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From: covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Non-Dialable Points
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Date: 7 Aug 89 21:53:00 GMT
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X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 282, message 1 of 9

In my recent article on Inward, I referred to "non-dialable points."  That term
includes non-dialable exchanges, toll stations, and other strange things.

To check my numbers, I did a search of a Bellcore database about four years old
for points in North America with the non-dialable flag set, and came up with
4589 of them.  I then excluded Mexico and had 1657 left.

After excluding the Caribbean, Canada, Wake and Midway, there were only 825
left, so I'll admit that "thousands" was an exaggeration when referring to the
U.S.  They are located in AK, AZ, CA, ID, KY, LA, MT, NV, OR, TX, UT, and WA.
Most of them are toll stations, but a few are exchanges.

For the doubting ones among you, call 206 555-1212 and ask for the Ross Lake
Nat'l Rec Area in Newhalem, Washington.  You will be told to dial your "0"
operator (Outside the LATA you'd have to call your "00" operator or 10288-0 if
you're not an AT&T customer) and ask for Newhalem 7735.  This is an automatic
exchange which cannot support incoming toll calls.  Local calls are dialled on
a four digit basis.  The incoming restriction may be due to a long-standing
requirement that calls be diallable on a seven digit basis locally (also
allowing less is ok, but seven must work) before incoming calls can be
permitted.  It may also have something to do with the fact that the power
company owns the switch and the wires in and out of the area, and the phone
company may not want to deal with the maintenance issue or doesn't trust them
to return proper answer supervision.

More interesting is the system in Shoup, Idaho.  Call 208 555-1212 and ask for
the Shoup Salmon River store -- you'll be told to call Shoup 24F3. It is what's
called a "Farmer's Line," and it's sort of a single magneto drop with several
stations.  The people out there maintain the line themselves.  It's single wire
ground return.  The people on the line call each other with coded ringing (and
being allowed to make local calls is one of the things that makes a farmer's
line different from a toll station). They get incoming calls with coded ringing
from the operator at a cord board.  They contact the cord board to get out with
a loooooong ring.  The board handling calls is an AT&T board.

One of my favorite toll stations is the one at the ranch of a person I've never
met.  Mr. J. D. Dye isn't listed with directory assistance anywhere I've found,
but he is listed right in the Bellcore database.  Yep.  He doesn't have a phone
number, but you can reach him by asking for DYE J D, in Texas, if you can get
an operator to look it up in her computer.  Note: Rate and Route, which used
to be 141 (not 131, as Patrick claimed, that was information) is gone, and has
been replaced with computer terminals at each operator's position.  Somewhere
nearby there are also Durham Ed, TX and Durham Hal, TX.

A place I've actually visited (the Patrick Creek Lodge in Gasquet, CA) used to
be Idlewild 5.  They appear to have disconnected their toll station and now
have an answering machine on a normal number located 8 miles from the lodge.
Idlewild 1,2,3,4,7,8, and 9 still exist -- and are handled off of an AT&T cord
board, not a PacTel board.

One of the big non-dialable places in Northern California, Sawyers Bar, has
finally become diallable.  Like Newhalem, they had local dialing, but could
not be dialled from toll.  They were listed in the database like toll stations,
with each subscriber having a rate and route listing.  Now their old four digit
numbers (mostly 46XX numbers) are 462-46XX.

Pilottown, Louisiana is still a toll station -- the only one in the state, it
seems.

Amchitka, Alaska, has a normal looking seven digit number for billing purposes:
907 751-8001, but from the lower 48, calls must be placed through Anchorage.

I'm sure some of our other readers can find more non-diallable points, both
entire exchanges (of which I don't expect to find more than 5-10 in the U.S.)
and toll stations (of which there are still several hundred).

/john

[Moderator's Note: Bravo! and thank you for a most enjoyable contribution
to the Digest.  PT]