In article ,
Mark Lloyd wrote:
On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:16:22 -0500, Jim Redelfs
wrote:

[snip]

When a premise visit is made, and no SNI/D is present, one is SUPPOSED
to be installed, at no extra charge to the customer, at that time.


SUPPOSED to. They (Verizon) didn't when I got a second line in 1999.

BTW, the installer also claimed I had poison ivy. I didn't.
--
Mark Lloyd
...snipped...

My experience is with Verizon also. In my area Bell Atlantic preceeded
Verizon and Chesapeake and Potomac Tel. Co. preceeded Bell Atlantic.
Many of the homes in my neighborhood, as well as the neighborhood I
lived in about 12 years ago, never had demarc boxes installed.

The previous owner of my home had 2 lines. There are 2 cables that come
directly from a utility pole, attach to the side of the house with standoffs,
go down to the sill plate and enter the basement at the gap between the
siding and the sill plate. They continue about 10 feet into the basement
where each cable is connected to a separate junction block. The same
large-gauge, exterior wire connects one of these blocks to a third
block located about 25 feet away in another part of the basement. Each
block has several cables connected to it for the different extension
locations. Some of these cables are so old that they are cotton-covered.
A few rooms still have the old 4 prong phone jacks.

I have had a few problems with our phone wiring over the years. I have
_ASKED_ Verizon to PLEASE install a demarc box on several occasions but the
service techs just won't do it, instead they come into the house and "fix"
the immediate problem. We have never been billed for these "fixes." I
would rather have Verizon install a box, and rewire the house with
modern cabling myself. Perhaps one day Verizon will install the demarc
and I can go ahead with that plan
--
There are no stupid questions, but there are lots of stupid answers.

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org

wrote:
On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:04:39 -0400, "TWayne"
wrote:

On Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:57:04 -0400, "TWayne"
wrote:

On Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:24:11 -0400, "TWayne"
wrote:

On Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:37:52 GMT,
(wendylee815) wrote:


-------------------------------------

we just bought this house and want to put a phone in the
kitchen..unfortunatly, the wires are bare....now we bought the
jack and went to install it, and found that there are only three
wires coming out of the hole, red, green and yellow..no black,,,
how can we install this new jack to an old line that has only the
three colored wires?


More than likely, all you need are the green and red wires. The
black and yellow wires would be used for a second line if you had
one. In a normal residential system, they are not used, even
though they may be hooked to terminals as if they are.
A telco will NEVER use the yellow and black lines for a second line
with a normal RJ-11 installation. Those are for lights and grounds
in key systems, etc..

You are wrong. This is very common in residential installations.
People have a second line for the kids or whatever and it goes on
the yellow and black wires.
You can't read: READ what I said: "A telco will ... ". Using those
wires for a phone line can of course be done. ANY wires could be
used. But you'll never get a telco to work on them ever again; all
they would offer to do would be to rip it out and replace it with
properly wired system.
Up your reading comprehension skills. Hell, I could use 10 ga
green wires if I wanted to. But come back to earth Scottie.

You are still wrong. The telco uses yellow/black for a second line in
residential installations. It would make no difference who does the
inside wiring, as the telco would still be the ones to wire it THAT
WAY where it enters the house. If you take apart any modern analog
2-line phone, you will discover that it is MANUFACTURED to expect the
second line to be on the yellow/black pair. Gee, I wonder why?

Please also not that when JK wire is diagramed, the wires are labeled:

green =tip 1
red=ring 2
black= tip 2
yellow ring 2

Case CLOSED
You're bound determined to justify it aren't you? What you showed is
not a RJ-11 jack which is what would be used in the home.

Um. I didn't describe an R-11 jack at all, dunderhead. We are talking
about the WIRES. You also seem to think that the princess phones used
the yellow/black pair for lighting. That's essentially incorrect in
terms of this discussion, and you don/'t even know that much. The
princess phone used the yellow and black wires IN THE PHONE
forlighting power, but the wall connector was actually an adapter
configured as a shunt to prevent those wires from connecting to the
yello/black wiring in the wal, so it could still be used for that
second phone line in the kids rooml. Those wires, IN THE PHONE were
passed to a wall wart for power, and had ZERO to do with the telco
wiring in the wall.

