Speeding Speech - (1950s)

[SockBoy65]

As a former employee of Ma Bell - I salute this film

[johnwilson25]

Another day under the oppressive cloud of the phone company

[rsp196607]

The narrator uses the terms "operator" and "girl" interchangeably.

Poor Mr. Miller doesn't even have time to light up.

[GelandnaleG]

6:06pm Tuesday (CST) - Time in Mississippi

[TheZepmeister]

Imagine if kids were suddenly made to call like this now! That's crazy.

[elgavilan2000]

And now all this functionality fits inside that little blue linksys box next to your computer.

[Epc100]

What year was this film made please?

[DoubleDutchBust]

2:24am Tuesday (IST) - Time in India

you rang

[basserase]

Wow. That was fast. Now it goes all the way to India and back.

[gnutelliums]

So this is the present day Area Code, Exchange Code, and Telephone Number system.

[dmine45]

@gnutelliums Yes. Area codes as we know them were invented in 1947. But there were operator routing codes used before then for the #4 crossbar switches and Crossbar Tandem switches that handled long haul and short haul long distance calls. Operator toll dialing was one step away from customer toll dialing, which started in 1951.

[thecooldude9999]

@dmine45 crossbar is from the late 50's to early 70's

[Rymac91]

It's incredible, now I can call a cell phone outside of the united states with my cell phone and it dials and connects within a few seconds.

[kd1s]

That looks like #1 Crossbar (Xbar) switching. And this presages DDD (Direct Distance Dialing) which really kicked off in earnest in the mid 1950's.

#1 Xbar is a 1930's technology. So this had to be more like late 30's to the 40's.

Now the #4 Xbar was a toll switcher and could do routing, record information, etc. All eletro-mechanical. Now we're all digital.

[dajwilkinson]

Fascinating video. Interesting to see hints of artificial intelligence research from half a century ago - and new preassembled equipment "cards" being installed by crane through a window!

[will3020]

we've come a long way to cell phones

[ONEyeMarco]

Incredible

[hakemon]

This is like an early router!

You want to go to a certain IP, and the routers in the path find the shortest and quickest way.

[skitch88]

i miss having a name exchange for my telephone number: Dearborn, Lakeview, Sunset...

[zappatx]

I bet you anything that factory WE - is the old Omaha one.

[TelephoneTechTalkcom]

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[analyzingfunny]

Owned!!! By Phone Phreaks!

[MightySaturn5]

What a great video...it really showcases how ingenious these people were.

I know everything became completely digital with the ESS switches but it wasn't too long ago that you'd walk into a C.O. and hear the constant clicking being produced by wall to wall equipment.

[k7prz]

Looking for more videos like this. Also would love to have an SF Set (2600) for kicks to show the old time phone phreeks. (Worked in Toll in Portland for about 20 years)

[Lyricalwize1]

i bet u didnt know that the operator's number is now 00*

[midaran]

that was interesting, im a furnace operator at the old western electric rod and wire plant in chicago, they made the switchboards in this complex. it was hawthorne works.

[theillusionist666]

can you buy a blue box?

[enigma800]

From the #4XBT to the 4ESS and 5ESS Tandems. We've come a long way.

[dmine45]

Now switching is packet based via soft switches. We really have come a long way!

[NipkowDisk]

Great video- thank you for uploading this!

When I used to live in Seattle some years back the EMerson CO had an old No. 1 Crossbar and you could hear the MF tones being sent- it was WAY cool.

Up until quite recently my answering machine greeting told the calling party via MF which number they dialed (complete with KP and ST)- as if they'd really decipher it...! Maybe I'll restore that message.

Thanks again, this was wonderful to see.

[varminblast]

The tones are DTMF tones. Dual Tone Multi-Frequency.

[user181]

No, actually they are just MF (multi freq.) signaling tones.

[aicellopack]

I diffucult to believe able to smoking in waiting time for old telephon excange system.

[rachelrose86]

Awesome vid

[jtel]

Thanks for posting this.