Do you remember when there was only one telephone company?

There was only BELL 🔔 who monopolized the phone world. My best friend had a party line where you share a phone line.
 

Jules said:
For a long time we had a 7 digit number but only had to dial the last five. There was a lot of consternation when we had to dial all 7. This was in the 1990s.
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Our first phone had 2 letters at the beginning and then 4 numbers. And the letters were sounded off like a name; like if it was MA1234, we'd say Mavis-1234. But our operators knew us by our names.

When I first lived with my grandparents on their dairy, I was 5, and my gramma had me practice making an emergency phone call. Gramma would call the operator first, and it went like this....

Gramma: Linda, this is Alice. Mickey's going to practice an emergency call. (everyone called me Mickey)
Operator Linda: Ok, Alice; go ahead and have him dial me now. (or in so-many minutes)
And then I would dial OPERATOR, the very last finger-hole on the dial, and Linda would answer.
Linda: Operator. How may I connect you?
Me: Good morning, Operator (cuz it won't always be Linda), this is Mickey Murr at [I'd recite our address]. I'm 5 years old, and we have an emergency. My grampa, Mr. Walter A. Murr, has been badly injured. (or "the A-barn is on fire," or whatever)
Linda: Please hold, Mickey, while I connect you.

Then Linda would pretend to tell the police or fire or ambulance dispatcher our address and the specific emergency, and then she pretended to be the dispatcher so I could practice talking to them; give our phone number and answer questions she figured they'd ask.

All the operators let me do that. I still remember all their names; Linda, Doris, Dorothy, and Bev.

Usually I practiced in the morning while I waited for the school bus, and sometimes just before bedtime. The whole thing only took about 10 or 12 minutes, but it was really nice of them to take the time. And they always praised me a lot when I did everything calmly and clearly.

Maybe that's why I'm so calm in emergency situations.
 

Sassycakes said:
I do not remember how many phone companies there were but I remember my phone number when I was a kid, which was a VERY long time ago.
It as Fulton~9-7264
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Ours was Stanley 8-0509, and my best friend was Townhall 3-8986. It's odd that I remember those numbers.

My mother's sister, my aunt, was a telephone operator in LA. We lived in Chicago, and sometimes when her supervisor wasn't around, she would call us from her operator's station and ask us if we wanted to call someone long distance on Ma Bell's dime. Frequently, we would have her connect to some friends who lived in Montana, so our call would be routed from Chicago through Los Angeles to Montana.
 
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I am glad someone brought up the subject of phones. Here's the question that was never asked or answered because I was too embarrassed. Afraid of looking ignorant! I was in Detroit (1957) and tried to call the German consul but didn't know how to call a telephone number preceded by a name, like Glenn Miller's Pennsylvania 6-5000! I am now ready to be embarrassed for asking you! Finally an answer, I hope, after all those years!
 
Old Salt said:
I am glad someone brought up the subject of phones. Here's the question that was never asked or answered because I was too embarrassed. Afraid of looking ignorant! I was in Detroit (1957) and tried to call the German consul but didn't know how to call a telephone number preceded by a name, like Glenn Miller's Pennsylvania 6-5000! I am now ready to be embarrassed for asking you! Finally an answer, I hope, after all those years!
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736-5000

You looked for the location of the first two letters on the dial. I just got off my chair and looked on my rotary phone.
 
Pecos said:
They missed a good bet, but their retirement is just plain shabby. You did much better.
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Thank you MDB...I sure did. I had many jobs after I would have gotten that one, including at General Electric and Western Union as a teletype operator. But ultimately wound up being a government employee with great benefits. My son and I were talking about how JB Hunt is a really good company to work for but their health insurance plan is lacking. I reminded him there was the reason I told him a couple of decades ago to "get a gub-ment" job. I think he wishes he did now.
 
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My Great Aunt worked for Ma Bell in the Kansas City area, God rest her soul.

I lived in a small town, when you picked up the phone an operator would ask you "Number Please" you would tell them the 3 -digit number and they would connect you to the person you were calling. My home phone number was 392...those were the days. We had a small black and white TV that got 3 channels....
 
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