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Pictorial and Written History of Bell Systems

Posted by michael on from the ma-knows-what-you-want dept.

gngulrajani writes "I have wasted an afternoon digging though this website. Lots of old school Bell marketing posters as well as technical specifications for things such as 'Telephone Memory Devices' and a 'dataphone service'."

151 comments

  1. Baby bells by BWJones · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hrmmmm. It was about 1983 that I purchased my first computer, an Apple ][+, and I found out that all of the baby bells which had started up had completely unsecured computer systems holding all those handy long distance access numbers. Of course in 1983, I was a 13 year old and hacking like that was more of a game than anything else. I feel bad about getting those numbers now, but we really had no idea it was "illegal" at the time. That experience though did help introduce me to computer users world wide and BBS's like the Pirates Cove and Crystal Caverns which was pre-Internet, but quite the educational experience.

    --
    Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    1. Re:Baby bells by bugnuts · · Score: 1, Interesting

      You AE hacker you!

      The novation applecat was the most amazing chunk of hardware you could add to an apple in those days.

    2. Re:Baby bells by BWJones · · Score: 4, Informative

      The novation applecat was the most amazing chunk of hardware you could add to an apple in those days.

      You are not kidding. Those things were fully programable so that one could create a list of numbers to dial (or even dial randomly) and then log the numbers which were answered by computer modems for call back and investigation when you got back from school. I could not afford the Applecat at first and relyed on a cheap modem card and one of those phone handset cradles for a while before I could mow enough lawns around the neighborhood to purchase the Applecat. As I recall, it seems to have pulled about $300 out of my 14year old pockets, but there was a friend of mine (from a decidedly wealthy background) that was doing all sorts of custom programming on his even hooking up an old cassette player to function as an anwering machine which totally blew me away.

      --
      Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    3. Re:Baby bells by einTier · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Ah, the forgotten Ma Bell. I too remember. I remember using those long distance access lines to dial BBS's all over the country.

      What today's hackers don't realize is how expensive phone service used to be. You either got your phone service from Southwestern Bell, or you didn't get it at all. Your phone? You bought that at the Southwestern Bell store. No, you couldn't just go to Wal-Mart and pick up a $10 phone. Not much choice either, I think there were maybe ten or fifteen available choices. Did I mention how expensive that phone was? Try over $100. For just a regular, standard telephone. Oh, and if you wanted an extra phone (not line!) in your house? That was an extra charge. Just for the working outlet, even IF you didn't plug a phone into it.

      I didn't get the phone bill in those days, so I have no idea what a monthly bill used to look like, but I did know that it was prohibitively expensive to call anywhere long distance. Just to call my father in the next town over cost $0.22 a minute.

      --
      -------------------------------------------------- $665.95 -- retail price of the beast.
    4. Re:Baby bells by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I purchased my first computer, an Apple ][+

      This is off-topic but I just can't help it anymore. There was never any such thing as an "Apple ][" nor was there any such thing as an "Apple //". There was, however, an "Apple II". That's right, roman numeral II. The symbols that look like ][ and // are just FONTS! They are FONTS of text that means the roman numeral II. The first one truncates the inboard serifs just to be stylish, and the second one is just an italic sans serif. No one ever tries to use alternative characters to replicate the fonts of other products; why do they always do it with the Apple II? It's a mystery.

    5. Re:Baby bells by BWJones · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What today's hackers don't realize is how expensive phone service used to be.

      Yes. Thus the whole impetus for getting the long distance numbers. The first month after I got my modem, (before I knew about the baby bell codes), my folks went absolutely ballistic at the phone bill saying to me: "You're Grounded!!!" which of course probably proved critical in my discovering the rest of the "wired" world through the phone codes. Man, they were screaming about my calling all over the country, but really had no idea of what I was actually doing with the computer or the implications. My Mom came in once when I was talking via text term to a friend on the other side of town and she was absolutely marveling at the fact that we could "talk" over the computer lines. This is a woman who had a doctorate but had never seen such a thing before. It's hard to appreciate just how novel that was back in 1983 to the vast majority of the population.

      --
      Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    6. Re:Baby bells by geekoid · · Score: 3, Funny

      hey, I did the same thing. well for a while, then there was the government, Cheyanne mountian, AI, and quite nearly 'Global Thermonuclear War'.
      At least I had a girlfriend.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    7. Re:Baby bells by BWJones · · Score: 0

      Ummmm. As I recall, upon boot up, there absolutely was on the screen "Apple ][", not "Apple II". Oh, by the way, they are not "fonts" but are keys/ASCII symbols. You know "brackets"? On a QWERTY keyboard, they are just to the right of the "P" key?

      Defined, they are respectively ][: Dec: 91 and 93 Hx: 5B and 5D Oct: 133 and 135

      --
      Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    8. Re:Baby bells by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Most people still get a kick out of it. Look at how popular text messaging and IMs are...

    9. Re:Baby bells by NanoGator · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      "This is off-topic but I just can't help it anymore. There was never any such thing as an "Apple ][" nor was there any such thing as an "Apple //"

      Oh man, I'm so glad you came by and cleared this up. I've been saying Apple Slash Slash for years!!!

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    10. Re:Baby bells by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I got my first computer in 1977, a Heathkit H-8. It wasn't until 1986 that got my first modem, a 1200 baud radio shack (it had an answer/originate switch). I was with my dad one day, and sardonically laughed as I told him, "Heh heh, I have a modem now!" Fortunately my dad said, "You're 18, you can go to jail." This from a man that had copies of the article from Bell System Technical Pubs (I think that was the name of the journal - it was from 1956 or so) that talked about 2600 hz. Talk about confusing signals - haha.

