From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Feb 28 22:22:58 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i1T3MwY05880; Sat, 28 Feb 2004 22:22:58 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 22:22:58 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402290322.i1T3MwY05880@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #95 TELECOM Digest Sat, 28 Feb 2004 22:23:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 95 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Memories: Enterprise -vs- Zenith Numbers (Tony P.) Re: Memories: Enterprise -vs- Zenith Numbers (Wesrock@aol.com) Nevada; Other BOC Oddities (Mark J Cuccia) Re: Nevada Bell (Wesrock@aol.com) The 22 Bell Operating Telcos as of 1984 (Mark J Cuccia) Last Laugh! Re: Vonage Question [was: VoIP Phone] (John Levine) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk is definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Memories: Enterprise -vs- Zenith Numbers Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 01:25:12 GMT In article , TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to hukolau@NOSPAM.att.net: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Speaking of the old Nevada Bell, did > you ever see their telephone book? One book *only* for the entire > state. After the front part of the book was devoted to the two or > three large cities they serviced, then it went just page after page > of toll station listings. The name of the town, followed by either one > or two 'toll station' numbers, in one case I think five listings. > Four of five such toll station communities listed on each page, and > the same redundant instructions listed for each one: "To reach the > subscribers in xxxx, dial your zero operator and ask for 'xxxx toll > station number xx'. PAT] Rhode Island is an oddity in that there is the big book that is distributed to Providence rate centers (Ie. those served by PRVDRIWA and PRVDRIBR which amounts to roughly 85% of the numbers in the state!) and covers all numbers in the state, while outlying communities get community directories and in cases have to request the Providence book. Why they don't just distribute one book to the entire state I'll never know. Last I knew there was the Providence book, the Pawtucket book, one for Wickford, Newport, and Woonsocket. ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 20:23:48 EST Subject: Re: Memories: Enterprise -vs- Zenith Numbers In a message dated Fri, 27 Feb 2004 19:10:07 -0800, Al Gillis writes: > --- In the Pacific Northwest of the US it was (what else?) Pacific > Northwest Bell (Oregon, Washington and part of Idaho). In the far > eastern part of Oregon and some places in Idaho there was a little > operation called the Malhuer Home Telephone Company. I used to see > references to it in Oregon PUC tariff filing information) Originally Pacific Northwest Bell was part of Pacific Telephone and Telegraph. I happened to know slightly the guy who became the first president of PNB when it was split off as a separate company. (That was when the CEOs of Bell operating companies were consistently called "president" rather than "chairman".) Not connected with that, I recall seeing the Malheur Home Telephone Company always included in the companies covered by the Bell System benefit, savings and pension plans, so I always assumed it was a Bell company with an unusual relationship to the system. Perhaps someone else knows. Linc Madison writes: > There was also at least one exception in the other direction: almost > all of the "Bell" areas of Texas were in the territory of Southwestern > Bell, but the westernmost tip, the area around El Paso, was served by > Mountain Bell. (Roughly the same part of Texas that is in the Mountain > Time Zone instead of Central.) That area was transferred to > Southwestern Bell, now SBC, as part of the Bell System breakup. At the same time, Southwestern Bell transferred the part of the St. Louis metropolitan exchange on the east side of the Mississippi River to Illinois Bell. I may be wrong, but it is my recollection it was a few years before divestiture. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 18:45:11 CST From: Mark J Cuccia Subject: Nevada; Other BOC Oddities Regarding the topic of Nevada, TELECOM Digest Editor noted: > Speaking of the old Nevada Bell, did you ever see their telephone book? > One book *only* for the entire state. The Nevada Bell Telephone Company (or was it the Bell Telephone Comapny of Nevada), which was actually a *subsidiary* of the BOC "Pacific Telephone & Telegraph" (Pac*Bell) going back "way back when", did publish one directory ... (however -- read on ...) > After the front part of the book was devoted to the two or three large > cities they serviced, then it went just page after page of toll station > listings. The name of the town, followed by either one or two 'toll > station' numbers, in one case I think five listings. Four of five such > toll station communities listed on each page, and the same redundant > instructions listed for each one: "To reach the subscribers in xxxx, > dial your zero operator and ask for 'xxxx toll station number xx'. But the "Nevada Bell" directory was