Recent posts

#31

Pay Phones - General Discussion / Re: Remaining Seattle Pay phon...

Last post by Westrex - April 21, 2024, 01:30:51 PM

Here's a surviving pay phone at Noah's Grocery. I didn't have time to stop to check for dial tone, so I'll have to check it later.

Phone: http://tinyurl.com/t5wb5w9n

#32

Telephone Historic Pictures, Signs, Directories, Advertising & Ephemera / Re: Examples of 7-Digit dialin...

Last post by Westrex - April 21, 2024, 01:04:27 PM

Here's 2 examples of signs with the two letter-5 number arrangement.

Mondo Meats: http://tinyurl.com/mu2wkw53 Tel: PArkway 5-1565

Truevalue Hardware (Greenwood): http://tinyurl.com/ax2v7utv Tel: SUnset 3-2900

#33

Technical "Stuff" / Re: The end of POTS?

Last post by TelePlay - April 21, 2024, 06:47:17 AM

The mobile use to work 3 hours after power down.

Three hours is about right for the battery backup pack at the base of each wireless provider at each tower. Critical, high traffic towers many times have a generator at the tower to extend that period to days using diesel or propane fuels.

There are typically 3 cabinets at the base of a tower for each carrier: transmit, receive and battery backup. The largest of the 3 is the battery backup which is about the size of a full sized refrigerator, weighs some 700 or more pounds and provides 600Ah at 12VDC using VRLA Batteries - they last about 3 hours. Cost per cabinet is about $5,000 plus the cabinet and installation components.

A tower with 4 carriers on it has 4 battery cabinets at its base and maybe a generator.

Wireless switches have very large industrial generators to keep them operating during power outages at the switch.

Wireless providers try to keep the network running but things happen and power is not endless. The network is as good as it's weakest link in emergencies. No guarantees for uninterrupted wireless service.

The copper exterior plant was the most dependable phone service.

#34

Technical "Stuff" / Re: The end of POTS?

Last post by dsk - April 21, 2024, 02:55:11 AM

Ad much as phone bills are today, it is hard to believe that they can't make money off of it.  The reason we don't want to change is because VOIP requires a modem.  That means that VOIP is dependent on the power company.  That means if there is a power failure, we have no phone service.  Get it?

Yes! And even with a battery backup. The network my be down at a power failure....  Here in Norway we have lost already.  The mobile use to work 3 hours after power down.

#35

Technical "Stuff" / Re: The end of POTS?

Last post by MMikeJBenN27 - April 21, 2024, 01:16:04 AM

Ad much as phone bills are today, it is hard to believe that they can't make money off of it.  The reason we don't want to change is because VOIP requires a modem.  That means that VOIP is dependent on the power company.  That means if there is a power failure, we have no phone service.  Get it?

#36

Technical "Stuff" / Re: The end of POTS?

Last post by ka1axy - April 20, 2024, 11:02:59 PM

IMHO (I work in tech), the issue is not so much the abandoning of copper, which is no longer profitable for any use at all, but the question of what replaces it, and where. I know of nobody who can justify the continuing operation (and maintenance) of the traditional POTS copper exterior plant. The mechanical switches are long gone, and even the digital exchanges are being replaced by IP switches. It's a TCP/IP world out there...

Ideally, the copper replacement would be a unified national gigabit fiber to the home network, but since we disassembled the Bell System, who is going to architect it? What we will end up with, sadly, is a patchwork of isolated replacements, each installed by whoever the legacy RBOC can talk into doing the work, and only where the subscriber density will justify it, with varying specs, quality and workmanship, and absolute minimum support. Everyone else gets (very politely) left out in the cold.

I'm extremely lucky to have been given Verizon FTTH when they abandoned copper in my area (Boston west), but the rural folks are not going to be as lucky without some federal intervention to make sure they get what I got.

#37

Technical "Stuff" / Re: The end of POTS?

Last post by MMikeJBenN27 - April 20, 2024, 10:55:59 PM

OK, here they are.  I hope you can read them, I don't have the steadiest of hands.

Mike

#38

Technical "Stuff" / Re: The end of POTS?

Last post by MMikeJBenN27 - April 20, 2024, 10:55:00 PM

Mike, please post copies of these letters.

It seems AT&T has been trying  to no longer be carrier of last resort. Initially, they were asking state legislatures (not the PUC)  for the right to abandon copper landline service wherever there were alternative carriers. Now, it seems, they couldn't care less if subscribers are left with no alternative -- for example, where cell phone signals are not reliable or non-existent; where there is no decent internet; etc.

When I was installing and repairing phones for the State of GA, we had to provide 2 lines for fire alarms. One had to be dedicated and the other could be wired through an RJ31X jack so that the alarm system would have priority over voice calls. I'm not sure how the building owners (some space is leased rather than State-owned) can get a certificate of occupancy without these copper lines. Also, fax machines don't work on VOIP lines, yet faxes are required for certain medical documentation, because sending over the internet or email is not considered secure.

The discontinuation of landlines in the United Kingdom has apparently been pushed back to 2026, because of so many complaints. Many existing alarm systems, medical pendants, etc. have stopped working when switched to VOIP...

#39

Telephone Troubleshooting and Repair / Re: NE-500 from Turkey - how t...

Last post by countryman - April 20, 2024, 05:50:18 PM

Phones from this era were fully developed precision instruments, made to industrial standards, not "consumer grade" (=throw away) products.
There was nothing left to improve, thus things went downhill instead...

#40

Telephone Troubleshooting and Repair / Re: NE-500 from Turkey - how t...

Last post by Contempra - April 20, 2024, 03:00:49 PM

On my collection, I have several and I have Never thrown Them away.

You juste have to clean Them as well as you can and lubricate the Gears système and adjust the governor a Little... And it's donne..