Quote:
Originally Posted by OtinG
...
I do remember that when I was still young Ma Bell changed us over to the current Area Code + three-digit exchange + 4-digit system.
|
Yes that was to facilitate automatic switching in order to eliminate the need for switchboard operators. They still needed information operators but not nearly as many. In the long run salaries far outstrip capital improvement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OtinG
When my parents retired and moved way out into a rural area in the late 1970s they actually went backwards in time and had an old party-line system because the Baby Bell out there was too cheap to run more lines into the sparsely populated area.
|
Not so much too cheap, but rather insufficiently funded. As I said, automatic switching is less expensive in the long run but requires an up front capital investment that they didn't have the funding for. I suppose they could have floated a bond issue, and probably eventually did.