      Again fortunatly, I had friends that convinced me the local telephone switches were ESSs and had no MF trunks I could blue-box. Maybe this wasn't strictly true but the little lie may have saved me being made an example of in our local court system.

    11. Re:Baby bells by aolsheepdog · · Score: 1

      How about this for expensive. I marry my wife and we're at her parent's house and there were still paying the "rental" fee on an old rotary phone (554) from the 60s. This was in 1998. MIL says but it's only $5 a month!

    12. Re:Baby bells by uglyduckling · · Score: 1

      Bet you were pretty good at tic tac toe aswell.

    13. Re:Baby bells by Teancum · · Score: 1, Informative

      You obviously never used the computer. If you use the brackets, you understand just what is going on.

      Please, before you comment on something you don't know anything about, think.

      Of course, what else is new on /.

      Yes, it was called the Apple two, but in just about every reference and magazine (except more mainstream press like Time or the New York Times) used the ][ symbols because that is what Apple used, even in technical manuals as well as the boot text when the computer was first turned on. People use the symbols for fondness of the old system. BTW, the Apple /// did indeed use the "/" character in its name. An no, it is not just a varient font but the actual name of the computer.

      Also, the command prompt for an Apple ][ was the right bracket "]". (Yes, I know about integer basic ">", and the monitor prompt "*", but floating point basic ("FP") was the default prompt.)

      Sorry about getting way off topic here, but I can't let something like this go by. Now onto more about the Bell System.

    14. Re:Baby bells by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Enough. When they booted they often read ][ or //. These were not 'fonts'; they were, instead, s e p a r a t e c h a r a c t e r s.


      ] [ / /.


      People remember this stuff and type it out this way. Live with it.

    15. Re:Baby bells by ZorinLynx · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Historical tidbit: You couldn't type a [ on the Apple II keyboard. Yup! No [!!! Holy crap! You could, however, type a ]. How? Shift-M! Yet there was no ] over the M.

      Some programming languages that required [ and ] had control key combinations to produce them in their editors, since they weren't on the keyboard. Other characters missing were {} (oh no, I can't write C!), the backslash, and lower case letters.

      Fun system, it was. With limitations that almost sound like a joke today...

  2. Site Text by wmaker · · Score: 0, Funny

    I managed to get the site text before it was slashdotted.

    Service Temporarily Unavailable
    The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

    --

    What is slashdot?
    1. Re:Site Text by ambisinistral · · Score: 4, Funny
      In this context, not slashdotted... you just got the busy signal.

      --

      deserve's got nothing to do with it...

    2. Re:Site Text by pegr · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's not exactly slashdotted... The index page has been changed, but the "deep links" still work... Desperate for this site? Google-cache the base page here and follow the links to the real site. (Until they decide they don't like that either...)

    3. Re:Site Text by stephenisu · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry all circuts are busy right now...
      /Ma Bell B$&%^

      --
      Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
    4. Re:Site Text by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But they do, Jerry, and THEY'RE the ones writing it off. If you're going to quote Kramer in your sig, do it right!

  3. Nice by rackman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Nice to see the history of this fine organization being documented. Takes a telephone man to appreciate how much goes into a phone call.

  4. Old site with lots of info. by commo1 · · Score: 1

    Google cache of interesting essay on similar subject. http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:mmj9bjFJqFoJ:w ww.fastforwardproject.org/tech/index.php%3Ftech%3D phone%26sub%3Dessay+western+union+see+no+use+in+th is+telephone&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

  5. Where are the pictures of .. by burgburgburg · · Score: 2, Funny
    the Phone Police, man?

    They're still after me.

  6. The number you have called by bugnuts · · Score: 4, Funny

    Service Temporarily Unavailable
    The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

    This is a recording.

  7. I've seen a few of these before by Melvin+Daniels · · Score: 2, Interesting

    We had a couple in our dorm room. Nowadays, I've got two in my office here at work. Clients are always impressed by them and make comments.

    Never underestimate good office decor.

    1. Re:I've seen a few of these before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      had what - phones? wow.

  8. hah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    if i were to document to slashdot all the things i've wasted an afternoon doing, we'd all have hot grits down our pants!

  9. Telephone company history? by MalaclypseTheYounger · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Here at the Phone Company we handle eighty-four billion calls a year. Serving everyone from presidents and kings to scum of the earth.

    We realize that every so often you can't get an operator, for no apparent reason your phone goes out of order [snatches plug out of switchboard], or perhaps you get charged for a call you didn't make.

    We don't care. Watch this!
    [bangs on a switch panel like a cheap piano]
    just lost Peoria. You see, this phone system consists of a multibillion-dollar matrix of space-age technology that is so sophisticated, even we can't handle it. But that's your problem, isn't it?

    Next time you complain about your phone service, why don't you try using two Dixie cups with a string.
    We don't care.
    We don't have to.
    We're the Phone Company!"

    -- Lily Tomlin from "Saturday Night Live: The First 20 Years" (1994 Cader Company).

    --
    Check out the best P2P sharing website: MEDIACHEST.COM
    1. Re:Telephone company history? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We don't care. We don't have to. We're Verizon.

  10. Of copper pipes and microwaves by G4from128k · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I talked to a Bell executive a few years ago and he had an interesting stories about how the Bells created new technologies.

