On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:24:48 -0600, Jim Redelfs
wrote:

In article ,
mm wrote:

there was a reason they promoted party lines

Multi-party lines were never promoted. They were a necessity due to too few
cable pairs.

In the area I have serviced since 1982 (outside Omaha but still a local call
to the "big" city), enough cable had been placed that party lines were no
longer "bridged in the field". Instead, they were bridged in the Central
Office. We haven't had any party lines for YEARS now.

In locations where everyone had a private line, that worked I believe
because they knew not everyone would be on the phone at the same time.
All day is farily busy, and there are probably especially busy times,
different ones for downtown versus residential areas. But not
everyone is on the phone at the same time. When 20 to 40 to 80
million people in the 90's were on the phone for an extra 3, 6, 16
hours a day, how did they have enough of these resources?

The Bell System planned ahead and built its system to handle the load, before
the internet was even KNOWN in the household. It worked flawlessly.

The only time a modern switching system will bog down is in the event of a
disaster. If "everyone" picks-up their phone at the "same" time, a condition
known as "slow dialtone" will occur. Again, the telco system is built to
handle this overload, doling-out dialtone on a first-come, first-served basis.

The only time I've experienced phone system overload was about 40
years ago, when I was out in the country. The local switching
equipment was an older pulse-dial system. It was the first snowy day
of the year (in an area that doesn't get much snow) and I tried to
call my parents (long distance). They had just started letting you
call long distance without the operator. I would get a busy signal
when all I had dialed was the first '1'.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"Unlike biological evolution. 'intelligent design' is
not a genuine scientific theory and, therefore, has
no place in the curriculum of our nation's public
school classes." -- Ted Kennedy