Usually true, but not always. If the customer (usually the missus)
objected to 'that ugly thing', or if there was no outlet near the phone
drop, they would sometimes use the second pair for power, and put the
wall wart in the basement. After I was here a year, I banged my head on
an abandoned one hanging from its black and yellow wires under the
basement stairs. (the run had been cut off upstream.) Not the first time
I had seen a basement-mounted one.
--
aem sends...

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:51:43 GMT, aemeijers wrote:

[snip]

Usually true, but not always. If the customer (usually the missus)
objected to 'that ugly thing', or if there was no outlet near the phone
drop, they would sometimes use the second pair for power, and put the
wall wart in the basement. After I was here a year, I banged my head on
an abandoned one hanging from its black and yellow wires under the
basement stairs. (the run had been cut off upstream.) Not the first time
I had seen a basement-mounted one.

Of course this is not "politically correct", but these messages do
make women seem much more likely to be irrational. There ARE
exceptions.

In article ,
(Larry W) wrote:

I would rather have Verizon install a box, and rewire the
house with modern cabling myself. Perhaps one day Verizon
will install the demarc and I can go ahead with that plan

Feel free to do whatever wiring you like, WHEN you like.

Just because there is no "official" SNI/D doesn't mean you can't do your
own wiring. You simply begin your wiring at the point where the telco
drop wire terminates - usually on a protector block.

With the simple installation of a RJ11 block and short line cord, you
can build your own "interface" just immediately beyond the telco's
protector.

If I were to completely rewire a home, I would place a dedicated "home
run" to each outlet (as opposed to the "series" type of wiring) and
terminate each cable to a point that is walk-up accessible on a utility
room wall. From that location you simply run ONE cable to the demarc.
Fumbling around in the joists, along with the darkness and spider webs,
is a PITA.
--

JR

Sam E wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:51:43 GMT, aemeijers wrote:

[snip]

Usually true, but not always. If the customer (usually the missus)
objected to 'that ugly thing', or if there was no outlet near the phone
drop, they would sometimes use the second pair for power, and put the
wall wart in the basement. After I was here a year, I banged my head on
an abandoned one hanging from its black and yellow wires under the
basement stairs. (the run had been cut off upstream.) Not the first time
I had seen a basement-mounted one.

Of course this is not "politically correct", but these messages do
make women seem much more likely to be irrational. There ARE
exceptions.

No sexism involved or intended. I have no idea if it is genetics or how
they are raised, but in my experience, most women are MUCH fussier about
the appearance of their surroundings. The stereotypes arose for a
reason. Stuff most guys would shrug over irritates some women every time
they see it. It isn't that they are irrational, it is that they have
different priorities. Yes, there are exceptions, but that is why they
are called exceptions.

--
aem sends...

Jim Redelfs wrote:
In article ,
(Larry W) wrote:

I would rather have Verizon install a box, and rewire the
house with modern cabling myself. Perhaps one day Verizon
will install the demarc and I can go ahead with that plan

Feel free to do whatever wiring you like, WHEN you like.

Just because there is no "official" SNI/D doesn't mean you can't do your
own wiring. You simply begin your wiring at the point where the telco
drop wire terminates - usually on a protector block.

With the simple installation of a RJ11 block and short line cord, you
can build your own "interface" just immediately beyond the telco's
protector.

If I were to completely rewire a home, I would place a dedicated "home
run" to each outlet (as opposed to the "series" type of wiring) and
terminate each cable to a point that is walk-up accessible on a utility
room wall. From that location you simply run ONE cable to the demarc.
Fumbling around in the joists, along with the darkness and spider webs,
is a PITA.
You can buy your own demarc box or SNID or whatever, you know. The
internet is a wonderful thing. Just connect the old telco house feed to
the 'protected' side of the box.

--
aem sends...

In article ,
aemeijers wrote:

You can buy your own demarc box or SNID or whatever, you know.

Agreed. However, some folks object to PAYING for, and installing
themselves, that which SHOULD (and eventually might) be installed for
"free" by the telco.

Just connect the old telco house feed to
the 'protected' side of the box.

While it sounds easy enough, keep in mind that service providers take a
VERY dim view of unauthorized persons messing with THEIR property.

In my experience, those that did work on the telco side of the demarc
did so in a shoddy, uninformed manner. Most often the ground was
omitted. Ignorant or, more likely, careless alarm system installers
were most likely to work "ahead" of the demarc. In many cases, they
would make their "line seizure" tap AHEAD of the protector, routing the
unprotected pair to the alarm system panel, then back to the protector
where it was finally protected.

