Thread Number: 81652  /  Tag: Other Home Products or Autos
Number PULEAZE! Part Four:
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Post# 1056550   1/5/2020 at 06:29 (1,545 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Is this the party to whom I am speaking?

 

 


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Post# 1056551 , Reply# 1   1/5/2020 at 06:30 (1,545 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Part Four:

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All about vintage telephones up to 1989. Advertisements, humor, history, collections, equipment, restoration/repair, technical questions, resources or just plain memories, it's all here. While emphasis is placed on American telephones, vintage telephones from around the world are also most welcomed.

 

"Hello central???"

 

Part One:

http://www.automaticwasher.org/c...

 

Part Two:

http://www.automaticwasher.org/c...

 

Part Three:

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?79508


Post# 1056553 , Reply# 2   1/5/2020 at 06:33 (1,545 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell Telephone System 1963

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Bell Telephone System 1963


Post# 1056555 , Reply# 3   1/5/2020 at 06:35 (1,545 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
General Telephone & Electronics 1960

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General Telephone & Electronics 1960


Post# 1056556 , Reply# 4   1/5/2020 at 06:37 (1,545 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell Telephone System 1964

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1964 Bell Telephone System


Post# 1056557 , Reply# 5   1/5/2020 at 06:39 (1,545 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell telephone System 1957

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Bell telephone System 1957


Post# 1056813 , Reply# 6   1/7/2020 at 20:52 (1,542 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1056822 , Reply# 7   1/7/2020 at 23:18 (1,542 days old) by abcomatic (Bradford, Illinois)        

When I was a young kid in the early 1950's, we lived on a farm and our number was 2 long and 2 short.


Post# 1057126 , Reply# 8   1/10/2020 at 08:37 (1,540 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1057353 , Reply# 9   1/12/2020 at 09:39 (1,538 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1057365 , Reply# 10   1/12/2020 at 11:53 (1,537 days old) by iej (.... )        

I'm a little surprised 911 was only adopted nationally in the late 1960s.

It seems 999 was introduced in 1937 in the UK and seems to have been in use here in Ireland too from that point on and was just rolled out in any area as automatic dialling became widespread.

The pan-European (and often beyond) 112 harmonised number being introduced in 1995 and seems to have some degree of uptake but is very useful if you're abroad as there used to be different emergency numbers in every EU country.

The usual approach is 112 just co-exists with whatever the national emergency number is in any given country, but does not replace it, as to do so would cause confusion. Some countries promote only 112 in advertising, others continue to promote their original national emergency number, but there is no plan to phase anything out, it's just a service that co-exists.

112 will also always override key locks and often operate in mobile phones that don't have accounts or SIM cards.


Post# 1060125 , Reply# 11   2/10/2020 at 05:20 (1,509 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1060190 , Reply# 12   2/10/2020 at 17:26 (1,508 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)        

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911 was only introduced (allowed in the phone system) 50 years ago--it took over 10 years before it came to our town in suburban St. Louis (Southwestern Bell ILEC) in suburban St. Louis. The US does not have a national phone network (we have local monopolies; regulated at both the state AND national level; largest of which was the Bell system; as opposed to most other countries where the phone company was part of the PTT (post/telephone/telegraph)). Canada has a similar structure as the US as well.

The structure of the phone systems under the North America Numbering Plan (i.e. country code 1) is quite different than the rest of the world, and has filtered down to a lot of why we do things "like we do"...as a for instance, you never know by the number whether you're calling a landline or a mobile when dialing; therefore calling-party-pays is not a "thing" here (too tough to implement with the diversity in phone companies out there).

911 is funded and regulated at the local/state level (so there are still a few very rural areas without 911 still!) I've worked in 911 for the last 15 years, so any questions I'm happy to sound off!


Post# 1060232 , Reply# 13   2/11/2020 at 07:02 (1,508 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1060916 , Reply# 14   2/18/2020 at 21:38 (1,500 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
1949

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Post# 1062021 , Reply# 15   3/2/2020 at 04:38 (1,488 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Most Of The Last Remaining Pay Phones In NYC Will Be Ripped Out

 

While the private, walk-in phone booths of yesteryear have been nearly extinct for well over a decade in New York City, many open-air pay phones have remained, jammed into the concrete sidewalks, coin-operated totems to our analog days. But like the iconic phone booth before them ( of which there are only four left), their days are now numbered.

