TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Bell System Service Standard 'Green Books'- What is Used Now?

Re: Bell System Service Standard 'Green Books'- What is Used Now?

AES (siegman@stanford.edu)
Thu, 15 Dec 2005 08:04:45 -0800

In article <telecom24.563.7@telecom-digest.org>, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
wrote:

> I understand until the end of the old Bell System, AT&T published
> service standard indexes in something called the "Green Book". This
> was a collection of indexes that quantified service and performance
> quality in a variety of ways (billing accuracy, dial tone time, etc.)

A few years ago I was having repeated and extended power failures every
December at a residence in the heart of the mid-Peninsula -- on the
Stanford University campus in fact. Every winter, the first time it
rained, our sub-neighborhood would lose electrical power for up to four
days. Complaints to PG&E went nowhere. Requests for PG&E's published
standards on service reliability got nothing but runarounds.

Since I knew some Bell System and Bell Labs old-timers, I asked them
about reliability and service standards in the Bell System:

Q: Were there published standards for service reliability?

A: You bet! For example, "No residential customer should be without
dial tone due to any reason within the control of the Bell System for
more than 17 minutes per year". (That's my best memory of the quote.)
Similarly: Any calls to Repair Service or Information to be answered
within three (?) rings.

Q: Were these quantities really measured, and did the results have any
impact on performance evaluations of telco executives?

A: You bet! Performance against the standards was regularly
monitored, and promotion of executives in local telcos depended
heavily on whether these published performance goals were met.

That's my memory at this point, anyway. Sounds like these green books
in action. Can anyone document the "no more than 17 minutes/year
without dial tone" item?

I'll look forward to any replies in this thread

Post Followup Article Use your browser's quoting feature to quote article into reply
Go to Next message: Scott Dorsey: "Re: Wikipedia Becomes Internet Force, But Faces Crisis"
Go to Previous message: Steven Lichter: "Re: Bell System Service Standard 'Green Books'- What is Used Now?"
May be in reply to: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com: "Bell System Service Standard 'Green Books'- What is Used Now?"
TELECOM Digest: Home Page