the only directory the only directory published by Nevada Bell, it was by *NO MEANS* the "ONLY" directory for the rest of the state. There were directories published by other telcos for their service areas, which in most cases are *NOT* included in the (SBC) Nevada*Bell directory! Sprint-Centel's Las Vegas Metro directory is MUCH MUCH larger than the (SBC) Nevada Bell directory. And their own Directory Assistance bureau used to have to be contacted by Nevada Bell's "Reno" Inward/Directory for D.A. requests, even into the 1990s (if one still reached the real distant-end local telco D.A. on NPA+555-1212 via their LD carrier). Below is what I posted to TELECOM Digest back in April of last year (2003) regarding this subject: Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 20:42:49 -0500 (CDT) From: Mark J Cuccia Subject: Nevada's Printed Telephone Directories John David Galt wrote: > Nevada is also probably the largest state covered by a single directory > (depending how you count -- that is, SBC's directory includes the > listings for the entire state, but in independent-telco areas you will > see smaller books showing only the local area). (snip) AFAIK, the SBC-NV*Bell directory does *NOT* contain any listings for the region of Sprint-Centel Las Vegas. Sprint-Centel publishes its *OWN rather large directory for its region, for the most part all "EAS" (local" wrt itself. There is the independent telco of Moapa Valley Telco just to the northeast of Vegas Metro. I don't know offhand if they print their own directory, neither do I remember offhand if Moapa Valley Telco is listed in Sprint-Centel's directory. I don't think that SBC-NV*Bell necessarily includes these listings. [FEB.2004 additional note: Moapa Valley Telco does publish their own small directory, so common amongst independent telcos in rural areas; They are NOT included in the Las Vegas directory of Sprint-Centel. However, in 1959, the Vegas directory did have a section of Moapa Valley Telco.] Some of the other independents in Nevada do print their own directories, such as Lincoln County Telco. I seem to remember that (SBC) NV*Bell's directory did *NOT* include listings for Lincoln County Telco in years past. And of course, there are other stateline situations where Nevada ratecenters and customers (both NPA 702 in southeastern NV, and NPA 775 in the rest-of-the-state) are served out of (indep.telcos in) adjacent state (Bell) LATAs, either Qwest-LEC (USWest) or maybe SBC-Pac*Bell from CA. I don't know if any of these are necessarily included in the SBC-NV*Bell directory. But I seriously doubt that the SBC-NV*Bell directory now includes the Sprint-Centel Las Vegas Metro listings, as this directory itself is quite large, and had never previously been included in the "Bell of Nevada" directory. [end of April 2003 quote] Now as for "BOC oddities" in other states/BOCs ... Diamond State Telephone, the BOC for the state of Delaware, which is now part of VeriZon (Bell Atlantic), was also likewise a *subsidiary* of a neighbering BOC, in this case, Bell of Pennsylvania. And also, the southesast PA VZ/Bell-Atlantic/Bell-of-PA "Philadelphia Metro" LATA includes the *ENTIRE* state of Delaware within its boundaries! The "count" of the 22 BOCs included all four C&P state-sepcific telcos uniquely: VA, DC, MD, West-VA This "count" also included Diamond State Telephone and Nevada Bell uniquely, even though each was actually a subsidiary of a larger adjacent BOC. Southern New England Telephone (for virtually all of CT; now part of SBC), and Cincinnati Bell (in the Cincinnati OH Metro area, also including the Covington KY area across the Ohio River, and also a very small part of southeast Indiana which was "independent" but "homed" on Cin.Bell's tandem and AT&T toll machines in Cincinnati) were considered BOCs but not "full fledged" ones since AT&T owned a minority (less than 50%) share of each. These two were never counted as part of the 22 BOCs. SNET is now part of SBC, but in all cases, including Southwestern Bell, the "Bell" logo has come down. Cincinnati Bell (which is sort-of-independent) continues to have the word "Belll" in its name and continues to use the 1970s era "Bell" logo. BellSouth continues to retain the 1970s-era "Bell" logo. VeriZon (Bell Atlantic/NYNEX) has actually *introduced* the 1970s-era "Bell" logo in previous *GTE/CONTEL* areas, such as on trucks, buildings, payphone signage, etc! BTW, I read a report from the WSJ about a week ago that VeriZon is seriously considering selling off (GTE) Hawaiian Telco and also SOME of its NYTel/NYNEX/BA franchise area in upstate NY! When GTE took over Contel in 1992/93, they sold off SOME territory (both old Contel and old GTE) to either Alltel or Citizens (depending on the state), and also some sold to regional "consortiums" as well. This re-organization continued into 1994. In a few cases, Alltel sold some of its states' franchise areas to GTE, sort of a "swap". WIth the merger of GTE(Contel) with BA(NYNEX) to form VeriZon in 2000, some old GTE (and GTE-former-Contel) territory still under GTE until 2000 was sold off in 2000 and 2002, to Alltel or Citizens (same as ten years previous), as well as to CenturyTel (based here