Along 9th Avenue in Hell's Kitchen there are enough non-booth public pay phones left that some locals have complained, saying they eat up valuable sidewalk space and aren't well-maintained by CityBridge, a consortium that installs, operates, and maintains public communications structures in NYC. Hearing their complaints, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson contacted the commissioner of the Department of Information, Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) late last year to facilitate in their removal.

“My office has received numerous community complaints from local residents about these antiquated pay phones, which present public safety and quality of life issues," Johnson said in a statement to Gothamist Friday. "Additionally, they take up sorely needed sidewalk space that could better serve people with disabilities, families with strollers and ease sidewalk congestion.”

 

All in all, thirty will be removed in Hell's Kitchen, along 9th Avenue from West 23rd to 57th Street, by the end of March. After that, DoITT will uproot about 3,000 pay phones all over the city. While they are committed to removing all of their pay phones, not all pay phones are controlled by CityBridge, so you may still see a few out there.

 

This is all part of the planned long goodbye to the aging network of public phones, as CityBridge brings in more revenue-generating LinkNYC kiosks. Some of these Hell's Kitchen pay phones, and the ones taken down after them, will be replaced by those newer machines, which CityBridge also oversees, though there are no immediate plans for their installation.

 

It's worth noting that those remaining booths — all on the Upper West Side — will remain in place, per an agreement, and will continue to be maintained by CityBridge. They also now provide free phone calls. You'll find them on West End Avenue around 66th, 90th, 100th and 101st streets.



CLICK HERE TO GO TO Ultramatic's LINK

Post# 1064809 , Reply# 16   3/27/2020 at 13:44 (1,462 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1064815 , Reply# 17   3/27/2020 at 14:45 (1,462 days old) by CircleW (NE Cincinnati OH area)        

The White House phone above appears to be a Western Electric B type handset mounting, with an E-1 handset. The ringer and network are located in a subset box. It has no dial as it was used with a PBX.

This style phone had a round base. In 1930 it was restyled to have a more stable oval base. Later versions had updated handsets. They are referred to as models 102 and 202. It was common until the introduction of the 302 in 1939.

Friends of my parents had the oval base version. The man retired from Western Electric, and my mom had worked with him there in the early 50's.




Post# 1065035 , Reply# 18   3/29/2020 at 10:15 (1,461 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
The Bell System Circa 1918

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Still holds true today.

 

The Bell System 1918


Post# 1065059 , Reply# 19   3/29/2020 at 12:58 (1,460 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)        

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Interesting, that quarantine ad. That company was merged/assimilated into Ohio Bell sometime subsequent to that (50 miles south in Cincinnati the Bell affiliate, Cincinnati Bell, was never assimilated)....they were the best phone system I've ever experienced when I lived there... Fascinating fact---the independent phone companies (Frontier/GTE/Windstream/…) were actually the innovators/first to market in certain parts of the business (dial phones; 911)...believe the inventor was Strowger who started Automatic Electric (which was a big manufacturer for the independents).

Post# 1065612 , Reply# 20   4/2/2020 at 13:03 (1,456 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1066091 , Reply# 21   4/5/2020 at 17:34 (1,453 days old) by kd12 (Arkansas)        
Name That Phone

Two for the price of one here. The ad below is for a Frigidaire washer and dryer set from an October 1972 Reader's Digest. On the wall above the washer is a black wall phone from about the 1930's. Does anyone recognize the make? As far as I can tell, it is not a Western Electric model.

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Post# 1066102 , Reply# 22   4/5/2020 at 18:09 (1,453 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Automatic Electric AE50. From the 1940's if I recall correctly.


Post# 1066110 , Reply# 23   4/5/2020 at 18:35 (1,453 days old) by kd12 (Arkansas)        

Louis, thanks!

