In 1940 this Bell System film played at 1000s of movie theaters. It was designed to educate millions about new technologies: Direct dial Dial tone Ring back tone Busy signal Prior, everything was operator assisted. The first time there was a mass scale technology education. https://twitter.com/BrianRoemmele/status/1195117852270841856 …pic.twitter.com/Pet6TOpGoI
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Replying to @BrianRoemmele @derekschatz
automatic direct dial telephone switching, no operator, started in 1891, 50 years earlier.
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Replying to @Satcom_Guru @derekschatz
Peter, of course. It was limited to a very few. It was not widely deployed. By the epoch if this film there was a federal mandate to update the entire network. This prompted the film.
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Replying to @BrianRoemmele @derekschatz
local exchanges were widely deployed. the ability to dial between exchanges, instead of by an operator, was mostly enabled by the crossbar switch, starting about 1938, and fully functioning by 1950. That entailed an expanded numbering plan. https://ethw.org/Electromechanical_Telephone-Switching …
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Replying to @Satcom_Guru @derekschatz
Peter, I hear ya. I wonder why the Bell System felt the need to spend millions of dollars in the early 40s to buy the slots before movies in cinemas to show this educational film if so many folks already had this technology.
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Replying to @BrianRoemmele @derekschatz
I wonder too. I am guessing it was the movement to the expanded numbering plan, and surely by 1950 it was serviceable. Operators existed in facilities well into the 1970s connecting those inside and to those outside. I ran a small hotel local “plug” switch in 1969.
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Replying to @Satcom_Guru @derekschatz
Peter, this is awesome. You know my grandma was living in Newark, NJ in the mud 1940s and did not get dial until 1948. Interesting it took so long in a bigger city.
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Replying to @BrianRoemmele @derekschatz
many people got their first phone line starting after WW2. The transitions are using an operator to switch all calls, dialing in a local exchange, and dialing long distance. I think this video is all about drumming up business, showing its ease. Just a commercial.pic.twitter.com/TikmglqnXm
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Replying to @Satcom_Guru @derekschatz
Peter, I hear ya. Part of this was also mandated by the PUC to inform and instruct. The cost for direct dial was actually lower to the consumer and the company. The candlestick phone cost ~5x over direct dial. However the upgrade cost to the switch required a new rate case.
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Replying to @BrianRoemmele @derekschatz
personal confession. Almon Brown Strowger’s story fascinates me. I even have a small strowger switch for fun. I appreciate the video you shared and a chance to dwell on history.pic.twitter.com/hWjivlG0u7
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Peter, this is so cool! Thank you. It was amazing times. It is so easy for today to forget about what tester built to get us to this moment.
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