From Ma Bell, we went to AT&T, to Lucent, to Verizon, to FairPoint and now Consolidated. I went from a 12 party line to a private line in 1988.
Number PULEAZE! Part Five:
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Ireland mid 1970s
I just stumbled upon this one from the mid 1970s in the West of Ireland.
It’s a group of P&T operators in a small auto-manual exchange that was replaced around then, most likely an Ericsson ARF crossbar. I suspect this may have been their last day at the switch boards or something as there’s a bit of a giddiness and very lighthearted atmosphere.
I’m not sure what Earnestine would have made of her Irish colleagues!
Fascinating insight into a bygone era.
The last manual local switch (rural one) closed here in 1986. Digitalisation began in 1979 and what remained of any modern era operator services were permanently shut down in 2009.
They were the human communication hub of small communities all over Ireland and around the world. I just found it fascinating to see the lighter side of it. Operators are often presented as very austere and robotic, but often (especially in rural areas) they were the friendly voice af the end of the phone, covering those boards 24/7/365 and were life lines in emergencies too.
In small exchanges, they were often chatted to while calls were being connected.
I know I’ve heard stories about operators being able to relay calls to my grandmother in the 60s. Someone called her, the local operator answered and tried the line. Then said ..oh I think she’s getting her hair done. I’ll try the hairdressers for you and if she didn’t get her she’d take a message.
As great as modern telecommunications is, there’s something of the human touch that’s been entirely lost forever. It’s long before my time, but you haven’t even been able to call an operator here at all since 2009. All landline operator services were closed permanently and I don’t think you could ever call an operator on a mobile phone. In case of difficulty, I guess you can tweet them these days!
[this post was last edited: 7/16/2021-20:36]
I just stumbled upon this one from the mid 1970s in the West of Ireland.
It’s a group of P&T operators in a small auto-manual exchange that was replaced around then, most likely an Ericsson ARF crossbar. I suspect this may have been their last day at the switch boards or something as there’s a bit of a giddiness and very lighthearted atmosphere.
I’m not sure what Earnestine would have made of her Irish colleagues!
Fascinating insight into a bygone era.
The last manual local switch (rural one) closed here in 1986. Digitalisation began in 1979 and what remained of any modern era operator services were permanently shut down in 2009.
They were the human communication hub of small communities all over Ireland and around the world. I just found it fascinating to see the lighter side of it. Operators are often presented as very austere and robotic, but often (especially in rural areas) they were the friendly voice af the end of the phone, covering those boards 24/7/365 and were life lines in emergencies too.
In small exchanges, they were often chatted to while calls were being connected.
I know I’ve heard stories about operators being able to relay calls to my grandmother in the 60s. Someone called her, the local operator answered and tried the line. Then said ..oh I think she’s getting her hair done. I’ll try the hairdressers for you and if she didn’t get her she’d take a message.
As great as modern telecommunications is, there’s something of the human touch that’s been entirely lost forever. It’s long before my time, but you haven’t even been able to call an operator here at all since 2009. All landline operator services were closed permanently and I don’t think you could ever call an operator on a mobile phone. In case of difficulty, I guess you can tweet them these days!
[this post was last edited: 7/16/2021-20:36]
The old phoneboxes got a new lease of life.
Over the last number of years the classic old P&T phoneboxes have made a return as locations for automatic defibrillators. You’ll find these scattered all over Ireland in rural areas, towns and cities.
Just on the logo: P&T (originally stylised as P⁊T (using an old Gaelic script) ceased to exist in 1984, replaced by Telecom Éireann and then privatised as Eircom, now just Eir.[this post was last edited: 7/16/2021-20:34]
Over the last number of years the classic old P&T phoneboxes have made a return as locations for automatic defibrillators. You’ll find these scattered all over Ireland in rural areas, towns and cities.
Just on the logo: P&T (originally stylised as P⁊T (using an old Gaelic script) ceased to exist in 1984, replaced by Telecom Éireann and then privatised as Eircom, now just Eir.[this post was last edited: 7/16/2021-20:34]
Automatic Electric 1935
Bell Telephone 1954
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Northern Electric 1967
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Western Electric 1966
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<script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>I always find it quite interesting how they had one design of phone for decades and just kept tweaking it by bolting on extra buttons / speakers / mics / touchtone keypads etc etc.
