Replies

Your post reminds me of an email list I used to be a part of called "Telecom Digest". It has been around since 1981, one of the longest running email lists on the planet. Sadly, I didn't join the list until 1985 or so. Occasionally someone would post something to the list to provide historical context to things. I remember reading a really long email about exactly what it took to place a phone call in 1940. It was fascinating. One of the reasons it was so expensive to make phone calls back in the day, was because it was very resource intenseive. They didn't have electronic switches to route calls hither and yon.

Obviously, this pre-dates 'touch-tone' dialing, also called 'true-tone' by AT&T using DTMF, or even 'rotary' dialing.

The process would begin like this, you'd pick up your phone reciever, and hit the cradle a few times. This would cause a light on the central switchboard blink, which would get the operator's attention. You'd tell the operator that you wanted to place a long distance call to, say PEnnsylvania 6-5000. You'd hang up and wait for the call to be completed. The operator would then begin the process of building, by way of patch boards a physical cable that connected the caller to the called party. He/she would ring the next operator down the line and they would build that cable. Once completed, the operator would ring you back, and you'd pick up the phone and start talking.

Hard to believe, these days given how easy it is to make a phone call to just about anywhere on the planet.