    At the same time that fiberoptics were invented, Ma Bell had another high-bandwidth long-distance telecom technology in the works. Microwaves travelling in underground copper pipes could carry a modestly high bandwidth signal for long distances. They actually had an entire factory to creating the equipment (pipe, connectors, repeaters, edge boxes, etc.) When fiber came out (with its superior cost structure and tech performance) they simply killed the concept and the factory and adopted fiber.

    --
    Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
    1. Re:Of copper pipes and microwaves by Myself · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This sounds like the logical extension of the L-carrier systems. Before digital encoding was invented, radio techniques (frequency division multiplexing) were used to shift the frequency of each voice channel, and pack dozens of channels into a wide-band signal which could ride a twisted pair, or itself be muxed into a still wider signal, which was transmitted on coaxial cable.

      I'm guessing that the megahertz-range signals on the coax were then muxed into gigahertz-range signals to be transmitted down the tubes. Fascinating.

      Lots more details at long-lines.net for the curious.

    2. Re:Of copper pipes and microwaves by freshmkr · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Microwaves travelling in underground copper pipes could carry a modestly high bandwidth signal for long distances.

      You can see some of these pipes at the American History Museum of the Smithsonian, in their communications and computers exhibit on the first floor. They really are like plumbing! The exhibit shows something like a joint between two pipes--both pipes taper gracefully down to the joint from a diameter of about 3cm to 1cm.

      P.S.: I scooped this Slashdot story on Metafilter about a year ago! *gloat*

      --Tom

      --
      MAN SHOOTS ROVER!
    3. Re:Of copper pipes and microwaves by Cylix · · Score: 1

      This sounds just like a modern wave guide... only using horrible amounts of distance in between.

      Wave guide may be a great deal more durable then fiber optics, but as far as pounds per diameter in terms of bandwidth... I think fiber may have the victory here.

      I could see a myriad of potential problems upgrading any large infrastructure.

      Still, its interesting stuff to play around with when you get the chance.

      --
      "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
    4. Re:Of copper pipes and microwaves by Roofus · · Score: 1

      Wait, are you talking about solid copper wires, or hollow pipes to be used as waveguides?

      If it's the latter, that's pretty damn cool.

    5. Re:Of copper pipes and microwaves by Myself · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Into the few-megahertz range, twisted pair wire works remarkably well. This is the stuff we're all familiar with as phone lines and cat-5. The number of twists per unit of length determines how resistant it is to interference, hence cat-5 is much more tightly twisted than cat-3. Each pair in a multipair cable is twisted a slightly different amount, to prevent inductive coupling and crosstalk between pairs.

      The signal sent down a twisted pair is bipolar and "balanced", so that the two wires are carrying mirror opposite signals. There's an excellent explanation of this. T-1 signals ride twisted pair for several kilofeet between repeaters. The N-carrier system (low rate analog multiplex) also used twisted pair, but I don't know how far it would go between terminals.

      Above a few megahertz, twisted pair gets unacceptably lossy and noisy. Higher speed signals are carried on coaxial cable, which we all know and love for its role in television wiring. The characteristic impedance of coax is determined by the ratio of the center conductor diameter and the distance to the inner surface of the outer conductor. Very early coaxial lines were made by suspending thin rods inside sections of copper pipe, by means of cardboard disc insulators. Soon a method of manufacturing flexible cable was developed, and has remained largely unchanged.

      Signals carried on coax are "unbalanced", where the outer conductor is grounded and the inner conductor carries an AC wave. The need for the ground reference means that coax runs between buildings can become part of a ground loop, and cause all sorts of electrical problems. T-3 circuits use coax, but only for very short runs. (A T-3 that leaves a building does so as a DS-3 carried on fiber.) The L-carrier system, which multiplexed several N-carrier signals together, used thick coaxial lines for long-haul runs across the countryside.

      As you approach the gigahertz range, coax also becomes too lossy, and hollow waveguide becomes the obvious choice. Waveguide can be rectangular, ovoid, or circular in cross-section, which effects the polarization of the signals carried in it. The inner dimensions influence loss and frequency range. Personally I'm not familiar with the buried waveguide system, but the TD and TH microwave systems used waveguide to connect the antennae with the terminal equipment.

  11. You could waste even more time... by Chris_Stankowitz · · Score: 4, Informative
    at this site Phone related site.

    Phone Loosers

    1. Re:You could waste even more time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are they anything like the Fat Losers? (3rd Rock from the Sun)

    2. Re:You could waste even more time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The loser may be the guy who spells the domain correctly, but then spells that link's text wrong.

      "Phone Loosers [phonelosers.org]"

    3. Re:You could waste even more time... by jchernia · · Score: 1

      Here's another one
      John Muir's 1897 phone number: 63

    4. Re:You could waste even more time... by jchernia · · Score: 1

      Forgot URL

    5. Re:You could waste even more time... by Nakito · · Score: 1

      Ma Bell's switching system was the largest relay logic machine of all time. If you are interested in that sort of thing, you would probably enjoy reading the Collected Papers of Claude Shannon, most of which were written when he was at Bell Labs. He designed several small relay computers just for fun, including one that calcluated in Roman Numerals (e.g., III * IX = XXVII).

    6. Re:You could waste even more time... by Repugnant_Shit · · Score: 1

      The web site is called phone LOSERS, and you couldn't even spell the text of your link! Saints preserve us!

      --
      Vote for global prefs bug
  12. ma bell by mix_master_mike · · Score: 1
    i got the ill communication

    call me a llama but the beastie boys and some old school phreakers at hacker cons are the only references to 'ma bell' that i come across..

