old telephony question

[hxclespaulplayer]

I've been watching some old 60's shows lately, and am a bit young to remember those days well. Anyway, in a given episode/movie, someone will pick up the phone, get to the operator, and ask for, say, "klondike 5 7954". What's this "klondike" business? The name of the exchange or something?

 

[LaxScrutiny]

On your phone each number has some letters. The first two numbers of your phone number would be given letters and then a word was made from the letters.

When I was a kid our number was 755-2524. The 75 became PL and we were given the word "Plymouth". So you would say "Plymouth 5, 2524." I think it was just a mnemonic trick to make it easier to remember phone numbers.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

LaxScrutiny is correct. The first two numbers (or letters from the dial for the corresponding number" indicated which telephone switching office the call needed to go to. The letters didn't HAVE to represent the geographic area of the switch, and lots of times didn't.

AG

 

[David cgc]

So, Klondike-5 means KL5, or rather, the ubiquitous 555- fake telephone numbers.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

So, Klondike-5 means KL5, or rather, the ubiquitous 555- fake telephone numbers.

Yep, even when it was KLondike 5, it was 555. By convention, 555 was never allocated for a local exchange. It does show up sometimes with toll free numbers, but you can't dial 555 xxxx and talk to anyone.

This data is for the US dial plan only, other countries vary wildly!

 

[Forbin]

Ah, memories. We were the Federal (FE-7) exchange, and my friends in the next town were under Twinbrook (TW-1).

 

[Saturn0660]

My grandma still has a working and still being used rotary phone.. It can still dial out..

However, my local can't/won't use rotary style phones.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Yeah, some CO switches won't accept pulse (aka rotary... dial actually breaks the telco line connection briefly for each increment in the dialled number) dial signalling any more, and I believe party lines are pretty much a thing of the past also.

You should still be able to answer calls on a pulse dial phone, though.

I've visited a few of the old mechanical switching offices in the past. It sounded like I was trapped inside a pinball machine! LOL

 

[Forbin]

I've been watching Hawaii 5-0 on DVD lately. In a lot of episodes they trace a phone call. They show a technician running thru a massive stwitching room with clacking relays all around, tracing wires by hand. Amazing.

 

[Saturn0660]

Yeah, some CO switches won't accept pulse (aka rotary... dial actually breaks the telco line connection briefly for each increment in the dialled number) dial signalling any more, and I believe party lines are pretty much a thing of the past also.

You should still be able to answer calls on a pulse dial phone, though.

I've visited a few of the old mechanical switching offices in the past. It sounded like I was trapped inside a pinball machine! LOL

Ya i guess it would still go off-hook but why bother.

 

[farmkid]

My grandma still has a working and still being used rotary phone.. It can still dial out..

However, my local can't/won't use rotary style phones.

I seem to remember reading an article a couple of weeks ago about Obama giving up his Blackberry. It mentioned that he wanted to be the first POTUS with a laptop in the Oval Office, but that would require some policy, and perhaps law, changes. It also mentioned that when Bush took office, the phone in the Oval Office was still a rotary phone. Who knew the POTUS was required to be a luddite?

 

[Penta]

Very, very unsurprising, farmkid.

The WH phone system is rotary because it is, largely, 50+ years old at this point (the last major renovation of the White House was done in 1950; they essentially gutted the interior). When it was being built, tone dialing was not yet invented. (For what its worth, the next major renovation - again, basically gutting the place, subbasements to attic, and rebuilding while keeping the exterior shell intact - is scheduled for 2010 or so, I believe.)

So far as the absence of computers, blackberries, etc: Security. It's that simple. A Presidential laptop, blackberry, etc. would be something any foreign intelligence service would kill to get their hands on, bug, or otherwise compromise.

Also, the Freedom of Information Act and the possibility of things being subpoenaed makes WH lawyers *really* nervous about it - as such devices generate records that have to be kept, and can be searched through.

 

[Dale]

My grandma still has a working and still being used rotary phone.. It can still dial out..

However, my local can't/won't use rotary style phones.

I am a big fan of old Western Electric telephone hardware - the kind of phones you used to have to lease from the phone company - and one of my phones, a Trimline, is rotary. I keep it around for grins, mostly, but it still works just fine.

