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What areas in Hawaii were served by General Telephone Co.?

Started by RotoTech99, December 15, 2017, 11:23:02 AM

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RotoTech99

Dear Group:

I have an inquiry regarding where in Hawaii GTE provided service I hope someone can answer, please.

I have a Decotel (ATC) cradlephone that came from Honolulu Hawaii. it dates from 1970 according to the date code on the base label.

It says General Telephone System property on the base plate; the base plate looks to be from a Series G cradlephone, and the uppers from a Series D cradlephone.

It is the Mediterranean version DAG-1330B.

My question is how many areas of Hawaii were served  by General Telephone, including Honolulu, please?

Any information and feedback will be welcomed with "Thank you's in Advance".

Thank you, Rototech99

AE_Collector

As far as I know....All of Hawaii but that has always just been my assumption, not based on any factual evidence.

Terry

MaximRecoil

In 1967 GTE acquired Hawaiian Telephone, and renamed it to GTE Hawaiian Tel. They provided service to the whole state of Hawaii.

As a side note, nearly all of the phones, including the payphones, on the TV series Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988), which was filmed in Hawaii, were made by Automatic Electric. The most commonly seen models were:

- AE 80 and AE 80e desk phones (comparable to the WE 500 and 2500)
- AE 192 wall phone (comparable to the WE 2554)
- AE 120b payphones (comparable to WE 1C, 1D, 1D2, etc. "Fortress" style payphones)

Other AE models that made at least one appearance include:

- AE 187 multi-line phone (comparable to something like a WE 2830)
- AE 182e "Starlite" (comparable to a WE "Princess")
- AE 981 "Styleline" (comparable to a WE "Trimline")

There were a couple of rare appearances of Western Electric phones too, i.e., a 500 and a "Fortress" style payphone.

There were a couple of oddball phones too. In early episodes the red "Robin Masters phone" on Higgins' desk was an Ericofon, which was soon replaced by a red AE Styleline. The main wall phone in Robin's Nest which was also used as an intercom to the front gate was a RadioShack Duofone 16. There was another Duofone 16 by the door leading to the wine cellar, though it was probably the same prop that got moved around as needed:



Notice how they blacked out the "Shack" part of "RadioShack".

Most American TV shows from the Bell System era only had Western Electric phones for obvious reasons. Magnum, P.I., due to it being filmed in Hawaii, was one of the few American shows with mainly non-WE phones. I never watched much of "Hawaii Five-O", but I assume the phones on that show were mostly non-WE too.

rdelius

In the origional Hawaii 5-0  all the telephone sets were AE with #s only dials

Jim Stettler

I have heard that some areas of Hawaii had rotary Ericofones.
I was told this by  my old Landlord who was an ex-Bell employee.
I gave him a 4 prong to mod adapter for a red ericofone that he had gotten from a buddy in Hawaii he traded him a princess phone for it.
Jim S.
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

GTE Rick

Quote from: AE_Collector on December 15, 2017, 12:46:47 PM
As far as I know....All of Hawaii but that has always just been my assumption, not based on any factual evidence.

Terry

I have a 1963 copy of "Telephony's Directory of the telephone industry" there is a section that lists all the exchanges in each state and the associated telephone companies.  All of the Hawaiian Exchanges are listed as Hawaiian Telephone.
Small in size ... Smart in Style ... and it has a lighted dial.

Jim Stettler

Quote from: GTE Rick on September 02, 2018, 01:50:05 PM
I have a 1963 copy of "Telephony's Directory of the telephone industry" there is a section that lists all the exchanges in each state and the associated telephone companies.  All of the Hawaiian Exchanges are listed as Hawaiian Telephone.
Speculations by Me:
Each Island may of had it's own system that combined together to become  Hawaiian Telephone.
Each Island as an Independent system that joined together for underwater connections to each other.
Together (as Hawaiian Telephone ) they connect to the US mainland.
My guess is that is what happened.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Who originally  provided "Hawaiian Telephone" Dial tone to the US mainland?
Jim S.
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.