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Stromburg Carlson 4 Party Line Questions

Started by porkercon, June 11, 2015, 09:02:48 AM

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porkercon

Trying to figure out what to use on this specific phone line. I used to have a rotary phone working fine on it. I switched to a touch tone phone and now it won't dial out. Do I just buy any rotary phone and it will work with the Stromburg Carlson 4 party line? I live in Ontario and I have been told this setup is really rare now. When I call Bell about it they have no idea what I am talking about. Any help would be appreciated.

rdelius

Not sure what you are trying to do but older tone sets will not dial out if the line polarity is reversed.Reverse the line red and green wires at the jack or inside the set

porkercon


G-Man

#3
Redius covered your question accurately but I am more intrigued by your statement that you are served by a Stromberg Carlson central office, much less on a four-party line.

How did you determine you are served by the Stromberg Carlson switch and how many parties are on your line?

I am not certain whether you are located in Ontario, California or Canada, but it would be against tariffs in either location for subscribers to connect their own telephones on party-lines since most would not know how to correctly configure their own ringing scheme and would be bound to interfere with their neighbors; not to mention both a Stromberg Carlson switch or party-line service would be extremely archaic!!

Thanks

G-Man

Though it is doubtful you are still being served by an obsolete Stromberg Carlson switch, if you provide us with your area code and prefix, we should be able to quickly lookup your exchange to determine what is being used to switch your calls.

xhausted110

Actually, stromberg DCOs (digital central office) are still pretty common, my grandma is served by one.
- Evan

G-Man

#6
Quote from: xhausted110 on June 11, 2015, 04:26:57 PM
Actually, stromberg DCOs (digital central office) are still pretty common, my grandma is served by one.
It's my understanding that the DCO's were taken out of service a number of years ago since they were no longer supported with new routing translations, software upgrades, spare parts, etc. 

I was told that the last one to come out of service was in Arizona. It would be interesting to see if this is correct; what is your grandmother's area code and prefix? If a few are still in service it is very doubtful they are "are still pretty common."

Of course Phil McCarter would be the expert on this topic.

porkercon

Located in Ontario, Canada.

On my Bell phone bill it says "4 party residence line" and only costs $10.86 a month.

Sorry I don't know much, I have just been going off what I have been told.
My neighbour said it was a Stromburg Calson line, not sure if he just used that name even though its something totally different. He said there is a filter at the switch box that determines what phone ring to use to get to the right phone.

Anyways it has probably all been taken out and has been replaced with current setups. I didn't think to reverse the wires. I will get back to you guys if it works or not.

Thanks for all the help.

G-Man

If it is on your bill then I suspect they are still offering party-line service in Canada.

At one time your area may  have been served via a  Stromberg switch though I doubt it is still in service or he only used the name as a generic term for rural switches that rendered party-line service.

Towards the end, before the FCC in the U.S. banned multi-party lines, some telcos (Bell included) did install an interface on the outside of the wall configured for ringing a specific party.

Do you ever hear other subscribers on your line? In some cases even though the line was still being billed as a party-line most of the other subscribers had since obtained a private line, leaving only one of perhaps a couple of others sharing the line. I would assume you live in a rural area.

Good Luck with your TouchTone phone!

jsowers

Since he's still on a party line, porkercon could still have rotary-only phone service. I had that from 1985 until they did away with it about six years ago at my Telco. It was $1 less per month. Party lines were gone long before that, about 1987 or so. My parents and grandmother shared one until the end. I never knew they were banned by the FCC. Thanks, G-Man, for that info.

For about two months recently I had touch-tone only phone service. Somehow they messed up something at the central office. Then one day miraculously it reappeared and my rotary phones worked again!
Jonathan

andre_janew

I had a party line and a touch tone phone.  I was on a 2 party line and I had to get a rotary phone to talk to the other person on the party line.  With the touch tone I could talk to anyone who wasn't on my party line.  The other person had a rotary phone.  Maybe if they had a touch tone phone too I wouldn't have needed a rotary phone.

G-Man

Quote from: andre_janew on June 12, 2015, 07:12:28 PM
I had a party line and a touch tone phone.  I was on a 2 party line and I had to get a rotary phone to talk to the other person on the party line.  With the touch tone I could talk to anyone who wasn't on my party line.  The other person had a rotary phone.  Maybe if they had a touch tone phone too I wouldn't have needed a rotary phone.

I started to say this is absolutely unbelievable since other than dialing, the transmission aspects should about be the same for either a traditional rotary or Touch-Tone telephone. 
However, it is a very long line and the Touch-Tone instrument was a cheap Asian import and the current dropped off (less than 20ma) considerably when the other party went off-hook, then it could have ceased to function. 

On the other hand, a traditional 2500 would merely experience lower volume with possibility of not being able to dial out, but a conversation could still  be held.

andre_janew

Yes, I was using a cheap Asian import at the time.  I might not have had that problem with a WE 2500.  Actually, when the other person on the party line called me, I could hear them but they could not hear me.  When the rotary phone was used, we could talk to each other.  I know it sounds strange, but I swear that was how it was.  That was my experience with touch tone phones and party lines.

I have not exactly had a good experience with touch tone phones and party lines even though I did have the touch tone service on my number.  I remember because I did willingly pay the extra $1 a month for touch tone service.  I was disappointed in the way my touch tone phone worked on the party line.  Because of this, I think that rotary phones are best for party lines.  The touch tone phones should be reserved for private lines.  Whether or not a WE 2500 would've worked better, we will never know.

poplar1

Quote from: andre_janew on June 13, 2015, 10:03:27 PM
Yes, I was using a cheap Asian import at the time.  I might not have had that problem with a WE 2500.  Actually, when the other person on the party line called me, I could hear them but they could not hear me.  When the rotary phone was used, we could talk to each other.  I know it sounds strange, but I swear that was how it was.  That was my experience with touch tone phones and party lines.

I have not exactly had a good experience with touch tone phones and party lines even though I did have the touch tone service on my number.  I remember because I did willingly pay the extra $1 a month for touch tone service.  I was disappointed in the way my touch tone phone worked on the party line.  Because of this, I think that rotary phones are best for party lines.  The touch tone phones should be reserved for private lines.  Whether or not a WE 2500 would've worked better, we will never know.

As G-man  has already stated -- and in fact, he guessed right that you had an Asian import -- there is no reason for believing that a rotary phone is best for party lines. Rather, it was the inferior quality of the phone you were using, and not whether it was rotary or Touch-Tone. In fact, Touch-Tone was about the only option available on Southern Bell party lines. Because it was possible for the Central Office to determine which of two parties was using the line to call out (Tip Party ID), they could program (in a 2BESS Central Office in any case) the line so that one party had Touch-Tone (meaning they could use either Rotary or Touch-Tone)  and the other Dial Pulse only (that party couldn't dial out with a Touch-Tone phone), if the second party wasn't paying for the Touch-Tone option.

"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

andre_janew

Porkercon may have better luck than I did using a touch tone phone on a party line if what you say is true.  His experience could be better than mine.  At the time, I probably didn't know how to get a WE 2500 phone other than perhaps through the phone company.  The rotary I was using came from a relative who heard about my problem.  It was given to me free.