TELECOM Digest     Mon, 31 Oct 2005 00:07:00 EST    Volume 24 : Issue 494

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Madison in an Uproar! Hundreds Arrested in Halloween Revelry (AP NewsWire)
    Re: Are There Prepaid Cellular Plans That Use Existing Phones (John Levine)
    Re: Are There Prepaid Cellular Plans That Use Existing Phones (Joseph)
    Re: Los Angeles Numbering, 1940s (Steven Lichter)
    Re: Phone Shown in 'Capote' / RJ Connector (Wesrock@aol.com)
    Re: Old Chicago Numbering (Wesrock@aol.com)
    Wabash Cannonball (Was:  Old Chicago Numbering) (Al Gillis)
    My Latest Blog Site (TELECOM Digest Editor)

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Associated Press News Wire <ap@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Madison in an Uproar! Hundreds Arrested in Halloween Revelry
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 22:20:54 -0600


A weekend of Halloween celebrations popular with college students
resulted in more than 400 arrests in Madison, WI, and police used
bursts of pepper spray early Sunday to break up crowds of revelers.

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz suggested canceling the annual gathering. The
downtown party near the University of Wisconsin-Madison attracts
college students from across the Midwest, and has turned chaotic in
the past. Last year, 455 were arrested.

"Every year there's a certain group of people who come hell-bent on
starting fights with police and other citizens and we can't seem to
shake that," Cieslewicz said. "The only way to end it is to order
State Street shut down, every business, for a couple of nights."

Police used officers on horseback early Sunday to move chanting and
beverage-tossing revelers off State Street, a mile-long stretch of
bars, restaurants and shops. The pepper spray was used after cups
filled with beverages and ice were thrown or poured on officers.

Most arrests were for alcohol-related offenses, including underage
drinking, said Lt. Pat Malloy. He said the local detoxification center
was filled to capacity and some people had to be taken to emergency
rooms.

There were 269 arrests overnight and 178 the night before, Police
Chief Noble Wray said. "I wonder what Sunday night and Monday night
will bring us?" he asked. 

The university had taken steps to control the chaos this year,
prohibiting visitors from dormitories and warning Big 10 and other
Midwest schools that students shouldn't come. City officials and the
university have said most of the problems are caused by out-of-town
visitors.

Elsewhere, police in Athens, Ohio, home of Ohio University, made 95
arrests at a Saturday night Halloween block party. Police described
the crowd as belligerent but smaller than previous years. Forty-eight
of those arrested are college students, officers said.

One man was stabbed in the hand and a woman was injured escaping from
an attempted rape, Athens police spokesman James Mann said.


Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And Lisa Hancock wondered out loud a
couple days ago if Halloween celebrations had gotten out of hand. In
Detroit, I presume they are still burning down buildings over the
Devil's night commemoration. I know that by comparison it made our
Neewollah/Octoberfest events of the past week look like a Sunday
School outing. Madison seems to get this trouble ever year also. I
know our police here in Independence were busy, but nothing I guess
like Madison, WI or Detroit.  PAT]

------------------------------

Date: 31 Oct 2005 00:23:10 -0000
From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
Subject: Re: Are There Prepaid Cellular Plans That Use Existing Phones?
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA


> Are there any prepaid cellular plans that will activate a Motorola 120C?

Unlikely.  It's a CDMA 850/1900 phone, which means that in most of the
country, the network it works on is Verizon's, regardless of who might
be reselling the service.

It'd be technically compatible with Sprint, but I don't think they
allow you to bring your own phone, either.

R's,

John

------------------------------

From: Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Are There Prepaid Cellular Plans That Use Existing Phones?
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 19:05:47 -0800
Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com


On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 01:52:58 -0400, William Warren
<william_warren_nonoise@speakeasy.net> wrote:

> I have a Motorola 120C cell phone, which I was keeping as a spare for
> my regular cell calls on Verizon. However, Verizon won't allow the
> 120C on its network anymore, since it isn't E911 compliant. Although
> I'm able to keep my current phone going, they won't allow me to
> activate a different one if my present one fails, so I'd like to put
> the spare to good use.