There is a potential, significant ADVANTAGE to NOT having an official
network interface, particularly IF the customer does NOT subscribe to an
inside wiring maintenance plan: In the event of inside wire trouble,
where the subscriber is unable to UNPLUG from the network, a trouble
isolation charge is NOT levied. It is during this isolation process
that the repair tech is SUPPOSED to install a SNI/D, especially if the
customer does NOT subscribe to an inside wire maintenance plan. That
way, if inside trouble occurs again, the isolation charge ($) CAN be
levied.

On numerous occasions, I encountered and performed just as I described.
I would install the interface. Then, if the trouble was on just ONE of
the station wires, I would leave that one disconnected, usually
restoring service to the rest of the customer's system.

If there was only one pair leaving the old protector (series-wired
home), the customer remained out of service until the inside trouble was
cleared.

In either case, I would show the customer their new SNI and demonstrate
its operation. I would then explain their options for repair including
an offer to fix the inside trouble myself at my company's exorbitant
rate.

A SNI/D (Standard Network Interface Device) does NOT necessarily improve
service as it provides NO improved protection compared to the old,
grandfathered "hard-wired to the protector" service. The SNI/D simply
provides an OFFICIAL point of demarcation between the service provider
and the customer AND a convenient means to disconnect from the network
for trouble isolation purposes.
--

JR

In article ,
aemeijers wrote:
...snipped...
You can buy your own demarc box or SNID or whatever, you know. The
internet is a wonderful thing. Just connect the old telco house feed to
the 'protected' side of the box.

--
So you are saying that I should modify wiring that belongs to the
phone co? Yeah, I know I could install a box myself, but I guess I can
be just as stubborn as the phone co. I've added new wiring where the house
needs it, but I'd just rather not do Verizon's job for them.

--
Make it as simple as possible, but no simpler.

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org

In article ,
Uncle Monster wrote:



I'll bet you don't know what an "octothorp"
is. It's a part of every pushbutton phone.
*snicker*

[8~{} Uncle Monster

Sure do -- variously named sharp-sign, pound-sign, hash, etc. "#"

When you program computers, you learn that kind of stuff.

Like "!" being called "bang" and, in the U.K., at least by some
people some time ago, "shriek".


David

In article ,
Jim Redelfs wrote:
Ralph Mowery wrote:

US standard ring voltage is 90
volts AC at 20 Hz unless you're on a party
line and the ringers will be of the type
that are filtered to ring at different
AC frequencies.

Multi-party service did NOT use "filtered ringers". I don't believe
such a thing ever existed.

On two-party service, the ringing current is sent down one "side" or the
other of the serving pair. At the station, the phone's ringer was
connected to either the ring or tip side of the pair and the other side
to ground. As mentioned earlier here, most station wiring was, for
DECADES, three conductor. The third conductor was to provide a ground
for partyline use.

A private line-wired set, "illegally" connected to a 2FR, would ring for
ALL calls because its ringer was wired ACROSS the pair instead of as I
described above.

Really OLD, multi-party installations? That was even more complicated.

A 4FR (four parties on the same cable pair): One party on the ring side

What's this "pair" stuff?

Back in the 50's, in West Texas, we (and everyone else not living
"in town") had a wood box hung on the wall, maybe two feet high
and 8-inches wide, with a stethascope-like mike in the middle,
and a crank on the side.

Cranking long or short gave you the long-short-short etc.

Now, the "pair stuff":

We were some 15 miles from town, and our "line" (well, party line)
went that entire distance, and consisted not of a pair, but of
a single bare wire. The other side of the pair was the ground,
of course.

You ALWAYS had to shout over the, uh, rice-krispy (sp?) pop crackle
and snap or whatever, but LOUD, damnit, LOUD!

"HELLO! HELLO! COULD YOU SAY THAT AGAIN!

WHO ARE YOU CALLING? WHO IS THIS? BILL? NO? WHO THEN?

BILL? TOO MUCH STATIC -- I CAN'T HEAR YOU! CALL BACK TONIGHT!

LESS STATIC"


"Who was that, honey?" "I don't know, couldn't get his name" etc, etc



David

In article ,
Jim Redelfs wrote:
In article _x3tk.43458$hx.13021@pd7urf3no,
Tony Hwang wrote:




Just one: The Western Electric 500 (for example) ringer could be wired
for Tip service or Ring service.