    --

    mix_master_mike
    vafrous

  13. There will again be one Bell... by ackthpt · · Score: 1
    I live in California, which is serviced by SBC. When I visited Michigan I was surprised to see that my parents are also serviced by SBC. At some point I expect all these to be one company again, competing with Telekom and others off-shore companies.

    It's like watching the T2000 come back together.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:There will again be one Bell... by mph · · Score: 4, Funny
      I live in California, which is serviced by SBC.
      It used to be that companies would "serve" their customers. But at some point, they borrowed a new term from the livestock industry, that sounds almost the same but means something completely different.
    2. Re:There will again be one Bell... by BdosError · · Score: 3, Funny

      "At some point I expect all these to be one company again"

      One ringy dingy to rule them all
      One ringy dingy to find them
      One ringy dingy to bring them all
      And in the darkness bind them.

      --
      Complexity is Easy. Simplicity is Hard.
    3. Re:There will again be one Bell... by pseudochaotic · · Score: 1

      Down south here in texas, we also have SBC. That sounds like the entire western half of the US right there.

      --
      And the l33t shall inherit the 34r7h.
    4. Re:There will again be one Bell... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Lets think about it:
      Ma Bell was this giant corporation that ran most the phone systems in the country. Definatly a big monopoly, yet by 1964 they had deveoped:
      Touch Tone Dialing;
      Call forwarding:
      AutoDial(granted, it was done by dialing 2 numbers, and the central system would 'know' who to dial)
      Pager service;
      and many others.

      So it seems to me that large corporations do innovate. As a matter of fact, there R&D far surpased any R&D that is happened at any of the small spinoffs from the break up.

      I'm not saying whether or not it was a good thing, just pointing out the large corporation can add new technology even if there a monopoly.

    5. Re:There will again be one Bell... by supertbone · · Score: 0

      There are large areas of CA covered by Verizon and most of the Rockies including part of OR and WA covered by Qwest

    6. Re:There will again be one Bell... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Innovation" was AT&T corporate strategy to keep the government off thier ass. They did a ton of R&D, sure, but they did an equal amount of marketing propaganda telling everyone about it.

  14. Judge Green and the MFJ by crumbz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not to start a flame war, but I think divestiture was probably a good thing. Does anyone think we would have 1Mb pipes to our homes if we still had Ma Bell?

    1. Re:Judge Green and the MFJ by alienw · · Score: 1

      Definitely. Not to mention cheap cell phones, cheap long distance, cheap internet access, and so on. And the system works just as well as it used to under AT&T, if not better.

    2. Re:Judge Green and the MFJ by ErikTheRed · · Score: 1

      Oh, we'd have 1MB pipes (1.536Mbps most likely) all right... you'd just need a second mortgage to afford one month of service.

      --

      Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
    3. Re:Judge Green and the MFJ by eggstasy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Uh, let me think for a while... Yes! Of course. Most obviously.
      I dont know if you're aware that a lot of other countries still have these evil, gigantic phone monopolies. And we do have 1 Mbit internet acess :)

    4. Re:Judge Green and the MFJ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Yes, you would. The reason for the reduction in price compared to 20 years ago is that technology advances and becomes cheaper over time. Improvements also occurred in the twenty years before the monopoly was broken up.


      In the UK, recently we've had one of our communications services - the Royal Mail - go through a privatisation process. Its first step, of course, was to reduce service levels while spending more advertising "new" (existing renamed) services to give the impression that it is more innovative.


      The motive has switched to profit.

    5. Re:Judge Green and the MFJ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Actually, if you know your history, you'd know that the Bell System plan had 1Mb pipes on the last mile by the late 80s. That it took another decade is part of the disaster that was the breakup.

    6. Re:Judge Green and the MFJ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Devestiture did not create the Cable Companies (except maybe AT&T cable, which was bought by comcast recently).

      I still can't get DSL to my house. I'm 50 feet out of spec range, but have gotten great internet service with cable. Too bad 113 channels of shit to choose from comes with it.

    7. Re:Judge Green and the MFJ by DerekLyons · · Score: 1
      Not to start a flame war, but I think divestiture was probably a good thing. Does anyone think we would have 1Mb pipes to our homes if we still had Ma Bell?
      Quite likely we would have. Ma Bell has (had) a long record of pushing technology and responding to customer demands. (So long as the demands weren't for cheap service, or faster service. Ma charged as much as the regulators would let her get away with, and deployed repairmen and technology on her own schedule.)

      Not to mention that thar's money in them thar pipe.. And that dammed cable company to beat! Both excellent motivators for corporate performance.
  15. AT&T Going Underground. by Dieppe · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    This is from a print ad concerning the "Plot" to bury AT&T with a black and white picture of a bunch of people with shovels on top.

    We're going underground. Bit by bit we're burying our telephone lines in many parts of the country to give you better service.

    Our purpose is not just to unclutter the landscape, although neighborhoods will look neater. Underground cables are rarely affected by storms. And they're never kayoed[?] by falling limbs or wayward autos.

    Our service is good but we keep trying to make it better. And ourselves more welcome than ever around your home. Going underground is one part of that effort. We may be the only phone company in town, but we try not to act like it.

    "Kayoed"??? What unique language is this? *reaching for dictionary*

    Oh I see.

    kayo

    n. Sports pl. kayos

    A knockout in boxing.

    tr.v. kayoed, kayoing, kayos

    1.Sports. To knock out.

    2.Slang. To put out of commission.

    Ah, there must be one other /.er who knows that on sight! (Well it's mildly amusing to me anyway.)

    Well at least Microsoft's motto isn't "We may be the only OS in town, and we act like it."