Post# 1066111 , Reply# 24   4/5/2020 at 18:35 (1,453 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1066120 , Reply# 25   4/5/2020 at 19:36 (1,453 days old) by CircleW (NE Cincinnati OH area)        
AE model 50

This was made from the late 30's through the mid 50's. A similar looking wall phone, the model 35, was introduced in the early 30's. It lacks vents on the sides, and usually has the earlier type handset. The 50 was replaced by the model 90 around 1956.

I have a model 50, less the dial - just has the blank plate - as it was used with a PBX. I got it when the downtown Pogue's Dept. store closed in 1988. I found it in the subbasement. It's one of my most prized possessions.

AE made beautiful phones until they came out with the models 80 and 90.



Post# 1068937 , Reply# 26   4/23/2020 at 22:38 (1,435 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell Telephone System 1960

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Bell Telephone System 1960


Post# 1068938 , Reply# 27   4/23/2020 at 22:41 (1,435 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Western Electric 1948

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Western Electric 1948


Post# 1068989 , Reply# 28   4/24/2020 at 06:09 (1,435 days old) by vacerator (Macomb, Michigan)        
If all other forms

of communication ever were to fail, ham radio operators woiuld be the exception.

Post# 1069214 , Reply# 29   4/25/2020 at 11:54 (1,433 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1069540 , Reply# 30   4/27/2020 at 11:14 (1,431 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1070326 , Reply# 31   5/1/2020 at 18:43 (1,427 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1070468 , Reply# 32   5/2/2020 at 12:29 (1,426 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1070604 , Reply# 33   5/3/2020 at 08:56 (1,426 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1070619 , Reply# 34   5/3/2020 at 10:33 (1,426 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)        

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Muppets for C&P Telephone--60s

CLICK HERE TO GO TO jamiel's LINK


Post# 1070785 , Reply# 35   5/4/2020 at 10:11 (1,425 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1070787 , Reply# 36   5/4/2020 at 10:24 (1,425 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell Telephone System 1960

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Bell Telephone System 1960


Post# 1070788 , Reply# 37   5/4/2020 at 10:27 (1,425 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell System 1956

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Bell System 1956


Post# 1071141 , Reply# 38   5/6/2020 at 17:27 (1,422 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1072095 , Reply# 39   5/12/2020 at 07:45 (1,417 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1072608 , Reply# 40   5/15/2020 at 03:27 (1,414 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
And now we run from it...

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Post# 1072856 , Reply# 41   5/16/2020 at 18:16 (1,412 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1075055 , Reply# 42   5/30/2020 at 19:49 (1,398 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1075064 , Reply# 43   5/30/2020 at 21:08 (1,398 days old) by CircleW (NE Cincinnati OH area)        

I had a friend in the early 80's that was an electronic switching system tech for Cincinnati Bell. He told me they were installing the 5ESS during that time.


Post# 1077450 , Reply# 44   6/16/2020 at 20:59 (1,381 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Western Electric 1950

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Western Electric 1950


Post# 1077451 , Reply# 45   6/16/2020 at 21:00 (1,381 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Hughs 1956

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Hughs 1956


Post# 1077452 , Reply# 46   6/16/2020 at 21:02 (1,381 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell System 1924

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Bell System 1924


Post# 1077453 , Reply# 47   6/16/2020 at 21:04 (1,381 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Code-A-Phone 1983

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Code-A-Phone 1983


Post# 1077530 , Reply# 48   6/17/2020 at 13:16 (1,380 days old) by vacerator (Macomb, Michigan)        
"Disqualified!"

"Wats wrong with working for the phone company?"

Post# 1080326 , Reply# 49   7/8/2020 at 11:21 (1,359 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Western Electric 1955

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Western Electric 1955


Post# 1080327 , Reply# 50   7/8/2020 at 11:22 (1,359 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Cobra 1982

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Cobra 1982


Post# 1080328 , Reply# 51   7/8/2020 at 11:24 (1,359 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell Telephone System 1939

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Bell Telephone System 1939


Post# 1080329 , Reply# 52   7/8/2020 at 11:26 (1,359 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
American Teelephone & Telegraph Company 1914

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American Telephone & Telegraph Company 1914


Post# 1080330 , Reply# 53   7/8/2020 at 11:27 (1,359 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell Telephone System 1963

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Bell Telephone System 1963


Post# 1081520 , Reply# 54   7/18/2020 at 14:04 (1,349 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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FCC: Phone carriers that profit from robocalls could have all calls blocked

Safe harbor lets phone companies block all calls from “bad-actor” telecoms.



