TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Hypothetical SxS Question

Re: Hypothetical SxS Question

Wesrock@aol.com
Thu, 8 Dec 2005 19:58:04 EST

In a message dated Wed, 07 Dec 2005 18:12:00 -0600, Neal McLain
<nmclain@annsgarden.com> writes:

> Advantage: This plan avoids two SxS taboos: subscriber numbers beginning
> with 0 or 1:

> - Initial 0 is taboo because "experience has shown that in a single-
> office system it is not advisable to use subscribers' numbers
> commencing with the numeral zero (0) unless absolutely necessary
> to secure the desired capacity" [1]. And, of course, zero is
> traditionally used to reach the local operator, if any.

> - Initial 1 is taboo because an SxS (or any other rotary-dial) switch
> can't distinguish between an intentionally-dialed 1 and a false
> switchhook depression.

> Disadvantage: It's not possible to match subscriber numbers to apartment
> numbers (although, as PAT notes, this might not be a good idea anyway).

> [1] Kempster B. Miller. "Telephone Theory and Practice" vol. 3
> "Automatic Switching and Auxiliary Equipment." New York: McGraw Hill,
> 1933, p. 129.

> Neal McLain

The 1933 citation you mention, which I read in the 1940s, was really
my introduction to how the telephone and telephone systems works, and
definitely piqued my interest in the field.

However, the 1 as initial digit taboo was reserched thoroughly when
DDD was extended to customers through CAMAs in largely step-by-step
exchanges, particularly in large cities that were primarily
step-by-step.

I forget how many million actually live calls were studied to
determine how many of them had a false switchhook depression.

There were none. Zero. Conventional wisdom was wrong.

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

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I used to know someone who worked his
away around the 'incoming calls only' rule on a telephone at the place
where he lived. Although the phone did have dial tone, it also had a
blank face plate, to avoid being able to dial outgoing calls,
supposedly. His respose was to learn how to tap on the hook in the
proper sequence and timing. Inconvenient to be sure, but it worked. PAT]

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