The End of an Era - After Almost a Century

[David Conwill]

I was still five months and a week in the future when the consent decree was entered - tell me again why breaking up Ma Bell was a good thing?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Almost a century? Heck, a 1905 vintage Automatic Electric dial telephone wired to its original specifications will still work on a modern networks, as will a Western Electric "Common Battery" set of 1894 (though lacking of course a dial).

Remember that the nearly all-encompassing Bell System announced the inevitable phase-out of local battery service (crank or magneto telephones) at the time of the Kingsbury Commitment in 1913. In some very rural areas this standard lingered until almost the end of the 1970's.

I suspect that ti will take quite a while for the entire rural network to change over, unless of course that unprofitable network is simply abandoned...

The independent magento system in Bryant Pond, Maine endured until 1982. I think it might be due for a comeback if these modern tech-heads have their way: a town that small isn't going to mean beans if the deregulators prevail.

When the last big ice storm hit here, in 2008, I had a lot of visits from neighbors whose "landline-free lifestyle" had suddenly lost a great deal of its marketing-induced luster: they know I have a good old Bell System legacy line, and were desperate to use it. I've installed a WE 553 "hotel phone" on my front porch for their convenience next time this happens.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I was still five months and a week in the future when the consent decree was entered - tell me again why breaking up Ma Bell was a good thing?

You'll have to ask Ma Bell. She broke herself up voluntarily as part of her long-term business plan. And it's not as if the breakup suddenly sent the whole telephone market into chaos. Only half the country had a Bell network to begin with. Those of us who didn't simply chugged along with our existing providers, same as we did before the breakup.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

It wasn't.

I was still five months and a week in the future when the consent decree was entered - tell me again why breaking up Ma Bell was a good thing?

That's mighty kind of you.

I've installed a WE 553 "hotel phone" on my front porch for their convenience next time this happens.

I never remember ours going down in the past 23 years.

The existing POTS lines go down too.

What about those of us who want our current set-up? TS to us?

I think you misunderstand the proposal. They're not talking about simply ignoring folks who currently have POTS, they're talking about upgrading those folks to modern lines. A large endeavor to be sure, but I think they're aware of that. They're not going to leave people without a working telephone line.

 

[HudsonHawk]

What about those of us who want our current set-up? TS to us?

Again, if there is a market for what you want, it will be created. If not, then unfortunately, you may be left out...just like those who bemoaned direct dialing, automobile ignition coils, DSL internet, and a host of other modern advancements.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I don't think that's right. Frankly, modern society won't even understand the goods and bads of this 'modern advancement' as you call it. People are too dim-witted and hear buzz words like fiber-optic and get excited over things they don't even understand. Just because a big corporation tells you something is better, doesn't mean it is.

It seems like a ponzi scheme to me to sell, among other things, more telephones, making so many of them obsolete. Forced obsolescence sickens me, and it should sicken the rest of society. It would, if they could put down their iPads for long enough to realize that anything is happening around them.

Again, if there is a market for what you want, it will be created. If not, then unfortunately, you may be left out...just like those who bemoaned direct dialing, automobile ignition coils, DSL internet, and a host of other modern advancements.

 

[David Conwill]

Tell me, telephonistas, is this device for providing line power to a rotary dial phone for the microphone and ringer when no power otherwise exists in the line? I could have used this back when I still had my Automatic Electric.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Tell me, telephonistas, is this device for providing line power to a rotary dial phone for the microphone and ringer when no power otherwise exists in the line? I could have used this back when I still had my Automatic Electric.

Nope, that's for producing the voltage necessary for lighting up the dial on a Princess or early Trimline phone. The idea of an illuminated dial for a bedside phone was trendy in the sixties, when these units were in use.

 

[David Conwill]

Thanks Lizzie. I figured that was too simple.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

I understand that. I'm sure the phone company is aware of that issue too. I'm not suggesting they should just tell everyone to go to hell in the event of an emergency. I'm saying the pre-emptive complaining about the new system, when the system hasn't even been defined, designed or tested yet, rings hollow with me. It's just complaining for the sake of complaining.

I have to state to you that I do not mean what proceeds is meant to belittle you or anything of that nature. But let us all look at what you yourself just said! They don't exactly know what they are going to do, how they will do it, and all the dynamics of the change over. Now, lets look at it within a larger scope of how things like this normally take place. All over the State of Michigan, they did something similar with the Cable companies. The "consumer" paid for the expense. The service did NOT improve, the billing increased for service. And how it is so connected to codes and rules controlled by "government" did not make anything easier for the consumer either.