Did "tip" and "ring" have something to do with the (tiny) "central office",
where the two women sat in front of this big board in which you actually
connected the phone calls, by pulling out a wire-and-plug (from the
caller's line?) and then stretched it across the board and plugged
it into the callee's socket, thus "connecting" the call, and then
maybe via crank or perhaps button, generated the "ringing" of the
bell on the callee's phone?


David

In article ,
wrote:
On Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:27:51 +0000 (UTC),
(Larry W) wrote:

Maybe that should read "a telco _should_..." I have seen telco technicians
do all kinds of things in residential wiring, including using black/yellow
pairs, even green/black or red/yellow, or most any other permutation,
if it helps them avoid stringing a new wire at telephone co. expense.
I've seen them use wire nuts or twisted wires covered with electrical
tape to make their connections. Of course, when it is at the consumer's
expense, then they insist on doing everything up to standards. Please don't
generalize what is probably best practice to what is actually being
done the field.



Since the late 70s, all interior wiring belongs to the consumer. You
don't get anything at telco expense anymore. I also haven't seen an
interior phone wired by a real telco installer repairman in years

I don't think it was in the 90's that we got that they put that little box
outside the house. I *know* it wasn't the late 70's or even mid '80s
here, anyway. (New Rochelle, NY, "Westchester County")


either. They are usually contractors who are basically clueless.
Back before the US v ATT decision if you had 2 lines, they ran 2
cables or a 25 pair if you were in an office that might get a call
director phone. BSP said you did not run 2 lines in one cable without
using twisted pair.


David

On Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:01:38 +0000 (UTC), (David
Combs) wrote:

In article ,
Jim Redelfs wrote:
In article _x3tk.43458$hx.13021@pd7urf3no,
Tony Hwang wrote:




Just one: The Western Electric 500 (for example) ringer could be wired
for Tip service or Ring service.


Did "tip" and "ring" have something to do with the (tiny) "central office",
where the two women sat in front of this big board in which you actually
connected the phone calls, by pulling out a wire-and-plug (from the
caller's line?) and then stretched it across the board and plugged
it into the callee's socket, thus "connecting" the call, and then
maybe via crank or perhaps button, generated the "ringing" of the
bell on the callee's phone?


David


Close, but no cigar. Tip and Ring are the parts of one of those 1/4
inch phone plugs they used. The plug is divided into two parts with an
insulator separating them. There is the tip at the end, and the shaft
portion is the "ring"

(David Combs) wrote:

-snip-
What's this "pair" stuff?

Back in the 50's, in West Texas, we (and everyone else not living
"in town") had a wood box hung on the wall, maybe two feet high
and 8-inches wide, with a stethascope-like mike in the middle,
and a crank on the side.

Cranking long or short gave you the long-short-short etc.

Now, the "pair stuff":

We were some 15 miles from town, and our "line" (well, party line)
went that entire distance, and consisted not of a pair, but of
a single bare wire. The other side of the pair was the ground,
of course.

50's!? In 1972 I went to work for a small independent telco in
upstate NY. [Middleburg Tel] They had just purchased an even
smaller independent- the Summit Telephone Co. Those folks had 20
party lines on that great old bare wire stuff.

Joe, the owner was more inventor than type a personality, so he often
just "made things work" any which way he could. One of our favorites
was a stretch where he just hooked into an electric fence when his
lines went down. The phone worked- but I couldn't say if the
electric fence was still hot.


You ALWAYS had to shout over the, uh, rice-krispy (sp?) pop crackle
and snap or whatever, but LOUD, damnit, LOUD!

Yeah, but there was an upside. When you called someone local the
operator could tell you when they left, and maybe where they were
headed. And when they got home and made a call she'd fill them in on
who had called.

Jim

wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:01:38 +0000 (UTC), (David
Combs) wrote:

In article ,
Jim Redelfs wrote:
In article _x3tk.43458$hx.13021@pd7urf3no,
Tony Hwang wrote:



Just one: The Western Electric 500 (for example) ringer could be wired
for Tip service or Ring service.

