked it up at the end of
September.
------------------------------
Date: 11 November 1982 21:35-EST
From: Phillip C. Reed
I got this little flyer in my phone bill a while back that has a bunch
of dialing codes for different countries. What was amusing was the
last paragraph:
* * *
NOW DIAL 3 OCEAN AREAS
Marine satellite telephone service with Communications Satellite
Corporation is now available to ships equipped with satellite
terminals. To place a dialed station call to ships on the Atlantic
Ocean (Ocean Code 871), Pacific Ocean (872) or the Indian Ocean (873),
dial:
011 + Ocean Code + Ship Telephone Number
* * *
I would have thought that anybody on a cruise would want to get away
from phones for a while.
...phil
------------------------------
Date: 12 Nov 82 17:11:05-EST (Fri)
From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB)
cc: cmoore at BRL
Subject: 215 area
>From V&H tape: 215-891, which I wrote of as "Media (Chester Heights
service)", showed up with place name and V&H coordinates of Chester
Heights, in a sur- prise to me. Also, dir. asst. (555) had the V&H
coordinates of Lansdowne (Delaware County just outside Phila.) and not
of Phila.! Several prefixes in & around Reading had op. codes
starting 717, and 215-498 Belvidere (NJ) had op. code starting with
201.
------------------------------
Date: 12 Nov 82 17:30:59-EST (Fri)
From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB)
cc: cmoore at BRL
Subject: 215-891, etc.
My notes about "Chester Hts." or "Media (Chester Hts. service)" can
come into play if you are visiting (or reading about) such area,
whether you are from the next county or from the other coast. Even if
you're from the next county, you might save on such things as driving
time if you get as much info as possible from such things as the phone
prefix.
[I agree. It was infinitely easier to figure out Los Angeles once I
had memorized the prefixes in Area Code 213 (and it's only a logical
step upward to switch to Two Area Code Mode. There are exceptions:
don't try it in Manhattan, the street grid is far superior to the
prefix map for directions.--JSol]
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End of TELECOM Digest
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