> As it happens, my oldest son is going off to school in another state,
> and the school told me that prepaid cellular plans are a good way to
> limit costs. I'd like to use the 120C phone, and avoid having to buy a
> new one, since I already have the phone and all the accessories for
> it.

> Are there any prepaid cellular plans that will activate a Motorola 120C?

No guarantees.  http://www.ldpost.com/phones.php?tab=cdma If it was on
Verizon there's a very good chance that they'll activate it since one
of the modles offered is the Nokia 5185 which I believe is not E911
capable though I'm not sure on that. 

------------------------------

From: Steven Lichter <shlichter@diespammers.com>
Reply-To: Die@spammers.com
Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc.  (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co.
Subject: Re: Los Angeles Numbering, 1940s
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 23:46:56 GMT


Tim@Backhome.org wrote:

> Paul Coxwell wrote:

>> Phone numbers were used several times, which I am assuming were of the
>> 2L-4N format -- They were given as name plus four digits and I believe
>> from previous discussions here that Los Angeles never used 3L-4N
>> numbering.

> I don't know about previous discussion here, but Los Angeles indeed
> progressed from 2L-4N to 3L-4N.

> Downtown Los Angeles, for example, was the MAdison Exchange.  I remember
> lots of very public numbers in that exchange that were MA 1234 (for
> example) then became MA 5 1234, and so forth.

> Same for HOllywood.

The San Fernado Valley was the same, West Valley had DIamond and Van
Nuys had STate, California Water Telephone had EMpire.  There were
some others, but they don't come to mind right now.  It was the early
60's when the changes were made.  I started with CWT/GTE in 1967 and
they were already changed and using 48/53 Full Satt.

The only good spammer is a dead one!!  Have you hunted one down today?
(c) 2005  I Kill Spammers, Inc.  A Rot in Hell Co.

------------------------------

From: Wesrock@aol.com
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 19:53:07 EST
Subject: Re: Phone Shown in 'Capote' / RJ Connector


In a message dated 10/30/05 4:59:45 PM Central Standard Time,
editor@telecom-digest.org writes in response to a posting from C_shore
<davidk99@gmail.com>:

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They were in use beginning sometime in
> the early to middle 1960's, but they were not the little plastic things
> which plug in and snap out like today. They were four-prong metal
> things with a plastic cover; they more closely resembled wall outlets
> for electrical cords.  My private phone line at Windermere Hotel in
> 1963-64 (HYDe Park 3714)had one, although the 'house' phone (off of
> the Windermere switchboard) was hard wired. When I eventually got a
> new 'two line phone' (turn button to select desired line, either
> private line or switchboard) to go in my bedroom, that one also had an
> RJ connector, I think either 1965 or 1966.)  PAT] 
 
The four-prong connectors you describe were not RJ connectors.  They
date from a least before World War II and were the common method of
making telephones portable.

The RJ (modular) connectors came much later; in fact, you can I think
still buy adapters with a RJ connector on the back of the four-prong
plug so you don't have to replace your hard-wired four-prong jack.

The four-prong jack was used only for the mounting cord.  Modular
jacks and plugs are used today for the handset cord and various other
purposes as well; the four-prong plug and jack are clearly unsuitable
for that.


Wes Leatherock
wesrock@aol.com
wleathus@yahoo.com

------------------------------

From: Wesrock@aol.com
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 20:24:41 EST
Subject: Re: Old Chicago Numbering


In a message dated Sun, 30 Oct 2005 14:21:21 CST, jsw@ivgate.omahug.org 
writes:

> Very seldom did Ma Bell use SxS for large metropolitan installations.
> They seemed to prefer remaining with manual service until they could
> install 'machine switching' using Panel or later 1Xb.

"Very seldom"?  How about Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Tulsa,
Oklahoma City and, of course, much of the Los Angeles area.
Undoubtedly true of many other places as well..

