Old phones

[davetranter]

A bit more on Exchange power arrangements

'Wayupnorth' (Reply#31) mentions DC gensets. I think all of ours had been replaced before I took an interest in power arrangements. Before the development of high current silicon rectifiers, some exchanges had large motor-generator sets, while smaller ones had Mercury Arc Rectifiers. In my day, all gensets were AC, and ran the entire building, including 'domestic' power, heating and lighting. There was always at least one 'redundant' transformer/rectifier unit (just known as a 'Rectifier' in G.P.O. speak) to provide for routine maintenance downtime or emergency. Rectifiers varied in size from a few tens of Amperes in small exchanges to a row of 2000A cubicles in large buildings. These (mostly made by G.E.C.) were very reliable. At one local exchange (due (I'm assuming) to a miniscule difference in output voltage) one 600A rectifier cubicle ran 'flat out' at 600A for 12 hours per day (the second rectifier would switch in as the load increased just after 8am, and would switch out again sometime mid-evening) and ran all of the evening/night load (about 350A) as well. This situation went on for many years, and was still the case when I left the company. We never had any trouble with it. The exchange staff loved it because they could dry wet clothes in Winter, simply by throwing them on top of the cubicle for an hour or so, it was MUCH warmer than our 'restricted by Government Regulations' heating system, which hardly ever came on!!
There was (of course) a third (redundant) rectifier, which I NEVER saw in operation. This was a typical G.P.O. setup. the maximum demand of the exchange was probably 1000A, so it was equipped with three 600A rectifiers. I think I have the spec of the diesel set for that exchange somewhere, but it will take a while to find....

Hope I haven't bored too many people too much ;-)

All best

Dave T

P.S. The control and telemetry systems for the exchange power systems was deliberately kept 'low-tech'. It was mainly resistors, capacitors, and relays, with a bare minimum of semiconductors. This provided 'reliable' central monitoring capability for use in case of 'national emergencies' etc.

 

[circlew]

The protector shown in reply #34 is much like the one in the basement of the rental house I'm living in. The house was built in 1938, and I think it's original. It is no longer connected, as the former owner had to have new phone wiring installed when she got the ADT security system.

My own house (being renovated still) was built in 1952, and I remember a rectangular metal box about 3" square and 8" long on the side of the house. The phone man told me it was the protector. Later it was replaced by a plastic box serving the same purpose.

The immediate area I live in is served by Frontier Communications (the former Rochester, NY Telco). They purchased this area from Verizon, which had previously been a GTE area. The service is very good, and has been since Verizon was in charge. When it was GTE, the service was bad, with numerous outages and problems.

Most of the Cincinnati area is served by Cincinnati Bell. They have installed fiber optic lines in many areas, especially where many businesses are located. At one of the central offices near the library I vistit, they store about 15 or so trailer mounted Cummins diesel gen sets. They send them out to remote locations in event of a power outage. All their central offices have permanant gen sets in place. During Hurricane Ike in 2009 (yes, a hurricane in Ohio), nearly 90% of Cincinnati area residents lost power, but phone service was still working for most. My phone was only out for about 15 mins. though power was off 2.5 days.

My cousin Linda lives in Seminary, MS (Hattiesburg area), and when Hurricane Katrina hit she never lost Bellsouth phone service. She said her power was out for nearly 3 weeks, and no cell phone service either. That area has all phone lines underground.

The phone I use most is a WE 2500 in beige. It has a date on the bottom, and I think it's from 1986. I also have a WE 2554 wall phone not currently in use, and a Comdial 2830, which is for a 1A2 key system. I'm going to modify it to work on a single line service.

 

[wayupnorth]

We were the third Verizon phone company off shoot to be purchaced from them and all 3 ended up declaring bankrupsy. I would not be surprised Frontier ends up the same from probably being sold a bill of goods that was essentially Ma Bell's old stuff from the 19th century. It costs a ton of money to do new lines, especially fiber optic especially in a state as big as this one is. Big name phone companies only want to handle cell service. They want nothing to do with landlines. See their constant ads on tv. No wonder cell prices keep going up.

 

[NYCWriter]

Typical Corporate America ...

... no longer investing for the future, because corporate leaders these days no longer have any long-term vested interest in the companies they're running.

And every dollar spent must be offset by at least two dollars earned, and furthest into the future you're looking is the next quarter.

Very sad.

 

[48bencix]

Att to eliminate landlines

I plan to keep my landline until ATT eliminates it. Here in Sacrmento they are building a new 911 call center which will allow operator to answer 911 cell phones directly. Currently they are answered by California Highway Patrol. I am bothered that the system is not more comprehensive that it is. During an emergency my landline will correctly identify my address, even if I am unable to talk. Also I do forget to charge my cellphone. Does it bother anyone that the voice quality is way better on a copper connection designed for voice? Voip and cell are pretty crummy in my opinion. I know those services could be better quality, but there doesn't seem to be a standard for audio fidelity.

I would like fiber to my home, but even though I have ATT copper, Comcast Cable and Surewest fiber right outside my house on poles, there is not much competition. The only way to get a reasonable price is to switch every year or two. They all want you to bundle. However I am happy with Dish and antenna for TV. Ultimately fiber is the best for bandwidth. The modem does require power in the home and hence the need for back-up power there. So just to get phone you will have a bill from the voice provider and a power bill.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-02-28/at-and-t-proposes-alabama-florida-for-digital-tests-to-lose-rules