 

[P0sitr0nic]

Ive always wanted a candlestick phone, i know they make more modern ones with push buttons where the old rotary was. I should look into getting one... last one i saw was at a high end retail store when I was in highschool....

 

[Dale]

Ive always wanted a candlestick phone, i know they make more modern ones with push buttons where the old rotary was. I should look into getting one... last one i saw was at a high end retail store when I was in highschool....

I have one of those replica candlesticks in my living room.

You can still find authentic Western Electric candlesticks for sale online, but they are ludicrously expensive.

OldPhones.com is a good place to shop for classic WE hardware. They used to have candlesticks but I believe have sold out their collection. At home I have two Trimlines (best phone ever designed IMHO), one rotary and one touchtone, two touchtone 2500s, one black and one clear so you can see the works inside, and the candlestick which is a touchtone WE replica and not authentic. Still fun to use, though.

These phones drive my wife nuts, BTW, and for Christmas I finally got her a cordless phone. She couldn't just use her cell because there's no cell service this far up Mt. Baldy.

 

[P0sitr0nic]

Oh man, i envy you your collection.

I like Historical phones because historical technology intrigues me. Well, that and historical weaponry... which is another form of technology in its own right.

 

[RobertVA]

LaxScrutiny is correct. The first two numbers (or letters from the dial for the corresponding number" indicated which telephone switching office the call needed to go to. The letters didn't HAVE to represent the geographic area of the switch, and lots of times didn't.

AG

While there were some odd looking boundaries between exchanges, the customers with the same exchange numbers had to be in the same geographical area because the technology was so dependent on bulky mechanical switching equipment that was a lot less versatile than the more recent solid state equipment. The three letter exchange at the beginning of the customer's phone number literally routed the call to the particular switching office the customer's wire pair was connected to. If you moved to a neighborhood that was served by a different switching office there wasn't any way of keeping your own phone number.

I've got one of the early tone dial telephones and occasionally can't use it to dial out. Sometimes a phone company technician reverses my wire pair somewhere and the polarity that powers the touch pad gets reversed. Apparently newer phones have beyond the standard circuitry to make that polarity reversal irrelevent and the phone company needs a reminder to pay attntion to that particular detail.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

So, Klondike-5 means KL5, or rather, the ubiquitous 555- fake telephone numbers.

Yep, even when it was KLondike 5, it was 555. By convention, 555 was never allocated for a local exchange. It does show up sometimes with toll free numbers, but you can't dial 555 xxxx and talk to anyone.

This data is for the US dial plan only, other countries vary wildly!

The UK has a similar number: 01632 960 xxx for a number with no specific area code, or various others for city-specific numbers (usually [01x1 or 011x] 496 0xxx):

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/ioi/numbers/num_drama

 

[Alpha_Geek]

While there were some odd looking boundaries between exchanges, the customers with the same exchange numbers had to be in the same geographical area ...

I should have said geopolitical. The phone company generally dosen't care about city and county boundaries, it's all about where they could put cable down. Hell they don't care if the phusical address is correct as long as the bill gets paid. I've seen lots of 911 database data that was simply fubar when cities and counties installed enhanced 911.

The circuit you mention is a bridge rectifier, they're built into lots of dialer chips these days.

 

[John Picard]

Very, very unsurprising, farmkid.

The WH phone system is rotary because it is, largely, 50+ years old at this point (the last major renovation of the White House was done in 1950; they essentially gutted the interior). When it was being built, tone dialing was not yet invented. (For what its worth, the next major renovation - again, basically gutting the place, subbasements to attic, and rebuilding while keeping the exterior shell intact - is scheduled for 2010 or so, I believe.)

So far as the absence of computers, blackberries, etc: Security. It's that simple. A Presidential laptop, blackberry, etc. would be something any foreign intelligence service would kill to get their hands on, bug, or otherwise compromise.

Also, the Freedom of Information Act and the possibility of things being subpoenaed makes WH lawyers *really* nervous about it - as such devices generate records that have to be kept, and can be searched through.

Presidents have had secure data and communications for quite some time. Mr Obama is not the first "tech President" The US Military provides the President with a communications security detail wherever the President is located, which covers telephone and computer usage. It was one duty assignment I wanted to vie for before I was discharged from the US Navy in 1994.