CLICK HERE TO GO TO Ultramatic's LINK

Post# 1081585 , Reply# 55   7/19/2020 at 07:48 (1,349 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)        

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Love these old ads. I was recently on FB with some former co-workers who were reminiscing about how terrific our group was...it got me thinking about my work history in telecom--I got into cellular in 1992 and it has been a wonderful ride; with (at various times) amazingly cool people doing very cool innovative things literally around the world. Thanks to Dave Wielgus, John Cregier, Linda Rosenberg and Sal Butindaro at United States Cellular for kicking off a great ride!

Post# 1083730 , Reply# 56   8/3/2020 at 09:56 (1,334 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell Telephone System 1938

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Bell Telephone System 1938


Post# 1083731 , Reply# 57   8/3/2020 at 09:58 (1,334 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
General Telephone 1959

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General Telephone 1959


Post# 1083733 , Reply# 58   8/3/2020 at 09:59 (1,334 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell Telephone Laboratories 1956

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Bell Telephone Laboratories 1956


Post# 1083735 , Reply# 59   8/3/2020 at 10:01 (1,334 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Sani-Phone 1912

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Sani-Phone 1912


Post# 1083736 , Reply# 60   8/3/2020 at 10:02 (1,334 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Cobra 1990

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Cobra 1990


Post# 1085142 , Reply# 61   8/15/2020 at 09:17 (1,322 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1087461 , Reply# 62   9/1/2020 at 00:21 (1,305 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell System 1962

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Post# 1087913 , Reply# 63   9/4/2020 at 08:20 (1,302 days old) by iej (.... )        

An old comedy sketch (in Norwegian with subtitles) about Telex (DTWX in Europe).





I know here in Ireland, Telex ceased to exist in 2002. There were some virtualised versions of it used for legacy customers that outsourced the service to Swisscom in Switzerland instead and delivered it over IP.


Post# 1087937 , Reply# 64   9/4/2020 at 13:29 (1,301 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)        

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Love it. I remember using a facsimile machine in about 1977 when I was volunteering at the county library--it took about 3 minutes to spin (on a rotating drum) the message from one branch to another (list of books to request and put aside). About as far advanced as you could hope for!

Post# 1087940 , Reply# 65   9/4/2020 at 13:54 (1,301 days old) by iej (.... )        

I was cleaning out some stuff from my late mom's shed and found an old Panasonic Easa Phone answering machine from, I'm guessing the late 1970s or early 80s. It still had messages on it and also all the recordings of the old network sounds ... when someone hung up you could hear the old crossbar switch from the 1970s/80s going through the motions of ending the call and playing out a busy tone, lots of clicks and clunks before it got to the tone. Just weird to hear mundane messages from way way back.



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Post# 1087952 , Reply# 66   9/4/2020 at 15:48 (1,301 days old) by ken (NYS)        
1968

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Post# 1088011 , Reply# 67   9/5/2020 at 08:58 (1,301 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)        

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Had no idea those were that old...though the one which I observed was plain paper/didn't use the carbon pack that this one did. Woof to all those fine looking men.

Post# 1089087 , Reply# 68   9/12/2020 at 04:37 (1,294 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1090242 , Reply# 69   9/22/2020 at 08:35 (1,284 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
In honor to the recent Beltsville CAN-O-RAMA...

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Post# 1090675 , Reply# 70   9/25/2020 at 13:36 (1,280 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Heinz 1984

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Heinz 1984


Post# 1090737 , Reply# 71   9/26/2020 at 01:41 (1,280 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Ansa-Fone 1960

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Ansa-Fone 1960


Post# 1091496 , Reply# 72   10/1/2020 at 12:26 (1,274 days old) by iej (.... )        
Old BT adverts (1980s?)

Introducing, Beatrice "Beetie" Bellman who represented BT through the 1980s, played by Maureen Lipman.

