Brookings-Harbor pilot., May 13, 1954, Page 3, Image 3

NATIONAL CUSTOMER DIALING PLANS
REVEALED BY WEST COAST TELEPHONE
T he W est C oast T elephone
Com pany, in com m on w ith some
530 o th e r telep h o n e com panies in
th e U nited S ta te s and C anada, is
in course of a m a jo r conversion of
its equipm ent, its o p eratio n al
m ethods and its com m ercial sys­
tem . T his conversion w as com ­
menced som e y e a rs ago. Its u lti­
m a te com pletion will be one of
the g re a te s t triu m p h s of h u m an
achievem ent in com m unication.
T he objective w hich will n o t be
fully achieved fo r m any y ea rs to
come, is know n to telep h o n e m en
as "N atio n al C u sto m er Toll D ial­
ing.”
In sta lla tio n of th e system calls
for th e closest so rt of coordina­
tion betw een th e Bell S ystem
com panies an d th e thousands of
Independent telep h o n e com panies;
it will cost a s ta g g e rin g sum ; it
involves e x tra o rd in a rily in tric a te
and com plex a p p a ra tu s ; it will
g re a tly affect th e com m unications
habits of everyone in this cou n ty ;
yet very little is known about it
by th e g eneral public.
"B riefly s ta te d ,” said G eorge
M cBride. D istric t M an ag er for
tn e W est C oast Telephone C om ­
pany, "w hen th e N atio n al Toll
D ialing conversion is com pleted
any telephone u ser in th e U nited
S ta te s will be able to dial direct
to any o th e r telephone in th e
co u n try , w ith o u t th e service of an
o p erato r. His call will be a u to ­
m atically tim ed and checked and
recorded. T he relev an t in fo rm a ­
tion will be m echanically tr a n ­
scribed on th e bill th a t w ill be
m ailed to him.
"About th e only h u m an fu n c ­
tions left in th e e n tire process
will be those of technical s u p e r­
vision and m a in ten an c e of the
com plex a p p a ra to s th a t will tr a n s ­
late his dialed im pulses into com ­
pleted connections and properly
p re p are d bills.”
This is no m iracle-d ream of th e
fa r d istan t fu tu re . M echanized
billing alre ad y is in use w ith m any
o p e ra tin g com panies. A test cu s­
tom er toll dialing in sta lla tio n w as
p u t into service in Englew ood,
New Jersey , in 1951. In th e la tte r
p a rt of 1953. B irm ingham . M ich­
igan and a P ittsb u rg h , P e n n sy l­
vania c e n tra l office w ere also put
on cu sto m er toll dialing Most
sub scrib ers in th e se exchanges
have been able to dial d irec t to
13 m illion telephones located in
11 m a jo r m etro p o litan a re a s —
B altim ore, Boston, Chicago, C leve­
land, M ilw aukee. N ew ark, N ew
H aven. New York O akland. P h il­
adelphia, P ittsb u rg h , S acram en to ,
San F ran cisco and W ashington,
D C.
M eanwhile, m an y m ore e x ­
changes are a lre a d y o p e ra tin g on
w h at will be, in m ost cases, an
in terim or p re lim in ary phase be­
fore full c u sto m er toll dialin g goes
in to effect. T h a t is " O p era tin g
Toll D ialing” in w hich o p e ra to rs
a re req u ired to com plete th e call
in itia te d by th e cu sto m er. T hey
control th e connection to com ple­
tion, p re p a re th e toll tick ets,
re n d er assistan ce in giving in fo r­
m ation. handle th e rou tin g , in te r ­
ception, and o th e r au x ilia ry se rv ­
ices.
A m ong the first e ffe lts of this
trem endous plan th a t have a l­
ready affected th e public is th e
ch ange in telephone num b erin g
system s. F o r exam ple, a few
m onths ago every telephone n u m ­
ber w as a lte re d in th e little e x ­
ch an g e of O ak H arbor, W ash in g ­
ton. O ak H a rb o r n u m b e r 1231
suddenly becam e n u m b er O rch ard
5-1234. This added com plexity
w as not required fo r th e o p e ra ­
tion of few er th a n 1,000 telephones
in O ak H arbor, but it w as a n ec­
essa ry step in th e business of p re ­
p a rin g th e telephone system of
th e U nited S ta te s for universal
c u sto m e r toll dialing. S im ilarly,
every telephone n u m b e r in th e
c o u n try will be changed to a
n u m b er th a t w ill be an in teg ra l
p a rt of th e n atio n al system . T he
U nited S ta te s is divided into 85
n um bering plan areas. W ash in g ­
ton S ta te , for exam ple, is in area
No. 206; O regon is in a re a No.
503.