All those had been completely converted to dial by the early 1930s,
perhaps in the 1920s.  The first dial office in Oklahoma City was cut
over in early 1921 (using Automatic Electric SxS equipment; Bell Labs
and W.E. had not yet recognized there was a need for such equipment.
The remainder of the city was converted to dial in 1927 or 1928...by
this time with W.E. SxS equipmenmt.  I think the remainder of the
cities mentioned in Texas and Oklahoma had a similar history.

The first XBs in Southwestern Bell territory outside of Kansas City
and St. Louis were 5XBs in smaller towns converting to dial.  The
first 5XB in Oklahoma City was the SKyline office, now 751, which
happens to still serve where I live (now ESS of course).

One of the first installations of 5XB in the Los Angeles area was by
the Sunland-Tujunga Telephone Company.

1XB, of course, was intended to be use in metropolitan areas that were
panel.  As originally configured it used on panel-type revertive
pulsing -- even when one 1XB office was communication with another 1XB
office.  It had no provision for communicating with step equipment,
which is why the 1XB installations in Southwestern Bell territory were
limited to St. Louis and Kansas City.

      [ ... ]

> The strangest Ma Bell payphone numbering I ever remember was in Cape
> Cod where some payphones had 5xxx numbers.

Operators' keyshelf bulletins listed the number series used for pay
phones, either an entire thousand series or a partial thouands series.
Rate & Route had similar information for all places in the U.S.A.  If
it was a partial series, on a collect call the operator had to go to
inward at the destination city and ask inward whether the particular
number was coin.

The 9xxx series was the most common, with 89xx probably following, but
many places could be found with any number series.  In some SxS and
5XB offices the 9xxx series did not exist; that is, there was no
equipment installed for the 9xxx series.


Wes Leatherock
wesrock@aol.com

------------------------------

From: Al Gillis <alg@aracnet.com>
Subject: Wabash Cannonball (Was:  Old Chicago Numbering)
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 19:44:37 -0800
Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com


(Much snippage...

> I recall you mentioning the Wabash office ("The Wabash Cannonball")
> being SxS at one time.  Which part of the city did that serve, and do
> you have any idea when it was replaced?

> All info will be passed on to help reconcile old memories!

> Thanks,

> -Paul.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The 'Wabash CannonBall' a/k/a Wabash
> central office was one of the first, if not the first, central offices
> in Chicago, dating from the early 1900's;

 (Much additional snippage)

For younger readers and not particularly Telecom related ... The
nickname for the switching machine at the Chicago-Wabash CO
undoubtably comes as a reference to a very popular tune dating from
the Mid-1930s - "The Wabash Cannonball".  Written by A.P. Carter, the
chorus line probably brought to mind the sound of the CO machine on a
busy afternoon:

Listen to the Jingle
The rumble and the roar
As she glides along the woodlands
Through the hills and by the shore
Hear the mighty rush of the engine
Hear those lonesome hoboes squawl
While traveling through the jungle
On the Wabash Cannonball!

The song relates a steam locomotive trip on the Ireland, Jerusalem,
Australian and Southern Michigan Railroad.  Legend has it that the I,
J, A and SM was built by Cal S. Bunyan, a younger brother of Paul.

So there you have it!

Al


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is indeed where the phrase
originated. The old fashioned cross bar Sxs offices were very
noisy day and night. One not too far away from my house when I lived
in Chicago was 'Kenwood Bell' (i.e. the Chicago-Kenwood central office
at 61st and Kenwood Streets in the Hyde Park neighborhood. On a hot
summer evening when the workers there had all the windows wide open
(air conditioning was not all that common in the 1950-60's) you could
hear 'Kenwood Bell' clacking from a block away.  Wabash was the same
way.  PAT]

------------------------------

Subject: My Latest Blog Site
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 23:29:14 EST
From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor)


For any of you who are interested, I have started a new 'blog',
replete with a few links (mostly to td-extra stuff) and I will make
comments there from time to time as it occurs to me.

http://ptownson.blogspot.com is the location. (This is the 'official'
blog entry site maintained by Google, with Google ads, etc.)

PAT

------------------------------


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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #494
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