Did "tip" and "ring" have something to do with the (tiny) "central office",
where the two women sat in front of this big board in which you actually
connected the phone calls, by pulling out a wire-and-plug (from the
caller's line?) and then stretched it across the board and plugged
it into the callee's socket, thus "connecting" the call, and then
maybe via crank or perhaps button, generated the "ringing" of the
bell on the callee's phone?


David


Close, but no cigar. Tip and Ring are the parts of one of those 1/4
inch phone plugs they used. The plug is divided into two parts with an
insulator separating them. There is the tip at the end, and the shaft
portion is the "ring"

Actually the plug is divided into 3 parts. The shaft is the "sleeve".
The "ring" is a ring between the tip and the shaft.

"Sleeve" is a 3rd wire used in the central office to determine if the
line is busy. In the switchboard days, the operator could touch the tip
of a patch cord to the shaft part of a jack and if they heard a click in
their earphone the line was busy. On some boards it could light an
adjacent bulb. "Sleeve" continued into the mechanical switching
equipment, and there must be a digital equivalent in modern electronic
switches.

--
bud--

bud-- wrote:

wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:01:38 +0000 (UTC), (David
Combs) wrote:

In article ,
Jim Redelfs wrote:
In article _x3tk.43458$hx.13021@pd7urf3no,
Tony Hwang wrote:



Just one: The Western Electric 500 (for example) ringer could be wired
for Tip service or Ring service.

Did "tip" and "ring" have something to do with the (tiny) "central
office", where the two women sat in front of this big board in which you
actually connected the phone calls, by pulling out a wire-and-plug (from
the caller's line?) and then stretched it across the board and plugged
it into the callee's socket, thus "connecting" the call, and then
maybe via crank or perhaps button, generated the "ringing" of the
bell on the callee's phone?


David


Close, but no cigar. Tip and Ring are the parts of one of those 1/4
inch phone plugs they used. The plug is divided into two parts with an
insulator separating them. There is the tip at the end, and the shaft
portion is the "ring"

Actually the plug is divided into 3 parts. The shaft is the "sleeve".
The "ring" is a ring between the tip and the shaft.

"Sleeve" is a 3rd wire used in the central office to determine if the
line is busy. In the switchboard days, the operator could touch the tip
of a patch cord to the shaft part of a jack and if they heard a click in
their earphone the line was busy. On some boards it could light an
adjacent bulb. "Sleeve" continued into the mechanical switching
equipment, and there must be a digital equivalent in modern electronic
switches.

I'm told Western Electric manufactured the jacks at one plant and the mating
plugs in another. This discouraged employees from taking home samples. I
miss Ma Bell.

In article ,
(David Combs) wrote:

What's this "pair" stuff?

Aw, shucks. It's that newfangled stuff where they provide phone service
on TWO wires, of all things. You don't have to SREAM to be heard on 'em.

We were some 15 miles from town, and our "line" (well, party line)
went that entire distance, and consisted not of a pair, but of
a single bare wire. The other side of the pair was the ground,
of course.

You ALWAYS had to shout over the, uh, rice-krispy (sp?) pop crackle
and snap or whatever, but LOUD, damnit, LOUD!

"HELLO! HELLO! COULD YOU SAY THAT AGAIN!

WHO ARE YOU CALLING? WHO IS THIS? BILL? NO? WHO THEN?

BILL? TOO MUCH STATIC -- I CAN'T HEAR YOU! CALL BACK TONIGHT!

LESS STATIC"


"Who was that, honey?" "I don't know, couldn't get his name" etc, etc

One need only ground one side of a modern, working (POTS) pair and it is
obvious why, in the days you describe, it was a requirement to virtually
SHOUT to be heard over the ground noise.

When they added the return conductor creating a balanced pair - the
"loop" - the line wss quieted to an amazing degree.

I believe that, in most populated areas, PAIR service was introduced
around 1910.
--

JR

In article ,
(David Combs) wrote:

Did "tip" and "ring" have something to do with the (tiny) "central office",
where the two women sat in front of this big board in which you actually
connected the phone calls, by pulling out a wire-and-plug (from the
caller's line?) and then stretched it across the board and plugged
it into the callee's socket, thus "connecting" the call, and then
maybe via crank or perhaps button, generated the "ringing" of the
bell on the callee's phone?

Yes.

However, local Operator service you describe was in place long before
the "pair" was introduced.

In smaller, local exchanges, the switchboard was often located in the
parlor of a local resident's home.

The Operator, usually the lady of the house, would go about her business
in the home, stopping to connect calls when they rang in.

