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From: davef@brspyr1.brs.com (Dave Fiske)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Touring the Central Office
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Date: 18 Aug 89 18:15:55 GMT
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X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 307, message 4 of 8

> In article  john@zygot.uucp writes:
> > Something that every reader of this group should do is take a tour of a
> > local central office. I would kill for that opportunity now with all

When I was in college in Ithaca, NY (in the 70s), they had an open
house at the CO.  It was definitely a good time.  Strangely enough,
the staff were extremely open with us.

First, we were walked through the racks, and a technician asked one
person in the group what her phone number was.  He traced over and down
and showed her where her line was connected.  "That's your phone
number, right there."  I remember being impressed with the amount of
time they spent just checking their equipment and cabling--according to
the technician, 75% of their efforts were just spent testing.  While we
were there, a bell started ringing, and a bare light bulb mounted over
a door started flashing.  "Oh, don't worry, just a minor alarm", he
said, and ignored it.

(Of course, I also remember thinking about how little work they
performed in turning on your service--being a student, I was acutely
aware of how much it cost!)

Next, we were bussed over to a separate location, where the operators
and other staff were located.  They showed us their latest equipment
acquisition--which they seemed particularly proud of--a PPCS board
(Person-to-Person/Collect/Special, or so they told us).  This was
great, they said, because if someone were making a collect call, they
could dial the number right in, and it was displayed on the board for
the operator to see.

I remember they also told us how operators had to listen for the beeps
made when someone was inserting coins in a pay phone, and even admitted
that sometimes people put the coins in too fast for the operator to
keep track of.  I was surprised to hear them say this, since it's
almost inviting people to rip them off, but it shows how honest they
were being.  I asked how long they waited before re-assigning phone
numbers, since I had been getting a lot of calls for the previous
assignee.  They said they waited a year, but when I mentioned my
problem, they admitted that, in neighborhoods where there was high
concentration of students (obviously with a high turnover rate) they
would sometimes re-assign them in only 9 months.  Well, at least they
didn't cop out.

I wish I could remember more of what I saw, and that I had had more
knowledge then about what I did see.  But I agree, it definitely is
worth doing if the opportunity ever comes up.
--
"ANGRY WOMEN BEAT UP SHOE SALESMAN   Dave Fiske  (davef@brspyr1.BRS.COM)
 WHO POSED AS GYNECOLOGIST"
                                     Home:  David_A_Fiske@cup.portal.com
Headline from Weekly World News             CIS: 75415,163  GEnie: davef