Remember 411?

[TripleLindy]

Just read an article about the final days of Directory Assistance. Man, I used that service all the time and often paid the extra fee to have the service dial the number for me, mostly when on a pay phone and didn’t have anything to write the number down with. (Pay phones are another relic of the past.)

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/07/business/telephone-operators-411-att-ctpr/index.html

 

[pacergal]

My first job after age 16 was as a telephone operator! It was crazy, I still hear those buzzes in my sleep.

 

[Car-Guy]

Just read an article about the final days of Directory Assistance. Man, I used that service all the time and often paid the extra fee to have the service dial the number for me, mostly when on a pay phone and didn’t have anything to write the number down with. (Pay phones are another relic of the past.)

Like me, I have a fully functional pay phone in my man cave.

Looks like the one below.

 

[MC Rider]

I almost completely forgot about 411. Did not know it still existed.

 

[2HOTinPHX]

This was a good read with some history of the phone companies and those who found "work arounds" in their systems.

Before smartphones and iPads, before the Internet or the personal computer, a misfit group of technophiles, blind teenagers, hippies, and outlaws figured out how to hack the world's largest machine: the telephone system.

http://explodingthephone.com/
View attachment 44687

 

[aja8888]

Like me, I have a fully functional pay phone in my man cave.

Looks like the one below.

You see that phone cable? In 1979, I was the Plant Manager of the facility that made those and provided millions of them to phone companies. Difficult to make if it's OEM (spiral wound stainless, with a locking ridge to keep it from being unraveled with a hard pull.) Plus, a special lock on each end to keep it in the box and handset.

I think we lost money on every one we made.

 

[Koolau]

You see that phone cable? In 1979, I was the Plant Manager of the facility that made those and provided millions of them to phone companies. Difficult to make if it's OEM (spiral wound stainless, with a locking ridge to keep it from being unraveled with a hard pull.) Plus, a special lock on each end to keep it in the box and handset.

I think we lost money on every one we made.

I just hope the phone company recycled all that stainless when they ripped out all the pay phones! I wonder if any independent phone companies have placed pay phones at cell-dead spots on major highways.

 

[aja8888]

I just hope the phone company recycled all that stainless when they ripped out all the pay phones! I wonder if any independent phone companies have placed pay phones at cell-dead spots on major highways.

We loved to sell replacement cables at twice the price of the originals!

 

[Koolau]

We loved to sell replacement cables at twice the price of the originals!

I hear military toilet seats are a better profit center but YMMV.

 

[aja8888]

I hear military toilet seats are a better profit center but YMMV.

We worked for business only. No manufacturing/sales to gov.

 

[Silver]

My first job after age 16 was as a telephone operator! It was crazy, I still hear those buzzes in my sleep.

Me too!! I worked for the Bell Telephone Co. in Chicago for about four years. Started in directory assistance, then trained for intercept as well. Then worked as a business office rep for a couple of years. For me it was a good job at a good company in the early 70's.

 

[Koolau]

We worked for business only. No manufacturing/sales to gov.

Smart! Very smart. Megacorp did lots of bidness with the gummint and so basically, the gummint dictated what Megacrop could do and what prices it could charge as well as who Megacrorp could hire/fire/promote. Sometimes dealing with the devil is the only game in town, but he extracts a major price for such bidness.

 

[Turbo29]

Some of these sounds should bring back memories:

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Remember the Time Lady

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

I almost completely forgot about 411. Did not know it still existed.

And here I am still dialing 555-1212!

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

My first job after age 16 was as a telephone operator! It was crazy, I still hear those buzzes in my sleep.

My first real job was as a telephone operator too! I was mainly a 411 operator but sometimes they put me on the switchboard for long distance calls. The people living in the foothills couldn’t make long distance calls without the operator.

 

[JoeWras]

The last time I talked to an operator or 411 was about 35 years ago.

Think about all the popular songs out there that are now 100% obsolete. The following songs don't just mention the operator, they star in the song. I'm still convinced the Pink Floyd song is an illegal recording of an actual operator. Pretty sure the Midnight Star song is an actor, but she's fun.

Kids just won't get the oldies.

- Jim Croce: "Operator" (smooth singer-songwriter, classic)
- Midnight Star: "Operator" (catchy mid 80s funk)
- Pink Floyd: "Young Lust" (rock "This is a collect call for Mrs. Floyd... he hung up")
- Dr. Hook: "Sylvia's Mother" (cheese pop)
- Chuck Berry/Johnny Rivers: "Memphis" (classic pop, twist ending)
- Gladys Knight/Pips: "Operator" (classic soul, a very young Gladys)

I'm not much of a country and western fan. Considering every song seems to mention drinking, trains, and jail, you'd think operators would be prominent. I'm sure you all can fill in the blanks.

 

[athena53]

Before smartphones and iPads, before the Internet or the personal computer, a misfit group of technophiles, blind teenagers, hippies, and outlaws figured out how to hack the world's largest machine: the telephone system.

Ah, I knew one of those techies in college! He was an Engineering major who had recorded the tones made by various coins as you deposited them so when prompted for two more quarters, for example, he'd just play the appropriate tone. I never tried it.