 




 

This one involves appliances: 




 




 




 




 





Post# 1094878 , Reply# 73   10/28/2020 at 01:18 (1,248 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Radio Shack 1982

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Radio Shack 1982


Post# 1095253 , Reply# 74   10/31/2020 at 04:56 (1,245 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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Post# 1095918 , Reply# 75   11/5/2020 at 06:25 (1,240 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
AT&T 1954

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Post# 1095941 , Reply# 76   11/5/2020 at 10:05 (1,239 days old) by CircleW (NE Cincinnati OH area)        

My Aunt Doris had a white 554 in the kitchen of the house they lived in from '63 to '91. Several other relatives and friends had them in various colors. If they think that's "ugly", they should see the Automatic Electric model 90. Several neighbors had those, as this immediate area was a GTE territory.

Post# 1096005 , Reply# 77   11/5/2020 at 21:02 (1,239 days old) by Davey7 (Chicago)        

I love that Miriam Margolyes is in the one BT advert! She is such a hoot in real life.

Post# 1096810 , Reply# 78   11/12/2020 at 05:36 (1,233 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
1954

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Post# 1098380 , Reply# 79   11/26/2020 at 05:41 (1,219 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
1876

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Post# 1098405 , Reply# 80   11/26/2020 at 13:56 (1,218 days old) by iej (.... )        
The first transatlantic cable

This is the great great grandaddy of all the fibre that came since.

The first Transatlantic Cable, linking Valentia, County Kerry in Ireland with Trinity Bay in Newfoundland - interconnecting the North American and European telegraph networks.

It relayed the first message, sent successfully on 16 August 1858 from Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan.

(Ireland was still part of the UK 1801 until 1922 hence the Queen's involvement)








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Post# 1100152 , Reply# 81   12/10/2020 at 21:07 (1,204 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell System 1979

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Bell System 1979


Post# 1100499 , Reply# 82   12/13/2020 at 22:06 (1,201 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell Telephone System 1960

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Bell Telephone System 1960


Post# 1100516 , Reply# 83   12/14/2020 at 07:41 (1,201 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)        

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Love that graphic. Having worked in telecom nearly all my career, I think one of those "looking glass" moments for me was in about 1999, sitting in a hotel lobby in Buenos Aires, talking on my normal cell phone back to my folks in St. Louis (we put in the network to make that happen for Movicom)...this was when GSM and SIM cards was an rather exotic system from Europe which had just come to the US for about 2-3 years.

Post# 1102047 , Reply# 84   12/26/2020 at 12:53 (1,188 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Ericofon 1957

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Ericofon 1957


Post# 1102245 , Reply# 85   12/27/2020 at 21:24 (1,187 days old) by iej (.... )        

Classic Ericsson. Lots of old Ericsson phones around in Europe.

Their US subsidiary was North Electric.

Ericsson were (and still are) one of the largest switching system and telecommunications equipment makers in Europe and globally.

The PSTN network here in Ireland was full of Ericsson ARF, ARK and ARM crossbars from the 1950s to the 1980s. They were computerised somewhat with the markers being replaced by computers in the 1970s but were replaced by Ericsson AXE digital from 1980 onwards.

A rather geeky product launch for AXE:






The other big European crossbar system was the Pentaconta (and later Metaconta) designed in France but manufactured by lots of ITT affiliates.


Also a rather amusing vision of the future from the UK's GPO




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Post# 1102284 , Reply# 86   12/28/2020 at 09:25 (1,187 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)        

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I'm not sure of the association between Ericsson and North Supply except for the Ericofon... as opposed to (nearly) every other country the US had a significant non-Bell (i.e. non-PTT) telecom ecosystem both on the telco side as well as on the supplier side. Companies like GTE/Contel/Alltel/United Telespectrum/Century had significant subscriber numbers (multiple millions of landline customers each), plus there were literally thousands of smaller LECs. The level of diversity within telecom has had its good points, (high teledensity) as well as bad points (no such thing as calling-party-pays when you've got that many telephone companies to settle with). It was very interesting how cellular followed the differential paths (with the EU coalescing around GSM to replace NMT, with north America coalescing around a dual technology path (CDMA and TDMA).