"L et us assu m e,” said Mr. M c­
B ride, " th a t som etim e in the fu ­
tu re w hen the plan is in effect
here, a m an in N ew York w ishes
to call o u r telep h o n e office in
Coos Bay, Oregon. T he Coos Bay
n u m b er is C ongress 7-1371. The
N ew Y orker dials th e O regon a re a
num ber, followed by the local te l­
ephone n u m b er; th a t is, he dials
503-Co 7-3171. T h e 503 ta k e s his
call o v er any one of m any a l t e r ­
n ativ e ro u tes to a co n tro l sw itc h ­
ing point in O regon sav P o rtlan d .
W hen he dials CO his call is rout
ed to th e Coos B ay C ongress ex ­
change. Then th e 7-3171 selects
th e p roper sw itches in th e Coos
B ay equipm ent and calls th e te le ­
phone desired. S im ilarly som eone
in E v e re tt m ay w ish to call a c e r ­
ta in m ovie studio in Los A n g e l’s
w hose n u m b er is A shley 4-3311.
Los A ngeles is in n u m b erin g plan
a re a 213. So o u r E v e re tt c a lle r
will dial 213-AS 4-3311. As a re ­
sult. th e bell at th a t telephone
will rin g as soon as he has dialed
those n u m b ers.”
E v ery exchange nam e in th e
co u n try , such as B ayview and
T uxedo in E v erett o r C ongress in
Coos Bay, is allo tte d , as a p a rt of
th e N a tio n al C u sto m e r Toll D ial­
ing plan, to th e exchange whose
^SAVE $ $ $ $
I
ON IN S U R A N C E
I
For Autos and Trucks
equipm ent will respond to th e
dialin g of th a t p a rtic u la r code
w hen it becom es a w o rk in g u n it
in th e com pletely a u to m a tic d ia l­
ing fu tu re , Mr. M cB ride explained.
S u ch an exchange p refix is a s ­
signed only once in any p a rtic u la r
code area.
T he calls will be m u te d across
th e c o u n try by selective devices
of e x tra o rd in a ry com plexity th a t
will choose th e best av a ila b le t e l ­
ephone paths. F o r exam ple, w hen
a su b scrib e r in E v e re tt d ials a
n u m b er in New York, his call will
norm ally ta k e th e m ost d irec t
route. If, how ever, a ll of th e
n o rth e rn channels are busy, o r out
of o rd e r due to sto rm conditions
o r d isa ste r of som e sort, th en his
call m ight be ro u ted a thou san d
m iles fa rth e r south, by any one cf
n u m ero u s a lte rn a tiv e routes. The
selectiv e a p p a ra tu s will a u to ­
m atic a lly select th e best av ailao le
ro u te to the d estin atio n w h ere-
e v e r th a t m ay be. T his process of
selection ta k e s place in stan ten e-
ously while th e su b scrib e r is
a c tu a lly dialing.
"T h ere is one thing th a t a u to ­
m atic C u sto m er Toll D ialing will
not do,” continued Mr. M cBride.
"It cannot select a p a rtic u la r jrer-
son a t th e o th e r end. If a person-
to-person call is w anted, an o p era
to r will be n ecessary to com plete
th e call and reco rd it m anu ally .
T h a t is why every telephone com ­
pany is urging its c u sto m ers to
‘call by n u m b er.’ Today it is fast el­
and less expensive to call by n u m ­
ber. A few years hence, wh n n a ­
tio n al toll dialing is in effect
everyw hci'e, it will be very m uch
m o re so. Long d istan ce u sers will
find th a t it will pay them h a n d ­
som e dividends in tim e and money
to know and record the num b ers
they wish to call and to call by
n u m b er alw ays.
"T his trem en d o u s p 1 a n of
m ech a n izatio n ,” concluded
Mr.
M cBride, will not re su lt in less
h u m an em ploym ent. S tra n g e as
it m ay seem , th e rev erse is tru e.
T he S o u th e rn New E ngland T e l­
ephone C om pany recen tly com ­
pleted th e conversion of all its
exch an g es in C onnecticut to dial
a u to m a tic
operatio n .
Yet the
S o u th e rn New E ngland Company-
em ploys 3,700 o p erato rs today-, as
com pared w ith 2,100 th at w ere
em ployed prio r to th e conversion
of its first ex ch an g e to dial o p e ra ­
tion in 1922. It is evident th a t
EVERY
DAY . . . a t
Brookings-Harbor Pilot
T H U R S D A Y , M A Y 13, 1954
technological ad v an ces in m ech a n ­
ization do not d estro y em p lo y ­
m ent. They do c re a te an in c re a s e
in living s ta n d a rd s and a g r e a t
g ro w th in the use of th e m ech a n ­
ized service; th is in tu rn c re a te »
labor re q u ire m e n ts th a t m ore th a n
offset th e a c tu a l d isp lacem en t o f
labor by th e m echanized devices.
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