Blast from the Past

[wodin]

Three digit phone numbers, I still remember my (parent's) phone number from sixty five years ago. It was 174.

[OtinG]

I remember having telephone exchange names with four digits. Our number was TWIlight 3828.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I remember having telephone exchange names with four digits. Our number was TWIlight 3828.

I remember our number being <town name> 2244

[Dazrin]

And party lines were fun too.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

And party lines were fun too.

I remember those, though it's been 2/3rds of a century. I knew our ring, though have since forgotten if it was 2 rings or 3, but my younger brother, then about 3-4yrs old, would pickup the receiver after any ring an listen in on someone else's conversation.

[wodin]

Sandra Brathol was our telephone operator, we would pick up the phone and listen for Sandra to ask "Number please", then she would pull a wire with a 1/4 inch plug out of her switchboard, and plug it into the jack for the number you asked for, and crank the ringer generator to ring the phone.

You really didn't need to know the number because Sandra knew everyone's, you could just say "Connect to Harry, please." and she'd know.

Before we got the fancy self ringing phone with the mouthpiece and earpiece all in the same hand held "receiver" we'd have to pick up the ear piece and crank the handle to ring Sandra. Then we'd talk into the mouthpiece that was connected to the box on the wall.



Skype it wasn't!

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by wodin

Sandra Brathol was our telephone operator, we would pick up the phone and listen for Sandra to ask "Number please", then she would pull a wire with a 1/4 inch plug out of her switchboard, and plug it into the jack for the number you asked for, and crank the ringer generator to ring the phone.

You really didn't need to know the number because Sandra knew everyone's, you could just say "Connect to Harry, please." and she'd know.

Before we got the fancy self ringing phone with the mouthpiece and earpiece all in the same hand held "receiver" we'd have to pick up the ear piece and crank the handle to ring Sandra. Then we'd talk into the mouthpiece that was connected to the box on the wall.

Attachment 171999

Skype it wasn't!

That reminds me of the Andy Griffith show

I am old enough to remember a party line but not old enough to have had a 3-digit phone number.

As I recall, we gave up on our party line because there was somebody who had a tendency to not get their phone all the way hung up after making a call, and when this happened nobody else was able to use the line.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

That reminds me of the Andy Griffith show

I am old enough to remember a party line but not old enough to have had a 3-digit phone number.

As I recall, we gave up on our party line because there was somebody who had a tendency to not get their phone all the way hung up after making a call, and when this happened nobody else was able to use the line.

Yes, the number of digits depended on how many customers were connected to a particular switchboard. My town had a population of barely five hundred souls, plus the nearby outlying farms. With fewer than 999 households we could easily fit into three digits. The nearest city, about fifteen miles away had around ten thousand people, and they had four digit numbers.

[4691mls]

My earliest memory of phone numbers is from the early 1970's and it was in the modern format by then (at least where I lived).

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by wodin

Yes, the number of digits depended on how many customers were connected to a particular switchboard. My town had a population of barely five hundred souls, plus the nearby outlying farms. With fewer than 999 households we could easily fit into three digits. The nearest city, about fifteen miles away had around ten thousand people, and they had four digit numbers.

My home town had only 2,800 people, but that was enough to bump us up into the 4 digits range. I can't remember what the grandparents and extended family numbers were as they lived in other towns. 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. 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.

[wodin]

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.

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.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by wodin

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.

WTH are you talking about, there is no bond issuance for corporations, at least not in Texas, and Southwestern Bell Telephone was definitely a corporation. They are known for being cheap and doing the least they can to provide the services they provided. In Texas, the big corporations are basically able to pad politicians pockets and in return get protections from the state.

[Greg Anos]

Some bits and pieces of Texas were not Southwestern Bell. Some were GTE. . .

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Some bits and pieces of Texas were not Southwestern Bell. Some were GTE. . .

True, but where I lived was SWBT. GTE also got away with whatever they wanted to. Big Business rules in Texas, and we the people get the raw end of the deal. It has always been that way from the era when Big Cattle controlled the land and appointed thugs to patrol their ranges. BTW, those thugs morphed into the Texas Rangers. Today they are a legitimate state law enforcement agency, but originally they were little more than hired guns to kill anyone who messed with the big landowners's cattle. Big Cotton and Big Oil took their turns at controlling the politicians, Big Oil still does. Now a days any Big Business can go that route if they have enough money. Heck, the state even created a special agency called the Texas Railroad Commission to serve and protect Big Railroad (originally) and later on Big Oil & Gas (today) from the public.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by OtinG

True, but where I lived was SWBT. GTE also got away with whatever they wanted to. Big Business rules in Texas, and we the people get the raw end of the deal. It has always been that way from the era when Big Cattle controlled the land and appointed thugs to patrol their ranges. BTW, those thugs morphed into the Texas Rangers. Today they are a legitimate state law enforcement agency, but originally they were little more than hired guns to kill anyone who messed with the big landowners's cattle. Big Cotton and Big Oil took their turns at controlling the politicians, Big Oil still does. Now a days any Big Business can go that route if they have enough money. Heck, the state even created a special agency called the Texas Railroad Commission to serve and protect Big Railroad (originally) and later on Big Oil & Gas (today) from the public.

It also protects the "little people" in the oil business. First hand knowledge.