The promise of "better technology" does not always prove to be an improvement in everything. I can think of one simple item that was made by Edison, that over the years different manufacturers did what is called "improvement" yet is far from it, the original type of light bulb that would fit into the current size light fixture. They seldom burned out. A show was once on here in Michigan that was about an amusement park that had a room that had been sealed off for over 50 years, and when they opened the door to see what was inside, there on the ceiling, all nice and bright was an original light bulb lighting up the room...after all those years.

If this so called change does happen to go through....it will cost "us",the consumer.

 

[vitanola]

Digital TV was an improvement, too. Before the change-over in June of 2009 we had clear reception of three channels, and watchable though somewhat snowy reception of five more. After the change we have no over-the-air reception at all, despite the purchase of a new television and aerial. Remember that the FCC did not require that all existing customers retain service, they only required that the aggregate number of homes with watchable over-the-air signals decline by no more than 10%. Then there is IBOC...

 

[HudsonHawk]

Digital TV was an improvement, too.

Yes, yes it was. HUGE improvement. Like just about every scientific advancement.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yes, yes it was. HUGE improvement. Like just about every scientific advancement.

If you're the celluar industry, which blackjacked the lapdog FCC into selling them big chunks of the vacated UHF-TV spectrum. Meanwhile, as in Vitanola's case, over-the-air television is no longer available where I live. I suppose you could view that as an improvement too, since modern television is swill, but taking free access away from the people in exchange for cushy deals for corporate interests pretty much flies in the face of ninety years of broadcasting precedent. As I said before, James L. Fly is spasming in his grave.

 

[vitanola]

Yes, yes it was. HUGE improvement. Like just about every scientific advancement.

But it was not an improvement for us. Period. Now we have no over-the-air television at all. If we wanted television we have a choice between a satellite TV plan which costs upwards of $57.00 a month or cable television, which starts at $62.00 for a basic package. I can stream over Netflix, and do, but that is only available to those of us who live in town. Were our house a thousand feet further east we would not have this option.

It was a huge improvement in the sense that it forces folks to pay for that which they once received for no charge.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

If this isn't sarcasm, you're the first person that has actually LIKED this change. I hate it.

Yes, yes it was. HUGE improvement. Like just about every scientific advancement.

 

[HudsonHawk]

If this isn't sarcasm, you're the first person that has actually LIKED this change. I hate it.

The only people I've ever heard of who don't love it are posting in this thread.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

We used to get both Madison and Milwaukee stations and now hardly get anything. Some of the new digital channels, are nice, yes, when you can get them to come in. If the weather man says it's gonna rain, the darn thing loses signal.

The only people I've ever heard of who don't love it are posting in this thread.

 

[vitanola]

The only people I've ever heard of who don't love it are posting in this thread.

You apparently do not live in a rural county seat in a deep fringe area. Our location is such that, in analog days, we could receive Jackson and Lansing MI well, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Angola with snow, and when the atmosphere was just right we could also receive Toledo, Fort Wayne, Battle Creek and Grand Rapids. We lost all reliable over-the-air television service with the change-over, so what is there to like?

Note that the three people who are criticizing the change-over have each lost all reliable television service. Miss Maine's apt observation aside, I hardly see this as an improvement, and cannot believe that you would not but agree, if only you could see yourself in our position.

 

[HudsonHawk]

You apparently do not live in a rural county seat in a deep fringe area. Our location is such that, in analog days, we could receive Jackson and Lansing MI well, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Angola with snow, and when the atmosphere was just right we could also receive Toledo, Fort Wayne, Battle Creek and Grand Rapids. We lost all reliable over-the-air television service with the change-over, so what is there to like?

Note that the three people who are criticizing the change-over have each lost all reliable television service. Miss Maine's apt observation aside, I hardly see this as an improvement, and cannot believe that you would not but agree, if only you could see yourself in our position.

I understand your position, though it goes back to our differing philosophy on technology in general. I haven't relied on OTA television in 30 years. In my mind, if TV is worth having at all, it's worth having the best technology available, be that cable or satellite. I see no point to OTA TV. I wouldn't have it. I'd simply do without were that my only option. So it's not that I don't understand your position, it's that I disagree with your starting point in the first place.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Well it is a step up from having 'rabbit ears'..!!
HD