Post# 1102338 , Reply# 87   12/28/2020 at 20:20 (1,186 days old) by iej (.... )        

Ericsson owned 60% of North Electric from 1951 until 1966. Which was when they started manufacturing Ericophone.

They continued to licence Ericsson technology after 1966, for example they produced a toll / tandem electronic switch which was called ETS4, but was actually just an American adapted version of Ericsson AKE “code switch” which was a pre digital electronic switch that used analogue pathways.

They were ultimately sold to ITT in 1972 and more or less disappeared.

Ericsson ARM crossbars were used in international gateway switches in Canada and AXE digital switches appeared to some extent in the US network. They tended to be the dominant platform for GSM mobile switching centres so several of the US networks would have had them from the 1990s onwards as MSCs, but you’ve definitely got more than a few Ericsson AXEs in the US PSTN too.

The odd 5ESS made it to Europe too, mostly through Philips who licenced the platform to replace their own PRX system in the 80s. Canadian designed Nortel DMS switches were used to some extent too, especially by European cable operators and alternative providers in the 90s.

Ericsson AXE was and still is hugely dominant in Europe. Even today they’ve a platform called TSS which is basically a virtualised AXE switch in all IP networks.

The historical differences were fairly significant. European PTTs (Telecoms) until the 1990s retained a monopoly or near monopolies, but there was a bigger range of equipment makers. None of them were vertically integrated like Bell / AT&T / Western Electric, so your typical European PTT sourced switching and other equipment from companies like Ericsson, ITT, Alcatel, Siemens, Philips, Telenokia, etc and also some smaller companies like GPT, Plessey etc in the U.K. and Italiatel in Italy who primarily were suppliers to just their own PTT. So there was a really vibrant and competitive telecoms equipment sector in Europe and a lot of open standards developed to facilitate interoperability, as it was demanded by PTTs who didn’t want to be stuck with one vendor.

Ericsson is probably the closest thing to a European counterpart to Western Electric though, as it’s switches tended to be found in almost every network. Most European PSTNs were full of Ericsson AXE switches, often 50% of all switching sites with Alcatel, Siemens, Nokia, GPT etc having had the other half.

The market opened bit by bit in the 80s and then completely in the 1990s, with mandated carrier preselect and the growth of alternative operators, especially cable companies. Then you’d unbundling with mixed success.

At present, the market is probably more competitive than the US, as you’ll typically have an old incumbent that is required to open its access networks fully to competing ISPs and telcos and you’ll have cable operators and alternative FTTH networks.

Here for example, the main power company setup a fibre access network, competing with both the cable company and the former PTT. So on both FTTH access networks, you can connect to a heap of ISPs, telcos, IPTV providers etc. The old former PTT and the power company’s networks are both open wholesale access networks, so any communications company can sell services through either or both of them.

The mobile companies in Europe largely exploded after GSM and it was get much designed to be competitive and smash monopolies. The SIM card itself was designed to allow consumers to easily switch networks for example. By the mid 1990s you’d fairly serious numbers of competing networks and that has grown to include lots of virtual networks.

Mobile systems in Europe before GSM weren’t just NMT. There wasn’t a single standard. You’d the U.K., Ireland and Italy using TACS (Total Access Communications System) (which was a europeanised version of AMPS), France had a system called Radiocom 2000 that was just unique to France and there were several versions of NMT in use.

Both NMT and TACS provided limited roaming services.

GSM was developed initially as an EU facilitated project to come up with an open tech system foot pan European use. The fact that it was built around open standards is probably why it became internationally very popular beyond Europe, as you weren’t locked into any single equipment maker, so it rapidly became the basis for global standards, with even Cingular / AT&T opting for it and it’s still the same family of standards that’s led to LTE and 5G. It was always intended as a system that prevented vendor lock-in and to smash the old monopoly PTTs.

The charging models have really become somewhat irrelevant though as it’s fairly normal to have bundles of unlimited or almost unlimited minutes, so you’d typically no longer really pay per minute for calls.