We had plenty of Northern Telecom manufactured 500 series phones, alongside a lot of Ericsson F68 "Dialog" rotary dial phones in the 1960s/70s
Some similar models to the GPO in the UK were used too and the odd Siemens model.
In general the European telcos, while usually monopolies in those days, shopped around for their equipment.
Ericsson was probably the closest European counterpart to Western Electric, and remains dominant to this day in modern telecommunications gear.
Various ITT affiliates as well as Siemens, and in the digital era Alcatel, Nokia etc were a big deal.
We had plenty of Northern Telecom manufactured 500 series phones, alongside a lot of Ericsson F68 "Dialog" rotary dial phones in the 1960s/70s
Some similar models to the GPO in the UK were used too and the odd Siemens model.
In general the European telcos, while usually monopolies in those days, shopped around for their equipment.
Ericsson was probably the closest European counterpart to Western Electric, and remains dominant to this day in modern telecommunications gear.
Various ITT affiliates as well as Siemens, and in the digital era Alcatel, Nokia etc were a big deal.
That's interesting. I didn't know Ireland used 500 sets at one time.
Here the Bell System was totally integrated--at the cost of innovation, in some cases--never did you see anything but Western Electric associated with it (was a big deal when BellSouth after divestiture made a move to Nortel). Our independent sector (roughly 60% of the landmass/30% of the population...correct me on this statistic) could range far more widely. There were some big providers (Automatic Electric, North Supply, others) which competed for the independent company's favor...North Supply even licensed the Ericofon (the one-piece design from Ericsson). I had fun once (while I was working at a non-Bell cellular company) visiting the Telefonmuseet (telephone museum) in Stockholm, Sweden. It was obviously a paean to the wonders of Ericsson, but did make you realize that there was a big sophisticated telephone industry outside of the Bell System and outside of North America)
Don't like talking on Cell Phone
We still have the Land Line here, stopped the long distance. I use a calling card for Long Distance which requires dialing an access number and a pin number. But then you get the excellent fidelity and comfort of a handset. It does seem stupid that the POTS has the fee structure from the past. Most if not all Cell Phones have free long distance. About 1/3 of the cost of the Land Line is fees and taxes. The legislators added about a tax of $3 to Cell Phones but I suppose they would like to add more with the constant loss of taxes from all the cancelled Land Lines.
We still have the Land Line here, stopped the long distance. I use a calling card for Long Distance which requires dialing an access number and a pin number. But then you get the excellent fidelity and comfort of a handset. It does seem stupid that the POTS has the fee structure from the past. Most if not all Cell Phones have free long distance. About 1/3 of the cost of the Land Line is fees and taxes. The legislators added about a tax of $3 to Cell Phones but I suppose they would like to add more with the constant loss of taxes from all the cancelled Land Lines.
Irish 500 phone
There’s a Northern Electric (Nortel) 500 phone built in a plant in Galway for P&T decades ago.
https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/claremuseum/acquisitions/northern_electric_telephone_lge.htm
We didn’t use letters on dial phones, as we never used letter based exchange codes. It was always numerical only.[this post was last edited: 8/14/2021-19:14]
There’s a Northern Electric (Nortel) 500 phone built in a plant in Galway for P&T decades ago.
https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/claremuseum/acquisitions/northern_electric_telephone_lge.htm
We didn’t use letters on dial phones, as we never used letter based exchange codes. It was always numerical only.[this post was last edited: 8/14/2021-19:14]
I ditched my Long Distance service with AT&T a couple of months ago. I was being charged almost $12 a month just for the privilege of having access. I use my cell phone to make all toll calls now.
At some point I'll probably switch to VOIP since my land line dial tone, which still comes from the central office, is carried over fiber, but it goes through my gateway for internet access so when the power goes out, I lose my dial tone. If the dial tone still ran through copper, I'd not be as likely to switch to VOIP, which in my experience (talking with my sister, who has Vonage) is inferior to switched network service.
At some point I'll probably switch to VOIP since my land line dial tone, which still comes from the central office, is carried over fiber, but it goes through my gateway for internet access so when the power goes out, I lose my dial tone. If the dial tone still ran through copper, I'd not be as likely to switch to VOIP, which in my experience (talking with my sister, who has Vonage) is inferior to switched network service.
I moved to fibre a few years ago and got rid of the physical landline service. It's provided as VoIP through a FritzBox router.
It's a quirky little device, but slightly overkill these days. It's a really excellent router with a mesh network, but also has a heap of VoIP functions, including a built in PBX with support for 5 DECT based handsets and a plugged in analog phone (with dial tone).
