Bell memo on the 5302 set

[BDM]

Interesting. It's dated 1958. Notice towards the bottom, the 5302 cost money over the 500 set. About $3. Or am I missing something?

http://www.porticus.org/bell/pdf/plantletter940.pdf ( dead link 05-02-21 )

[Perry]

It is surprising to me that they seem to have been pushing the 302s unless the customer demanded a more modern phone. I would have thought that the 302s wouldn't have been very common in 1958. Perhaps this was a response to having a lot of 302s (and 5302s) that they wanted to put back in service, and maybe the people "in the field" seemed to be ignoring them, and just using 500s? The "bell adjustment" condition for getting a 5302 (or 500) rather than 302 is interesting, as the 5302's adjustment device could have been easily added on to a 302. (Two of my 302s have the volume adjustment lever.)

[Dan/Panther]

The way I read it is that they prefer to install 300 series sets, as the installation of a 5302 set would cost an average of $3.00 more to complete the order.
D/P

[Dan/Panther]

Upon looking at the letter closer, it appears that this memeo was rewritten at a later time. It doesn't appear as if it were written on a tytpe wrtier in the late fifties.
I printed a copy of it on a laser printer and it looked exactly like the one on the internet.

D/P

[rp2813]

I agree, that memo was re-typed.  The font is not like anything found on a typewriter in 1958.  However, it sure does smack of Ma Bell's affinity for cutting costs wherever possible.

My take on this is that there were costs involved with the reworking of the 302's into 5302's, and just re-deploying a 302 or a new (and probably cheaper than a 5302 to produce) 500 were the less expensive alternatives to the 5302.  I don't know if in 1958 there were still issues with 500's not working well over longer distances, but I think we would all agree that there were still tons of usable 302's in service and on hand at WE to re-deploy, which had to be the most economical of all options in providing customer premises equipment or "CPE" as it is still referred to in the industry.  Perhaps by the end of the 50's the need for 5302's was waning and the man hours spent re-working 302's could be re-applied.

Here on the west coast, Pacific Telephone was like a forgotten stepchild and way behind the times compared to other regions.  When my parents moved into their place in 1960, a 302 was issued and nobody thought anything of it.  Even though where we had lived before, neighbors worked for the phone company and had the latest Princess and colored 500 models, the 302 was fine for our needs and nobody was lusting after a 500.  It wasn't until after a storm we lost service and as part of the repair, the technician switched out our 302 for a new 1963 500.  We didn't ask for it, but he just did it.  I think by that time they were being advised to pull 302's out of service.  I mean, the storm happened outside, not inside the house.  There was nothing wrong with that 302 but the guy changed it out anyway.  Needless to say, I was disappointed when I got home from school that day and saw what I considered at the time to be an ugly modern phone with a noisy dial had replaced the trusty 302 with straight handset cord. 

Live and learn.  Who knew the 500 would turn out to be my favorite model for a "number" of reasons?

Ralph

[Perry]

Apparently, the memo should have been destroyed after Dec. 31, 1958 to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Maybe the original was, but I guess it was leaked.


It seems this only applied to black sets (and maybe only in New Jersey?), so I guess if you ordered a colored phone at this time (and paid the extra $), you automatically got a 500. I suppose a colored 302 or 5302 would not have been considered.

[bingster]

Upon looking at the letter closer, it appears that this memeo was rewritten at a later time. It doesn't appear as if it were written on a tytpe wrtier in the late fifties.
I printed a copy of it on a laser printer and it looked exactly like the one on the internet.

D/P

I've seen lots of BSP documents that are like this, too.  I think it was done to save storage space on hard drives.  It appears that they were scanned using OCR software, then they could be distributed as text files, or very small image files.

[BDM]

Apparently, the memo should have been destroyed after Dec. 31, 1958 to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Maybe the original was, but I guess it was leaked.


It seems this only applied to black sets (and maybe only in New Jersey?), so I guess if you ordered a colored phone at this time (and paid the extra $), you automatically got a 500. I suppose a colored 302 or 5302 would not have been considered.

Apparently Ma Bell produced colored 5302 sets. Bingster pointed this out with photo's
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=604.msg7118#msg7118

[BDM]

Ralph, I have my great aunt's 302 that was installed in her finished basement back around 38 or 39. She gave it to me when she moved out of that large home back around 78/79. It sat at the basement bar. I remember it as a kid, and always working. I later expressed interest in it, and she handed to me the last day she lived there. It's basically a numbers matching with a brown cloth cord in nice shape. I was lucky on that one. How that slipped passed Ma Bell, I'll never know.

When I received it at the time, I didn't care either

P.S. it had what was probably a 20' thick rubber line cord. Of course it was hard wired to the wall mount. She cut it with scissors near the base of the phone, leaving the cord itself. I never thought of grabbing that at the time.

[Perry]

Apparently, the memo should have been destroyed after Dec. 31, 1958 to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Maybe the original was, but I guess it was leaked.


It seems this only applied to black sets (and maybe only in New Jersey?), so I guess if you ordered a colored phone at this time (and paid the extra $), you automatically got a 500. I suppose a colored 302 or 5302 would not have been considered.

Apparently Ma Bell produced colored 5302 sets. Bingster pointed this out with photo's
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=604.msg7118#msg7118

Yes, I had seen that post. Considering their rarity, though, I don't imagine that they were commonly offered as an option to try to get people who wanted a colored phone to take a 5302 instead of a 500.

[BDM]

I'm sure not. But, they are out there in telephone land somewhere.

[rp2813]

B, that is a nice story about your aunt's phone.  Good for you for rescuing it from who knows what back in the late 70's.  Our 302 had a real long cord on it too.  I think it was added after installation.  It was the only phone in the house, which was a very common situation, and it was in the central hallway downstairs.  It coud be dragged around a good 20-25 feet from its home base, and the cord could be fed back into a switchplate with a round hole in it.  My dad ended up using that long mounting cord to move the house's main phone into the kitchen, so it's still here under the house I'm living in, with spades that would normally connect to the phone itself that are instead now connected to a modular wall plate.  It would be early 60's vintage and maybe if I have the motivation to get into the crawlspace I'll rescue it sometime.  I already have a super long mounting cord on a 302 so don't really need to pull the one from under the house any time soon.

Ralph

[BDM]

Ralph, unlike years ago. I like to save the TelCo issue line cords whenever possible. I shudder to think of all the high quality line cords I've tossed over the years....stupid me!

[rp2813]

LOL, come on over and feel free to crawl under the house and claim that cord then!  It'll be a long time before I ever get at it!

Ralph

[BDM]

LOL, come on over and feel free to crawl under the house and claim that cord then!  It'll be a long time before I ever get at it!

Ralph

I'm not saying get the one you have. I'm sure that's quite a job. Plus the spiders might make things rough Just saying I've gotten out of the habit of trashing them out because they're not a modular cord or such. In fact, I've re-installed several 4 prong plugs around the house for just this reason.