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Telephone Dialing Systems Exchange codes

lynn winterton said:
i started work at the telephone exchange in newhall street in 1969 (a mere child of 15!) and there were still a few of those around, there were still quite a few old phoneboxes the the ones where you had to press a&b
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I also worked at the telephone exchange in Newhall st. I started there in 1967 age 17 .My maiden name was Hellon, I was there till around 1971 when I transferred to the new sheldon telephone exchange. I loved the old plug boards in Newhall st , the ones at Sheldon were just switches . I too remember the old Press A press B telephone boxes.
I also worked on general switchboard, Directory Enquiry and Fault enquiries and 999 calls. Loved it!!
 
I remember when my brother first went to Australia it was £12 for three minutes to call him ................in the 'good old days' of nationalised BT.
 
In the 1950s I made a long distance ‘trunk call’ from a phone box to a shop in Glasgow. Dialled ‘0’ for operator, gave her the number, she told me how much it would cost, and counted the money as I fed lots of pennies in. Got through to the shop, they could not find who I wanted to speak to. The 3 minutes were up, end of call, so I sent a letter.
 
Thats the benefit of modern technology. I telephone friends from Spain to UK. All free. Business calls cost next to nothing e.g banks, tax man. All using the Internet.
 
Morturn, yes, each party had a button to press, this identified the caller to the exchange equipment. A common fault was 'line reversal' during maintenence work, so if you called one party you rang the other !
 
Morturn said:
Was there a button on the phone if you had a party line?
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No button on ours Morturn. When you picked up the phone and you heard the other party talking you should put the phone down and try again later. Try not to be nosy and listen in :D

PS
Just seen Cookie's post. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't remember a button?
 
Frothy, if you did not have a button how would the exchange equipment know which party was calling ? - for billing purposes ! Eric
 
I recall some phones did have a button on the top, but at the time did not understand the principal of the party line.

I believe that its the improved technology, not de-regulation that has bought the cost of calls down. Most certainly to make an international call need the intervention of several operators to make the connection. Labour costs are a significant proportion of overheads, with the development of technology has help to reduce.
 
Eric Gibson said:
I remember when my brother first went to Australia it was £12 for three minutes to call him ................in the 'good old days' of nationalised BT.
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And now you can watch the Ashes Test Match in Adelaide on BT Sport. Test cricket under floodlights, whatever next!
 
cookie273uk said:
Frothy, if you did not have a button how would the exchange equipment know which party was calling ? - for billing purposes ! Eric
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Yes Eric you must right. It was Mom & Dad's phone, I just remember every time I picked the phone up there was always people talking on it.
 
I fitted many party lines during my time at Witton GPO, next to Aston Villa ground. It works by using an earth connection to complete a circuit. Any faults on these were fixed by pouring a bucket of water on the earth rod.
 
lynn winterton said:
i started work at the telephone exchange in newhall street in 1969 (a mere child of 15!) and there were still a few of those around, there were still quite a few old phoneboxes the the ones where you had to press a&b
Click to expand...

Hi Lyn I started at Telephone House in 1967 age 17 I was there till around 1971/72 when I transferred to Sheldon exchange. I remember the old press A or B button phone boxes too.
Wendy
 
I was informed by 'artful dodgers' that I came across that it was wise to check any telephone box (when the button A and B type was used) for uncollected button B returns or money left on the shelf. I got the impression that a 25% success rate was possible in some areas. :eek:
 
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