in Louisiana), to the newly created "Valor Telecom", to Iowa Network Services, and all of GTE's twelve or thirteen service areas scattered in Alaska were sold to ATEAC (Alaska Telephone Exchange Aquisitions Consortium), owned by about six different long-standing Alaskan based (independent) telcos, those former GTE ratecenters farmed out amongst the owners forming ATEAC. And back to "Bell" ... AT&T/WECo did own a part of Bell Canada/NECo. This ownership was significant in 1956, but as part of that consent decree, AT&T/WECO sold off all of its ownership of Bell Canada/NECo over time, to where in the early 1970s, AT&T owned only about 2% of Bell/NECo in Canada. This last bit was sold off in early 1975, and Bell Canada was now completely independent of AT&T in the US, and Bell Canada's NECO was now renamed Northern Telecom, whcih has since competed against AT&T/WECO/Lucent in the US for market share of switching and customer-premesis equipment! In the early 1970s, when Bell Canada/NECo was preparing for the separation from AT&T/WECo/Bell Labs, they formed their own "Bell Northern Research" organization ofr R&D. The BNR name/organization has since been completely submerged into NortelNetworks in more recent years. BNR/NT designed the "SP-1" switch, similar to the (analog) ESS, used in Canada and many independent telcos in the US back n the 1970s/80s. THey also developed the TOPS and DMS, which competed against TSPS/OSPS and other WECO switching, even in Bell areas in the US prior to 1984! Bell Canada also has owned large parts of the telcos in other provinces over the years as well, such as NBTel (New Brunswick), MTT (Maritime Tel & Tel in Nova Scotia which in turn owned Prince Edward Island Telco), and NewTel (Newfoundland). At one time in the 1930s/40s era, these "Atlantic Province" telcos under Bell Canada even used the "Bell System" logo of that era. Bell Canada itself was located in most of (but not all of) Quebec and Ontario. Linc Madison mentioned the El Paso TX area (now SBC), prior to divestiture of 1984 being Mountain Bell (later US-West now Qwest-LEC). And this part of Texas (El Paso Metro) has been MOUNTIAN and NOT Central Time! Also, that part of Illinois east of St.Louis at one time up until around the 1970s, was part of Southwestern Bell, not Illinois Bell (Ameritech), but now all of that is under SBC. These locations are actually associated with the Southwestern Bell LATA for St.Louis MO Metro, not any Illinois based LATA of Ameritech. The northwestern tip of Indiana was until around the 1960s/70s, served by Illinois (Bell) Telephone, not by Indiana Bell. Later, the BOC was Indiana Bell, but this part of Indiana "homed" on Chicago and with divestiture is associated with the Chicago IL Metro LATA. Of course, both Indiada Bell and Illinois Bell were placed under the Ameritech banner with 1984, and now that is part of SBC. I also was told that up until around the early 1930s, the northeastern (Hudson River area) part of New Jersey, right across the Hudson from New York City and other NY state Hudson River suburbs, was part of the BOC New York Telephone, but then transferred over to New Jersey Bell. Also note that Panel and #1XB switching was used in this part of NJ closest to New York City, while the rest of the state had SXS switching (of course manual switchboards were still in use in many places into the 1950s as well). Idaho: Excepting little small independents scattered throughout southern and central Idaho, the southern part is the "IDAHO" LATA (or more specficially it should be called the Boise ID LATA), a legacy of Mountain Bell. The central part of Idaho is associated with the Spokane WA metro LATA, a legacy of Pacific Northwest Bell. Both Mountain Bell and Pac-NW Bell, along with "Northwestern Bell" (serving the upper midwest of MN, IA, NE, SD, ND) became "US West" with 1984, and since 2000 has been taken over by Qwest. Northern Idaho (Coeur d'Alene, Rathdrum, Post Falls, etc) is virtually exclusively GTE-now-VeriZon, and a GTE LATA unto itself. Pacific Northwest Bell was created in the early 1960s (I think), carved out of Pacific Telephone & Telegraph (now SBC's Pac*Bell). Pac Tel & Tel shrunk down to just California (and its Bell Tel of Nevada subsidiary). But prior to the 1960s, Pacific Telephone (and Telegraph) also served Oregon, Washington state, and the central part of Idaho which "homed" on Spokane WA. South Central Bell was created circa 1968/69, carved out of Southern Bell. So Bell retained NC, SC, GA, FL, while S.C.Bell took over KY, TN, AL, MS, LA. There is an interesting history to the southestern part of the US: In the early part of the 20th Century, there was a BOC called Cumberland Telephone & Telegraph, serving what was eventually to become South Central Bell, except for Alabama. AL was part of the BOC called "The Great Southern Telephone & Telegraph Company". These were "merged" in the 1920s or 30s to become Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph. Then South Central Bell was carved out in the late 1960s, taking over the old Cumberland Tel & Tel, this time including Alabama. And then with 1984, BellSouth was created to take over both SCBell and So.Bell. The legacy names were