business blunder of the past

[darkbeaver]

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY!

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us" -- Western Union internal memo, 1876.

http://whatreallyhappened.com/#ixzz3xzkFxdcr
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[petros]

And yet Western Union still exists.

 

[DaSleeper]

Anyone here remember when you had to turn a crank to get a hold of an operator to place a neighbor down the street?

 

[petros]

Dial zero or a genny?

 

[Ludlow]

Anyone here remember when you had to turn a crank to get a hold of an operator to place a neighbor down the street?

What are ya 90?

 

[lone wolf]

Anyone here remember when you had to turn a crank to get a hold of an operator to place a neighbor down the street?

If you just turned the crank, all fourteen phones on the party line rang. If you wanted the operator (who, invariably, was the town gossip and listened in on every call on her switchboard) you had to press the button to get an outside line and crank.... 90 R 14 (my old number) one long four short. We had Hooterville phones until 1973....

 

[DaSleeper]

Dial zero or a genny?

No dial... just lift the ear piece, if someone else is on the party line call out "Using?" and when they hang up, turn the crank "one long" to get a hold of the operator if the party you wanted to get a hold off was on a different line.
If they were on the same line as you and you knew their ring eg: one long and two short you could do it yourself with the crank...
The old biddies in them days used to listen on conversations......

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

What is this phone you are referring to? Anything like a cellphone?

 

[DaSleeper]

What is this phone you are referring to? Anything like a cellphone?

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

That would be difficult to fit in your pocket.

 

[lone wolf]

The batteries, alone, were too big for a pocket....

 

[petros]

No dial... just lift the ear piece, if someone else is on the party line call out "Using?" and when they hang up, turn the crank "one long" to get a hold of the operator if the party you wanted to get a hold off was on a different line.
If they were on the same line as you and you knew their ring eg: one long and two short you could do it yourself with the crank...
The old biddies in them days used to listen on conversations......

Party lines I do remember well. Crank, no.

 

[DaSleeper]

Party lines I do remember well. Crank, no.

I'm talking northern Ontario rural areas in the forties....by the time I was about twelve they were gone and the rotary dial was in, but we had party lines into the '60s

 

[Walter]

And yet Western Union still exists.

One of my faves.

 

[lone wolf]

I'm talking northern Ontario rural areas in the forties....by the time I was about twelve they were gone and the rotary dial was in, but we had party lines into the '60s

I remember dragging wire home for fencing because it was fairly soft, really strong and lasted forever when Kinmount was switching to Bell in the early 70's.

Best laugh (and there were many) was a Toronto cousin who inspected our phone, complimented the wood construction - then asked where you put the dime in.

Bittersweet moment came in 1969 (when we bought the farm but didn't have a phone yet) A neighbour came over to get Dad for an important call. The call came.... My grandfather had died. A few minutes later, the phone rang again. It was the operator offering condolences.

 

[petros]

I'm talking northern Ontario rural areas in the forties....by the time I was about twelve they were gone and the rotary dial was in, but we had party lines into the '60s

We had party lines up until the early 80s then everything went fibre.

Update...

Early 1990's
SaskTel was the first telecommunications company in Canada to complete its rural individual line service program, eliminating party lines throughout Saskatchewan.

Until the 90s? Wow!!! If we were first to end it, who was last?

As for fibre...

1984
SaskTel was the first in the world to complete what was then the longest commercial fiber optic network.

 

[Walter]

I remember dragging wire home for fencing because it was fairly soft, really strong and lasted forever when Kinmount was switching to Bell in the early 70's.

Kinmount, where people fish and fuk and in the winter they can't fish. Gotta love Kinmount.

 

[JLM]

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY!

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us" -- Western Union internal memo, 1876.

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Fewer shortcomings than these f**king gadgets today that you see people nattering on all over the place!

 

[lone wolf]

Kinmount, where people fish and fuk and in the winter they can't fish. Gotta love Kinmount.

Burnt River wasn't called that 'cuz the water was warm....;-)

 

[JLM]

We had party lines up until the early 80s then everything went fibre.

Update...
Until the 90s? Wow!!! If we were first to end it, who was last?

As for fibre...

Yep and you knew if the call was for you by the number of rings on your phone. So if Joe Blow got a call at 3 A.M. everyone knew about it.