Even contains its own voicemail server (supporting multiple mailboxes), fax service (who's gonna use that?! I know some doctors still seem to use fax..) and can support multiple VoIP accounts and do all sorts of complex routing.
You can even set it to do a 'dial through' service so it'll recognise your caller ID when you call, present a dial tone and give you access to a VoIP account.
That and it has soft phones for iOS and Android.
Oh and it can control your lights, operate smart plugs and even has modules to control your radiators ...
I'd rate the call quality as being as good or better than a PSTN line though. It's using a HD Voice codec, so it sounds great.
It's a quirky little device, but slightly overkill these days. It's a really excellent router with a mesh network, but also has a heap of VoIP functions, including a built in PBX with support for 5 DECT based handsets and a plugged in analog phone (with dial tone).
Even contains its own voicemail server (supporting multiple mailboxes), fax service (who's gonna use that?! I know some doctors still seem to use fax..) and can support multiple VoIP accounts and do all sorts of complex routing.
You can even set it to do a 'dial through' service so it'll recognise your caller ID when you call, present a dial tone and give you access to a VoIP account.
That and it has soft phones for iOS and Android.
Oh and it can control your lights, operate smart plugs and even has modules to control your radiators ...
I'd rate the call quality as being as good or better than a PSTN line though. It's using a HD Voice codec, so it sounds great.
dropped POTS years ago
For several years now I've been using an Obihai OBi202 (now owned by Polycom), Google Voice, and my high speed broadband connection, to make and receive calls. The voice quality is EXCELLENT. This month Poly released a firmware update for the Obi202, so there's still support for this wonderful box. I can call anybody in the United States and talk for as long as I want for FREE.
For several years now I've been using an Obihai OBi202 (now owned by Polycom), Google Voice, and my high speed broadband connection, to make and receive calls. The voice quality is EXCELLENT. This month Poly released a firmware update for the Obi202, so there's still support for this wonderful box. I can call anybody in the United States and talk for as long as I want for FREE.
Now how cool is that? A 500 set with only numbers.
Based on Northern Telecom (Nortel) Harmony
That Ireland map phone was based on the chassis of a very standard issue Nortel Harmony phone that were one of their more popular rental models in the 1980s. I still have one plugged into VoIP and it works a charm despite being probably close to 40 years old.
Also including a photo of another common model that was rented here in the 1980s. Can’t remember what Telecom called it, but it was quite a famous Danish design, and I think manufactured by a Kirk.
The “R” (Recall) button is the hook flash for call waiting / 3 way calling. The timing is a bit different to the US and closer to pulse dialling 1.
If you used the “Flash” button on a US phone on an Irish landline it was too long and cleared the line, as it was interpreted as hanging up by the switching system.
R1 = answer incoming call waiting & hang up on current call.
R2 = toggle between calls.
R3 = conference call.
If you wanted to add a call, you dialled “R” which put the call on hold and gave you a dial tone. Then made the second call and R1 / R2 / R3 could be used to end one call, toggle between or merge the calls.
A lot of late phones had at least R 2 stored on a button.
A lot of European PSTN switches did it that way.
That Ireland map phone was based on the chassis of a very standard issue Nortel Harmony phone that were one of their more popular rental models in the 1980s. I still have one plugged into VoIP and it works a charm despite being probably close to 40 years old.
Also including a photo of another common model that was rented here in the 1980s. Can’t remember what Telecom called it, but it was quite a famous Danish design, and I think manufactured by a Kirk.
The “R” (Recall) button is the hook flash for call waiting / 3 way calling. The timing is a bit different to the US and closer to pulse dialling 1.
If you used the “Flash” button on a US phone on an Irish landline it was too long and cleared the line, as it was interpreted as hanging up by the switching system.
R1 = answer incoming call waiting & hang up on current call.
R2 = toggle between calls.
R3 = conference call.
If you wanted to add a call, you dialled “R” which put the call on hold and gave you a dial tone. Then made the second call and R1 / R2 / R3 could be used to end one call, toggle between or merge the calls.
A lot of late phones had at least R 2 stored on a button.
A lot of European PSTN switches did it that way.
[No message]
That phone is a lot more than 40 years old! No * or # key on it means it's a 1960s Western Electric model 1500. The later and infinitely more common and useful touchtone phones with the * and # keys are 2500's.