Landline services have increasingly become an afterthought that’s bundled with your broadband and use of landlines is plummeting, They majority of telcos are moving to being FTTH providers with telephony now just being delivered as VoIP though a router in many cases. Some countries have even completed the shutdown of their classic PSTN services.

Here in Ireland for example, it’s destined to disappear in 2024. It doesn’t mean the end of landline numbers or services, but dial tones won’t be produced by central office switches anymore. Landline users are being shifted to VoIP products delivered over broadband (from umpteen providers) and and whatever remains will just be left on dial tones from much smaller IP based MSANs for the laggards. Services like ISDN are being ceased entirely.

On the mobile side of things the other huge change in Europe was the end of roaming charges within the EU a few years ago. So typically now you can just use your call plan as if you’re at home, including most of the data allowances, without incurring any extra charges. There are some fair usage limits, like you can’t use a roaming phone as permanent solution (although I’ve never had an issue after months and months with an Irish phone in France for example) but it’s made a massive difference to travelling around the EU, as you no longer have to think about the cost of making / reviving calls or blasting through data.

You’d typically expect unlimited calls and data these days at fairly reasonable prices.




This post was last edited 12/28/2020 at 21:20
Post# 1103093 , Reply# 88   1/4/2021 at 04:50 (1,180 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Western Electric 1967

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Western Electric 1967


Post# 1103094 , Reply# 89   1/4/2021 at 04:52 (1,180 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell Telephone System 1962

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Bell Telephone System 1962


Post# 1109495 , Reply# 90   2/25/2021 at 05:28 (1,128 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Freedom Phone 1981

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Freedom Phone 1981


Post# 1109740 , Reply# 91   2/27/2021 at 17:12 (1,125 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
General Telephone 1959

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General Telephone 1959


Post# 1109742 , Reply# 92   2/27/2021 at 17:50 (1,125 days old) by CircleW (NE Cincinnati OH area)        

The phones in the General Telephone ad are Automatic Electric "Monophone" model 80, and were AE's version of the WE 500. They followed the AE models 34 and 40, which were beautiful, high quality items, made from the mid 30's to mid 50's. The 80 was somewhat of a comedown, both in style and quality, but not as bad as the next version, the 80E (rotary and tone models), which was cheapened even further.

Post# 1109751 , Reply# 93   2/27/2021 at 19:23 (1,125 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)        

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Wonder if GTE at the time had any interstate trunks (connecting their areas, say LA area to Canton, Ohio) or if that was all handed over to AT&T before the breakup. Anyone know?

Post# 1110329 , Reply# 94   3/5/2021 at 23:08 (1,119 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
It finally happened.

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I was forced to switch to a fiber optic line from traditional copper. They came yesterday and installed a box with a line into the main phone jack. And another box with a battery back-up so the phone will have "stand-by" power for 8 hours. Of course, using the phone on battery will dramatically reduce this "stand-by"time. It uses 12, D-Cell batteries that will be on your dime. Batteries "should" last a year. Today, the new digital landline failed. I can make calls, but not receive them. Copper phone service here had NEVER failed. Nice going Verizon!


Post# 1111860 , Reply# 95   3/17/2021 at 20:17 (1,107 days old) by sarahperdue (Alabama)        
We don't care, we don't have to

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We're the phone company
vimeo.com/355556831QUESTIONMARKR...


Post# 1111943 , Reply# 96   3/18/2021 at 15:53 (1,106 days old) by vacerator (Macomb, Michigan)        
Lilly Tomlin

from Laugh in! Of course, since that phone company was dissolved, our rates have also steadily risen. No such thing as long distance anymore.

Post# 1112141 , Reply# 97   3/20/2021 at 17:20 (1,104 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        
Bell Telephone 1972

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Bell Telephone 1972


Post# 1112148 , Reply# 98   3/20/2021 at 19:13 (1,104 days old) by kenwashesmonday (Carlstadt, NJ)        

Wow, he can stop by here any time!


Post# 1112164 , Reply# 99   3/20/2021 at 22:08 (1,104 days old) by CircleW (NE Cincinnati OH area)        

After he gets done at Ken's, he can come see me!

Post# 1113423 , Reply# 100   4/1/2021 at 05:20 (1,093 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)        

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