---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <d4af4b6f-8046-4afb-8176-b7907529da9c@googlegroups.com> Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2016 13:41:53 -0700 (PDT) From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Today's telephone operator workforce? In the distant past, when there was a telephone worker strike, there would be some adverse impact on placing certain telephone calls since the operators who handled those calls were out on strike. However, in the recent Verizon strike, nothing was said about the loss of operator services. Would anyone know how many operators are employed today by Verizon, AT&T, and others? In 1976, the Bell System employed 150,000 operators*. They projected the force would reach 200,000 by the year 2000, something that obviously hasn't happened. Toll service has been extensively automated, in addition, toll service has become so cheap that special calls, such as coin, collect, 3rd number, T&C, and person-to-person are obsolete. Certain local services are no longer supported. One feature I think should still be provided--and without an onerous charge--is emergency call interrupt. That is, if someone has an emergency and needs to break into an ongoing conservation, an operator could do so. Most carriers have eliminated this service in recent years, despite charging a high fee. *"Engineering & Operations in the Bell System" by Bell Labs. ------------------------------ Message-ID: <72ced8b0-1f4e-407f-b19d-db8229e59bcb@googlegroups.com> Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2016 13:01:41 -0700 (PDT) From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: History -- telegram -- tape printers vs. page printers When teleprinters came along and replaced Morse circa 1920, the telegraph companies had a choice between tape printers and page printers. A tape printer printed the message on a strip of continuous tape; while a page printer was more like a modern Teletype, printing on a sheet of paper. The companies chose the tape printer and continued with that until the 1960s. That meant the tape had to pasted onto the telegram blank, a manual step, but there were other advantages. The WUTR of January 1956 explains why: . larger typeface (tape was eight characters per inch vs. ten char/inch for a page printer). . ease of correction--errors could simply be pasted over. . no need for a carriage return, null, and line feed. This improved throughput by 8%. . tape printers had a lower purchase and maintenance cost. . tape printers worked better. . page printers required the operator to count up lines for long telegrams. The early machines had no page eject. . The elimination of the carriage return and line feed allowed other characters to be used in their place. When improved machines came along, such as popular workhorse Teletype Model 28, Western Union converted to page printing. However, the character set was slightly different and a conversion effort was required. ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Mon, 06 Jun 2016