continued until around 1995, but since then, BellSouth has become the common/public name for the local operating telcos, in addition to the corporate name. There is a lot more history/nostalgia/etc. that isn't discussed here. There were *NUMEROUS* state-specific and sub-state BOC names in the *REALLY* old days of the later 19th and early 20th Centuries, eventually consolidating and buying/selling off with nearby independents, until there was some "stability" of the 1920s thru 80s era. But even that "stability" as mentioned above, didn't have its "exceptions". Maybe Wes Leatherock can share with us some of the pre-1930s era of the Southwestern Bell states! :) Mark J. Cuccia mcuccia@tulane.edu New Orleans LA CSA ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 20:50:35 EST Subject: Re: Nevada Bell In a message dated 2/28/04 4:03:29 PM Central Standard Time, TELECOM Digest Editor noted: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Speaking of the old Nevada Bell, did > you ever see their telephone book? One book *only* for the entire > state. After the front part of the book was devoted to the two or > three large cities they serviced, then it went just page after page > of toll station listings. The name of the town, followed by either one > or two 'toll station' numbers, in one case I think five listings. > Four of five such toll station communities listed on each page, and > the same redundant instructions listed for each one: "To reach the > subscribers in xxxx, dial your zero operator and ask for 'xxxx toll > station number xx'. PAT] The largest city in Nevada, Las Vegas, was not and is not served by Bell. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 18:46:58 CST From: Mark J Cuccia Subject: The 22 Bell Operating Telcos as of 1984 And, so now here is a summary of the Twenty-Two BOCs as of the time of divestiture, grouped according to their seven Regional Bell Holding Corporations as created in the 1984 breakup of AT&T's Bell System. The names of the BOCs and RBHCs are as of 1984, with some notes as to recent developments. (NYNEX, taken over by Bell Atlantic in the later 1990s, now VeriZon): - New England Tel & Tel (ME, NH, VT, ME, RI) - New York Tel (NY, and the towns of Greenwich & Byram in CT) (Bell Atlantic, took over GTE and all renamed VeriZon in 2000): - New Jersey Bell (NJ) - Bell of Pennsylvania (PA) - Diamond State Telephone (DE); owned/managed by Bell of Pa. and the four C&P Telcos: - C&P of MD - C&P of DC - C&P of VA - C&P of WVa. (Ameritech, taken over by SBC in the later 1990s): - Ohio Bell - Indiana Bell - Michigan Bell - Illinois Bell - Wisconsin Bell/Telephone (BellSouth): - Southern Bell (NC, SC, GA, FL) - South Central Bell (KY, TN, AL, MS, LA) (Southwestern Bell, now simply part of SBC): - Southwestern Bell (MO, KS, OK, AR, TX) (US West, merged with Qwest-LD in 2000, assuming the Qwest name): - Northwestern Bell (MN, IA, NE, SD, ND) - Mountain Bell (MT, CO, NM, AZ, UT, WY, southern ID) - Pacific Northwest Bell (OR, WA, central strip of ID) (Pacific Telesis): - Pacific Bell (CA) - Nevada Bell (NV); owned/managed by Pacific Bell Note that Southern New England Telephone (for virtually all of CT) and Cincinnati Bell (for the Cincinnati OH Metro area including suburbs in KY and IN as well) are *NOT* counted as part of the 22 BOCs, since AT&T owned a minority share of these two. Bell Canada and its holdings were no longer considered corporately part of AT&T/US-Bell as of 1975, and are not included in the tables above. Mark J Cuccia mcuccia@tulane.edu New Orleans LA CSA ------------------------------ Date: 29 Feb 2004 02:09:34 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Last Laugh! Re: Vonage Question [was: VoIP Phone] Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: John, aren't you involved with the > sewers there in Trumansburg any longer? You used to have that as part > of one of your several .sig files. PAT] Don't worry, I'm still the sewer commissioner. But ask me again in April. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What's going to happen in April, John? Are the good citizens of Trumansburg going to put you out to pasture, or perhaps flush you down the sewer? I wish I could figure out how the sewer service fee here in Independence is handled. All I know is they take the average of your water consumption during January and February then again in November and December of each year and with that four month average they then compute the sewer service charge. They take those four months and multiply it by some factor to calculate the sewer. My water bill is typically just a few dollars each month, but the sewer is normally two or three times higher. Then there is an additional charge on the bill each month for 'trash collection fee' which has been $10.75 per month as long as I can remember. It always comes in total to between $40-45 per month no matter how little water I use, which is the only part of it that gets metered. One day when I was down at City Hall paying my bill I asked the lady how they calculated it. She explained it but it still is a mystery to me. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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