She would dry her hands, proceed to the switchboard, don the "chestset"
(large horn-shaped transmitter hung from the neck that rested on the
sternum into which the Operator spoke) (not yet headset), and answer the
call, "Number please!".

Generally, the Operator went to bed at 9:00 or 10:00 PM Sunday through
Thursday and stayed up an hour to two longer on Friday and Saturday
night.

Outside those hours, one dare not ring-up the Operator unless there was
a true emergency, a baby was born, or someone had died.
--

JR

In article ,
(David Combs) wrote:

I don't think it was in the 90's that we got that they put that little box
outside the house. I *know* it wasn't the late 70's or even mid '80s
here, anyway. (New Rochelle, NY, "Westchester County")

The Bell System break-up, the "Divestiture", occurred on January 1, 1984.

The first, official Standard Network Interface Devices (SNI/D) began
appearing some months thereafter.

Protectors (not SNI/D) had been often mounted on the outside of the home
for 10-20 years before that. During that period, it depended on the
whim of the installer as to whether the protector was located inside or
outside the premise. Those installed in the winter months were usually
located indoors. grin
--

JR

On Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:29:17 -0500, Jim Redelfs
wrote:

In article ,
(David Combs) wrote:

Did "tip" and "ring" have something to do with the (tiny) "central office",
where the two women sat in front of this big board in which you actually
connected the phone calls, by pulling out a wire-and-plug (from the
caller's line?) and then stretched it across the board and plugged
it into the callee's socket, thus "connecting" the call, and then
maybe via crank or perhaps button, generated the "ringing" of the
bell on the callee's phone?

Yes.

However, local Operator service you describe was in place long before
the "pair" was introduced.

In smaller, local exchanges, the switchboard was often located in the
parlor of a local resident's home.

The Operator, usually the lady of the house, would go about her business
in the home, stopping to connect calls when they rang in.

She would dry her hands, proceed to the switchboard, don the "chestset"
(large horn-shaped transmitter hung from the neck that rested on the
sternum into which the Operator spoke) (not yet headset), and answer the
call, "Number please!".

Generally, the Operator went to bed at 9:00 or 10:00 PM Sunday through
Thursday and stayed up an hour to two longer on Friday and Saturday
night.

Outside those hours, one dare not ring-up the Operator unless there was
a true emergency, a baby was born,

or someone had died.

I always found it strange that death was treated as an emergency, as
if the deceased isn't going to be dead very long.

"Dad died last night but the doctor was slow getting here, so dad came
back to life." :-)

wrote in
:

On Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:19:03 -0500, Gary H
wrote:

On Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:29:17 -0500, Jim Redelfs
wrote:

In article ,
(David Combs) wrote:

Did "tip" and "ring" have something to do with the (tiny) "central
office", where the two women sat in front of this big board in
which you actually connected the phone calls, by pulling out a
wire-and-plug (from the caller's line?) and then stretched it
across the board and plugged it into the callee's socket, thus
"connecting" the call, and then maybe via crank or perhaps button,
generated the "ringing" of the bell on the callee's phone?

Yes.

However, local Operator service you describe was in place long before
the "pair" was introduced.

In smaller, local exchanges, the switchboard was often located in the
parlor of a local resident's home.

The Operator, usually the lady of the house, would go about her
business in the home, stopping to connect calls when they rang in.

She would dry her hands, proceed to the switchboard, don the
"chestset" (large horn-shaped transmitter hung from the neck that
rested on the sternum into which the Operator spoke) (not yet
headset), and answer the call, "Number please!".

Generally, the Operator went to bed at 9:00 or 10:00 PM Sunday
through Thursday and stayed up an hour to two longer on Friday and
Saturday night.

Outside those hours, one dare not ring-up the Operator unless there
was a true emergency, a baby was born,

or someone had died.

I always found it strange that death was treated as an emergency, as
if the deceased isn't going to be dead very long.

"Dad died last night but the doctor was slow getting here, so dad came
back to life." :-)


Caller ... I think he is dead

911 operator ... First let's be surer he is really dead

Caller (sound of gunshot) Yep he's dead.


Reminds me of Monty Python's - Bring out your dead. Still bring me a good
chuckle. Not quite like when I first saw it and my face hurt from laughing
so much. We had a different Purple Pill back then...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grbSQ6O6kbs