Smartphones have changed everything, mostly for the better. Good riddance to a minimum $1 charge for an "out of area" call (sometimes within the same county), third-party pay phones that charged even more than Ma Bell, crazy-high rates from hotel phones, and even crazier international rates.

 

[JoeWras]

Ah, I knew one of those techies in college! He was an Engineering major who had recorded the tones made by various coins as you deposited them so when prompted for two more quarters, for example, he'd just play the appropriate tone. I never tried it.

Phone Phreaking.

This is the dawn of hacking as it melded into messing with the internet.

You can track down those phishing scam calls you get to these originals. If hackers have books of scripture, they are the ancients.

 

[2HOTinPHX]

Ah, I knew one of those techies in college! He was an Engineering major who had recorded the tones made by various coins as you deposited them so when prompted for two more quarters, for example, he'd just play the appropriate tone. I never tried it.



Smartphones have changed everything, mostly for the better. Good riddance to a minimum $1 charge for an "out of area" call (sometimes within the same county), third-party pay phones that charged even more than Ma Bell, crazy-high rates from hotel phones, and even crazier international rates.

You would probably enjoy reading the book I mentioned above called Exploding the Phone. It was a great read..two thumbs up from me.

From Amazon:
Before smartphones, back even before the Internet and personal computer, a misfit group of technophiles, blind teenagers, hippies, and outlaws figured out how to hack the world’s largest machine: the telephone system. Starting with Alexander Graham Bell’s revolutionary “harmonic telegraph,” by the middle of the twentieth century the phone system had grown into something extraordinary, a web of cutting-edge switching machines and human operators that linked together millions of people like never before. But the network had a billion-dollar flaw, and once people discovered it, things would never be the same.

Exploding the Phone tells this story in full for the first time. It traces the birth of long-distance communication and the telephone, the rise of AT&T’s monopoly, the creation of the sophisticated machines that made it all work, and the discovery of Ma Bell’s Achilles’ heel. Phil Lapsley expertly weaves together the clandestine underground of “phone phreaks” who turned the network into their electronic playground, the mobsters who exploited its flaws to avoid the feds, the explosion of telephone hacking in the counterculture, and the war between the phreaks, the phone company, and the FBI.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

The last time I talked to an operator or 411 was about 35 years ago.

Think about all the popular songs out there that are now 100% obsolete. The following songs don't just mention the operator, they star in the song. I'm still convinced the Pink Floyd song is an illegal recording of an actual operator. Pretty sure the Midnight Star song is an actor, but she's fun.

Kids just won't get the oldies.

- Jim Croce: "Operator" (smooth singer-songwriter, classic)
- Midnight Star: "Operator" (catchy mid 80s funk)
- Pink Floyd: "Young Lust" (rock "This is a collect call for Mrs. Floyd... he hung up")
- Dr. Hook: "Sylvia's Mother" (cheese pop)
- Chuck Berry/Johnny Rivers: "Memphis" (classic pop, twist ending)
- Gladys Knight/Pips: "Operator" (classic soul, a very young Gladys)

I'm not much of a country and western fan. Considering every song seems to mention drinking, trains, and jail, you'd think operators would be prominent. I'm sure you all can fill in the blanks.

I can’t believe you forgot the Grateful Dead: Operator

Operator, can you help me
Help me if you please
Give me the right area code
And the number that I need…

White Stripes: Hello Operator

Hello operator
Can you give me number nine?
Can I see you later?
Will you give me back my dime?

 

[JoeWras]

I can’t believe you forgot the Grateful Dead: Operator

Operator, can you help me
Help me if you please
Give me the right area code
And the number that I need…

White Stripes: Hello Operator

Hello operator
Can you give me number nine?
Can I see you later?
Will you give me back my dime?

Good choices. You won't like this, but I turn off The Dead every time I hear them. LOL. Not a fan. I listened to this song just now and it isn't bad.

White Stripes, only heard that once a while ago. Good fit for "Modern Rock" category. It was anachronistic when Jack wrote it and even more so today.

 

[aja8888]

When was the last time anyone has seen a pay phone? And don't forget to use your phone card and input the 16 digit pin number!

It was rumored that in England, about 50% of the pay phones were broken iin the 1980's and not operable at any given time.

 

[aja8888]

In 1976 when we built our home on very rural 3 acres in Southbury, Connecticut, phone service was supplied (via overhead lines strung on poles) by The Woodbury Phone Company. This was a small independent that AT&T had to not acquire for competitive reasons.

I called Woodbury phone and asked why our handsets didn't have lighted dials.

The lady said, "you wanted lighted dials? Why didn't you tell us before we put the poles up and strung the wires? We could have ran a power line for the dial light too!"

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Smartphones have changed everything, mostly for the better. Good riddance to a minimum $1 charge for an "out of area" call (sometimes within the same county), third-party pay phones that charged even more than Ma Bell, crazy-high rates from hotel phones, and even crazier international rates.

I used to pay $1.50 a minute to call the UK, now international calling is free using my plan minutes.