    1. Re:AT&T Going Underground. by rackman · · Score: 1, Redundant

      The /. has arrived. I did recognize that as a boxing term.

    2. Re:AT&T Going Underground. by stratjakt · · Score: 1

      It's spelled K.O. (knockout).. Never seen it spelled phone-et-ick-all-ee before.

      Like people who type teevee, i guess.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  16. Bell Rocked... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I spent almost 1/2 day going through that site and cross referencing my old notes. It brought back many great memories. If it wasn't for their lack of security, I would have never pursued this field.

    Thank you Bell...

    Int27h

  17. World's Fair Pavilion by Neward+Rylet · · Score: 2, Informative

    I week or two ago I found this
    Video from the Bell System's Pavilion at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962. It's fairly interesting and amusing. It shows such advances as touch-tone dialing, pagers, and autodialing.

    1. Re:World's Fair Pavilion by Neward+Rylet · · Score: 3, Informative

      I week or two ago I found this Video from the Bell System's Pavilion at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962. It's fairly interesting and amusing. It shows such advances as touch-tone dialing, pagers, and autodialing. Bah! I forgot to turn on HTML! Prelinger Archive Video - Film for the World's Fair Bell Systems Pavilion, Century 21 Calling

    2. Re:World's Fair Pavilion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah yes, I remember the exhibit, where you were "challenged" to dial faster with a rotary dial, than with a touch tone pad!, Of course, I beat the system by dialling 111-1111 on the rotary!

    3. Re:World's Fair Pavilion by Neward+Rylet · · Score: 1

      by autodialing I mean speed-dialing.

    4. Re:World's Fair Pavilion by geekoid · · Score: 3, Funny

      you know, replying to your own post twice nearly counts as masterbation. ;)

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    5. Re:World's Fair Pavilion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to be pedantic, but its masturbation - get your sex facts straight ;-)

  18. Thanks a lot! by toupsie · · Score: 3, Funny
    "I have wasted an afternoon digging though this website.

    Well, guess what? You posted the damn address on Slashdot now I can't waste an afternoon digging through that website. Now I have to do my job and update a bunch of Windows 2003 servers because M$ can't get its patches right.

    Next time you feel the need to not waste my afternoon, DON'T!

    --
    Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
  19. Oblig Simpsons by da3dAlus · · Score: 3, Funny

    "We're sorry, but your fingers are too fat to dial."
    "If you require a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with your hand, now."

    --

    Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
    1. Re:Oblig Simpsons by kryocore · · Score: 1

      Or how about Homer: "Hello, Operator? Get me the number for 911!"

    2. Re:Oblig Simpsons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bet that CowboyNeil gets that one ALL the time....

  20. phone technology history is facinating by deviantonline · · Score: 1
    i have always found the history behind telephone technology facinating... i dont know why, maybe its the phreaker in me coming out, but it is just interesting stuff.

    it seems to me that telephones were really ahead of there time technologically.

    the thing that gets me though, is considering todays available technology, why is the sound quality of phones still so bad? you would think by now they would have done something about this. it really shows when you listen to a recorded phone call or the sound difference when someone calls into a radio/tv show.

    --

    spend money here

    1. Re:phone technology history is facinating by rackman · · Score: 1

      It has to do with how much the voice call will use on the loop combined with how much the phone company can combine and compress it in the C.O.(Central Office for the non Phreakers). They do this to help manange growth and costs. Just a question....why does it matter. Do you need that voice in stereo also.

    2. Re:phone technology history is facinating by stephenisu · · Score: 2, Insightful

      the thing that gets me though, is considering todays available technology, why is the sound quality of phones still so bad?

      Cost is why.

      Instead of getting more hardware, they started using more compression. From a business standpoint it's a no brainer.

      --
      Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
    3. Re:phone technology history is facinating by BdosError · · Score: 2, Informative
      "why is the sound quality of phones still so bad"

      Mostly because it's Good Enough(tm).

      They give the phones enough bandwidth to carry the important frequencies for speech. If they gave more bandwidth to phones, they would lose total carrying capacity.

      --
      Complexity is Easy. Simplicity is Hard.
    4. Re:phone technology history is facinating by rishistar · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well the biggest hidden secret fact is that Alexander Graham Bell did not actually invent the telephone. As was finally recognised by the US Congress in 2002, the inventor was a poor Italian immigrant Antonio Meucci.

      Meucci had taken a 'one year renewable intent to patent' out on the invention as he couldn't afford the full patent, and a few years later Bell, who had access to Meucci's materials got hold of the stuff and claimed it as his own.

      from the article:

      He sent a model and technical details to the Western Union telegraph company but failed to win a meeting with executives. When he asked for his materials to be returned, in 1874, he was told they had been lost. Two years later Bell, who shared a laboratory with Meucci, filed a patent for a telephone, became a celebrity and made a lucrative deal with Western Union.

      Meucci sued and was nearing victory - the supreme court agreed to hear the case and fraud charges were initiated against Bell - when the Florentine died in 1889. The legal action died with him.

      --
      Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
    5. Re:phone technology history is facinating by joshua88 · · Score: 2, Informative

      It sound "telephonic" because the voiceband frequencies are restricted to only 3200 cycles. This frequency bandpass has been in existence since a technology called t-carrier (DS1)evolved in the late 60's. This was needed at the time because the conversion from analog to digital used a frequency rate of 8000 cycles. Nyquists theorem required at least two samples of the analog sine wave to be able reconstruct it at the receiving end. Restricting the bandwidth facilitated this process with the technology they had at the time. Only eight bits represented each possible 256 bit sample. CD quality signals now have 44 bits representing them. Technology marches on but the Telco's still only have 8-bit representing the voice you hear

    6. Re:phone technology history is facinating by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Backwards compatibility is the big reason your phone still has 8 KHz bandwidth. Switching, trunking, umbilicals, and other equipment all were tailored to just such a specification.

