TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Party Line Dialing, was Re: Telephone Area Codes and Prefixes

Re: Party Line Dialing, was Re: Telephone Area Codes and Prefixes

T (nospam.kd1s@cox.nospam.net)
Thu, 22 Feb 2007 20:45:40 -0500

In article <telecom26.51.7@telecom-digest.org>, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
says ...

> However, in some 1950s Bell System publications, they said one of the
> limiting factors in giving more private lines (demand exceed supply)
> was that central offices didn't have the capacity. Party service was
> a way to keep down calling volume until they could expand. In many
> cases that meant a new building which of course was expensive and time
> consuming. (I know of city Bell Telephone buildings where it is
> obviously some upper stories were added.)

In the case of the CO in Providence, RI they just built onto the back of
it. See here:

http://tinyurl.com/yqshjd

> I do wonder if any outside auditors checked to see if the Bell System
> was indeed adding capacity as demand required in the 1950s. Could
> Bell have bought gear from Automatic Electric? Hired more installers?
> I will note that in the 1950s the military was expanding and Bell had
> military contracts for both basic phone systems and advanced radar and
> other systems. Other companies at the time did so as well, and this
> was respected by the public. Companies in that era ran ads (similar
> to that of WW II) "Defense needs come first -- please be patient". (It
> wasn't until the later 1960s that some would question Bell System
> defense projects.)

Bell made very good money on defense contracts.

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