      We can either replace billions of dollars of narrowband plant that is often the only way to reach remote areas, or you can listen to 8KHz until the big telcos can junk their narrowband equipment in favor of cheaper and more featureful broadband for VoIP later.

  21. Re: Interesting... by SirASCII · · Score: 2, Informative

    Now that is a funny 403 message...

  22. slashdotted... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    it's too bad this bell page couldn't take the slashdotting. that site seems to be hosted on acoustic couplers, upstream both ways!

  23. Bell System by sulli · · Score: 1
    not Systems. There was only one (until divestiture of course).

    Reach out and touch someone!

    --

    sulli
    RTFJ.
    1. Re:Bell System by rackman · · Score: 1

      Man that song brings back some good memories, or was that DTFM tones not memories that it brought back.

  24. Site content on CD's by xtype2.5 · · Score: 1

    For a fee, you can order the Web site and additional content on CD's. I worked for Ma Bell until the breakup. Good stuff on the site!

  25. Re:Red Stripe beer tastes like bongwater by Thud457 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    That Dataphone (tm) reminds me of "The Desk Set" starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy!

    And you are correct about Red Stripe beer. There's a reason for that.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  26. Another Telephone system archive by stox · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/which contains a great deal of interesting material collected over the years from the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup on USENET.

    --
    "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
  27. passport.com ddos'ed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have been down for hours now......something aint what it should be.

  28. afternoon waste by selderrr · · Score: 1

    I have wasted an afternoon digging though this website...

    yeee-ha ! free light for a month !


    sorry. Couldn't resist :-)

    --
    When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
  29. Nice comic strip by GillBates0 · · Score: 1
    Text extracted from the comic strip 75% of the way down on this page:

    Pierce (with nosering/earrings/cell): Great my phone battery is dead!
    Dude1: Dude! Do you want to call from my house Pierce?
    Pierce: Yeah, okay. Dude1: It's too bad technology today is so limited.
    Pierce: I know. There should be some kind of system in place which wouldn't require people to carry phones around wherever they go. Dude1: Yeah! Like communication centers placed in areas where people congregate.
    Dude2: And there would be individual glass enclosures where people could make calls in privacy.
    Dad (coming in): Like a phone booth?
    Dude1: Catchy term!
    Dude2: I can't believe nobody's thought of this before.
    Pierce: Progress moves so slowly!

    :) That page has a couple of pictures of nice chicks talking on payphones too...wonder who they're calling.

    Worth a look after the slashdotting's through.

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
    1. Re:Nice comic strip by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yu0 ar3 t3h h0m0!!!

  30. Priceless! by Thud457 · · Score: 2, Funny

    "slashdot : more than six hundred thousand supergeniuses arguing about date arithmetic"

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  31. Speaking of servicing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I, too, have serviced your parents. And your sister. And your little dog too.

  32. Service Temporarily Unavailable by RY · · Score: 1

    Service Temporarily Unavailable
    The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

    maintenance downtime = servers are smoking

    capacity problems = /.ed

  33. Nice, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Nice, but:

    1. Ken Thompson had Unix running by 1983.
    2. Dennis Ritchie had invented C by 1983.
    3. Bjarne Stroustrup was almost in Murray Hill by 1983.

    Why no mention of them?

  34. Memories by brain1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I particularly remember the Motorola Pulsar and Pulsar II mobile phones. Personally I had one of the General Electric MASTR-II ones with a local common carrier. Also I refurbished quite a few of them for use on privately owned systems as Ma Bell surplused them. They cost about $3500 apiece new, so they were the tools/toys of the rich lawyers, business execs and doctors, and not the local teenager walking around a mall.

    What you take for granted clipped to your belt or in your pocket used to take up a chunk of your car's trunk with thick control cables and a control head mounted on the transmission hump of your car. The things transmitted 25 watts of RF over 152 / 158 MHz full-duplex and could kill a car battery in no time flat. Coverage was spotty over about 12 miles and it had no privacy as anyone with a scanner could listen in. (and you panic about 100 milliwats out of a typical cell phone, heh heh...)

    Now they run for days on a lithium ion battery and you dont fix them - you just throw them away.

    1. Re:Memories by dave3138 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Out here in rural Minnesota, you can still pick these systems up with a scanner. The base puts out a constant tone which periodically IDs itself in morse. I haven't actually heard any conversations on them though....

  35. slashdotted real good by Wansu · · Score: 3, Funny


    I have wasted an afternoon digging though this website.

    Well, we won't. It has been slashdotted. Bummer. I like old phone stuff.

    --
    Wansu, th' chinese sailor
  36. The new bell system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    At the bottom of the page there's this:

    Charlie Stanley, an AT&T employee who was born in the year the Bell System died, created a hoax web page of what he envisions as a new Bell System.
    leading to...

    Service Temporarily Unavailable
    The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.
    I didn't know if it was the actual page or the result of slashdotting :)

  37. Anybody knows this kind of phone? by Udo+Schmitz · · Score: 2, Interesting

    On the site I saw thosein this picture. Anyone here has a clue what kind of phone that is and who made it? Those or very similar ones are often seen as decoration in the IKEA catalogue and I always wondered where to get it.

    1. Re:Anybody knows this kind of phone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      That is the swedish 'kobratelefon' - "the cobra phone".
      They were the property of the public phone company of
      older days in Sweden. Ericsson built them.

      Here you can see the rotary dial and the red button "hook"
      in the bottom of the phone:
      http://www.antika.nu/Diverse/Diversebild2/ kobratel efon.html

      It seems that they can be bought for less than 100 USD:
      http://www.tradera.com/auction/aid_5004226

    2. Re:Anybody knows this kind of phone? by ezHiker · · Score: 1

      The Bell System also offered the Ericofon. They were made by Northern Electric under license from Ericsson. More info here.

  38. Dad works for Bellsouth by ElizabethP · · Score: 1

    I'm showing this site to my dad now. He works for Bellsouth (has been since '79) so he was there when Ma Bell was split up. Interesting stuff!

  39. Of copper pipes and microwaves-A watery Wave. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It would be an interesting use for old plumbing. Broadband via the water, or gas system.

    1. Re:Of copper pipes and microwaves-A watery Wave. by Cylix · · Score: 2, Interesting

      wave guide is very generally very clean and occassionally throughout has some pvc cross hatches. Wave guide for bends and flexibility is a slightly different construction.

      If you have any obstruction or not properly bending the radio waves you will get reflection back the tube. (VSWR) This is bad and too high of a reflection will cause your equipment to shut down.

      --
      "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
  40. My acustic coupler works just fine... by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 1

    Look. My acustic coupler works just fine, as well as the day I stole it from the computer center at school. Why should I upgrade?

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  41. Here's *my* blast from the past.. by pair-a-noyd · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I personally own a Rolm CBX II 9000 w/PhoneMail system and buttloads of RolmPhones.. Plenty of pix, http://www.systemrecycler.com/rolm

    Yes, it's my personal property..

  42. If you liked this site.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You'll love this one: Phone Trips . Even has some recordings of Capt'n Crunch.

    1. Re:If you liked this site.. by ezHiker · · Score: 1

      Yep. Love that site... especially the Evan Doorbell recordings!
      It's amazing how organic and cool the old analog phone network used to sound. The digital network is very boring now. I was a kid in the 70's when the network was still analog, and I wasn't a phreak in the true sense. But I do remember playing around with the phone a bit just to hear the sound of the switching equipment, etc.
      An interesting thing... My grandparents lived in a small town in Virginia (until my grandfather died in 2000). They were on a mechanical step-by-step exchange (GTE) until 1998. It wasn't even capable of providing touch-tone! I remember when it was switched over to ESS because I was visiting one day and picked up their phone to make a call and heard the modern ESS dialtone instead of the "beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh" dialtone they used to have. That was the last mechanical exchange I ever dialed out through. I don't think any exist in the anymore, at least not in the US.

  43. Notice the annoying couple by mekkab · · Score: 1

    And the reactions they get from those around them- especially the old woman behind them on the monorail!

    --
    In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
  44. The good old days by lofter59 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Boy does that site bring back memories. My best buddy in junior high and I were obsessed with Bell, Western Electric and everything telephonic. Spent many a day chasing after phone trucks to bug the guys, they were our heroes (blushes). Dumpster diving behind the exchange to find great racks of relays and stuff full of mercury and other fun things. Some of our highlights:
    -Made the TV news for building an exchange in my buddies basement from salvaged parts that connected houses on our block (pretty much his doing)
    -Learned how to draw that modern bell logo by heart- put it on everything.
    -My delight at finding a '604b' tool at the base of a phone pole (it was a dual ended nut driver)
    -6 button business phones and 50 conductor cable with funky wide plugs.
    -We could tell whether an exchange used regular relays or rotary step-switches by the sound on the line.
    -Many odd admin type phone numbers that did fun things- can't remember what all now.

    Yes, we were obsessed.

  45. Re:Baby bells -- don't forget cell phones, either by goon+america · · Score: 1

    Yup that's what happens when you break up a monopoly. See: Microsoft.

  46. Same site? by davidstrauss · · Score: 1

    Is this the same site as the AT&T Long Lines site posted to Slashdot awhile back?

  47. Amazing by juglugs · · Score: 1

    Hey,


    I'm still amazed, having worked in the telecom industry for 12 years, that every time I pick up the 'phone, I get a dial tone...

    Amazing...

    --
    This sig is in Spanish when you're not looking....
  48. great site by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    its great to see phreak related stuff being posted on here!

    check out these sites for some newer info~
    www.oldskoolphreak.com
    www.binrev.com/foru ms
    www.defaultradio.com
    www.datutoday.tk
    www.ve rizonfears.com

    natas.

  49. Re:This is irrelevant compared to the real news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Terrorists have been around for hundereds - even thousands of years.

  50. Old school hacker/phreak website by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0



    Check out this website covering Old Skool Hacker Toolz from the early 1990s.

  51. The real history of the transistor by Baldrson · · Score: 2, Informative
    The Bell Labs version of the history of the transistor differs significantly from John Bardeen's version as heard by Sherwin Gooch:

    Sherwin Gooch's Account of John Bardeen's Lecture (Score:1)
    by Baldrson (jabowery@netcom.com) on Tuesday December 28, @08:58AM EST
    (User Info) http://www.geocities.com/jim_bowery

    In any case, I'll check with Sherwin Gooch to see if he has any more direct evidence from Bardeen himself to support the controversial account of the hide-away experimental stand.

    I did, and here is Sherwin's response:

    Jim,

    Thank you for alerting me to your discussion.

    To provide a more solid foundation, one should be aware that I heard this story from the horse's mouth.

    John Bardeen himself gave a talk one evening at Altgeld Hall on the University of Illinois campus, circa 1978, in which he related various experiences surrounding his inventing the transistor. At the time, people suspected that the scheduling of this presentation may have been related to Bardeen's health.

    Professor Bardeen showed us the B&W 16mm film BB&S had made at Bell Labs immediately after they got the first transistor to work (and, presumably, before Bardeen's boss got to work the next morning...) I have seen individual frames and out-takes of this film since, but I don't know if the entire film still exists. The "rolly-cart" with their experimental set-up is plainly in evidence on the film.

    It was John Bardeen himself, at Altgeld Hall, who related that his boss had said that the "solid-state amplifying device" which they wanted to develop was "not feasible," and that, "even if it were possible, it would have no practical application." Dr. Bardeen related that sometimes, when his boss stayed at work past 5 p.m., the three of them would become very impatient waiting for him to leave so they could roll their setup out of the coat-closet, and get busy on what they, apparently, thought was the greatest "cool hack" of the day.

    I wonder who Bardeen's boss was. His boss should be immortalized in history next to the NASA manager who advised the last engineer withholding approval of the Challenger launch to "put on your management hat!"

    One of the anecdotes John Bardeen related was how he had left his set of photographic slides in the taxi which took him to the ceremony to collect his Nobel prize, and all the trouble to which he and the Swedish government had gone in trying to recover them. But their efforts were unsuccessful; the slides were never recovered. Professor Bardeen was extremely apologetic that he didn't have them to use in his presentation, and so we would just have to make-do with his relating the incidents to us.

    With my background in computer music, I found one of the pieces of supporting paraphernalia that Dr. Bardeen didn't lose in Sweden quite interesting. He brought along a transparent plexiglas box, approximately the shape of a 6" cube, with randomly distributed 3/4" or so holes (apparently for cooling?) in the sides. On the top were a number (6 or so) of black SPST N.O. push buttons. A small loudspeaker was mounted inside. (There must have also been a battery of some kind, but I don't recall it.) The box contained a collection of electronic components, their leads soldered to one-another ("tacked together"), and hanging in "free space." (He hadn't bothered to use a prototyping board or connecting strip.) There were resistors, capacitors, possibly some coils, and these ~1" long bar things (which were the transistors), of which there were 3. Dr. Bardeen explained that he had had chosen to build this device because it em

    --
    Seastead this.
  52. Uh, WRONG! by Bob+Cat+-+NYMPHS · · Score: 1

    See the front page of woz.org. I quote:

    Woz: Steve and I had started a company and sold mostly built computers during 1976. I had designed the Apple ][.

    --
    The latest Slashdot meme.
  53. Bell System Memorial Site Overload by BellTelephone · · Score: 1

    I am the webmaster of the Bell System Memorial website that was hit so hard today which caused the server to fail to serve the home page to many of you. Many of you have written to me with your comments, corrections, and additional information for the website and I wanted to thank you. As many of you webmasters know, running a website is very time consuming and this site has grown so much in its 7 year history that it is getting harder to keep on top of. I welcome any old Bell System related photos, sound recordings, video, documents, etc. I still have about 100 megabytes of space left on my hosting account. Long live the memories of the Bell System!! David Massey

  54. Misguided pro-monopolists... by evilviper · · Score: 1

    I see a lot from pro-monopolistic people, who reminice about how great it was, and use the lowsyness of current phone companies as "proof" that the monopoly shouldn't have been broken-up.

    Personally, I find this ridiculous. The fact is, in the two decades since the monopoly was broken up, every company in the US has become evil, slimy, and so on. There's no reason to believe that a monopoly would be any different.

    One thing that has changed, is that our government seems to be getting far more corrupt, and is changing regulations left and right. The reason current phone companies are legally allowed to nickel & dime you to death, is because the government says they can. There's really no reason to think that one big AT&T would be any different. in fact, there's plenty to indicate that they would be exactly the same, if not worse.

    --
    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  55. VOIP by Teancum · · Score: 1

    This site seems to paint Ma Bell in glowing colors. I would have to agree that I considered the breakup of AT&T a huge tragedy, but quite a bit of good has come from it in many ways. My grandfather, father, and an uncle all worked for AT&T (pre-breakup... my dad quit and moved on doing other things with his life when he was in his early 20's), and all of them were of the opinion that AT&T planned on the breakup and deliberately tried to push their least profitable parts of the company onto the regional companies. That the RBOC (regional Bell operating companies) have done as well as they have post breakup still amazes me even thinking of it.

    This is just speculations, but I believe that the current efforts with VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) would have been killed early on. Of course a paranoid AT&T (worried about another Justice Department lawsuit) may have "allowed" the technology to stay under the radar, but it would have been much more Free Software/personal hacks that only geeks and geek friends have access to. I just can't see commercial competition doing many of the things with VOIP that is happening today with a large Ma Bell controlling all aspects of the phone company throughout America.

    I do believe that the days are numbered for normal local telephone service (POTS - this acronym varies for its meaning), and this change is as signficant as buggy whip manufactuers and buggy makers vs. automobile makers. A phone with numbers near the handset will still be in homes in 30 years, but the method that connects two phones in different places is going to be quite different. How regulators deal with this is going to be telling as well.

    I seriously doubt that there will ever be one single universal communications company in America again controlling a key communications technology to the extent that AT&T has done. The only real current possibility would be with satellite communication, but there are alternatives to geosync satellites if these companies get too controlling.