Do you remember when there was only one telephone company?

Here it was the GPO...general Post Office.. who eventually because BT... (British Telecom)... and they are still our most Major telephone line supplier.. but now of course they supply services for TV.. and mobile phones as well ..but Ironically, albeit probably still the Biggest ( and original) company, they're not the best
 
I remember having a "party line" with Bell Telephone. I'd pick up the wall phone and hope there were no other families using the line at the time.....otherwise I'd have to wait until they were finished talking. And I had a curly 20' extention cord which allowed me to walk 20' away from the phone.
 
down2earth said:
I remember having a "party line" with Bell Telephone. I'd pick up the wall phone and hope there were no other families using the line at the time.....otherwise I'd have to wait until they were finished talking. And I had a curly 20' extention cord which allowed me to walk 20' away from the phone.
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We had a party line right up until I was 18 years old... We were always fascinated when we watched American shows to see them have a phone hanging on the kitchen wall .. with a huge long cord attached.... so you could walk away and sit down while chatting. We never had that..:D
 
One of the greatest building moves in history occurred in 1930 when the 8-story brick and stone Indiana Bell building in Indianapolis was moved back over 50 feet and rotated 90 degrees while never losing service or dropping any calls. It took about a month to do it, 24 hours a day while everyone still worked in the building, as it was moved only inches at a time.

Now THAT's phone service!
 
Don M. said:
We too, had a "party line", back in the early 1950's. It wasn't unusual to have to wait a bit for the service to be available. Finally, towards the end of that decade, phone service became private.
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I remember the party lines. We had one, with an elderly lady who liked to listen in on phone calls. You could hear her breathing. My dad would say, "Mrs. ___________, you can hang up now." and she'd say, "I AM NOT LISTENING TO YOUR CALL!"
 
jujube said:
One of the greatest building moves in history occurred in 1930 when the 8-story brick and stone Indiana Bell building in Indianapolis was moved back over 50 feet and rotated 90 degrees while never losing service or dropping any calls. It took about a month to do it, 24 hours a day while everyone still worked in the building, as it was moved only inches at a time.

Now THAT's phone service!
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Here's a (2-minute 17-second) video about that:


Ingenious!
 
For a time we had service from a very small phone company, St. Joseph Telephone and Telegraph. We were told Ma Bell allowed a few of these to exist to show they were not a monopoly. The phone book was just a few pages, but it sure was easier to get a service person on the line...

Employees of the St. Joseph Telephone and Telegraph Company - Port Saint Joe, Florida.​

n046825.jpg

https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/154735
 
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.
 
All I remember is that our phone was operated by Illinois Bell. It never occurred to me that it was the only phone company, or that eventually there would be others. My grandfather was a foreman at Western Electric, just a mile down Cermak Road from our house. What does that have to do with Ma Bell? A lot. They made the phones.

Western Electric
The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A subsidiary of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment manufacturer, supplier, and purchasing agent for the Bell System from 1881 until 1984, when the system was dismantled. The company was responsible for many technological innovations, as well as developments in industrial management.Wikipedia
 
I have worked for the phone company for 52 years. In fact I still work for them as a consultant. I'm 75 by the way.
I remember party lines, princess phones (remember?). Dial phones, push button phones. Power went out and the phone still worked. Remember that?
Like everything else....things change. Now it's fiber optics, digital.
Now if the power goes out you better have a cell phone. :)
Can't call....send an email, text message, etc.

As a side note

I remember the party lines. It was the forerunner to Facebook:)

rbtvgo
 
rbtvgo said:
I remember the party lines. It was the forerunner to Facebook:)
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One of my elementary friends lived a block away, and we were on the same party line. I would call the operator and tell her I wanted to call him. For some reason I had to hang up while she dialed my friend. You never knew when someone on the other line would pick up, but after 30 seconds or so I would pick up the phone, and someone at my friend's house would be waiting. When my phone rang and no one was there, I knew my friend would be there in a few seconds.

There were two other parties on the line too, but I didn't know who they were. My ex came from rural Maine. This in the 1970s, and her phone would ring all the time, but everyone in the area had a different ring, so they knew when not to answer the phone. I suspect everyone in town knew everything that was going on in any given house.
 
party line, first part of the number, VI-king, we called her Ma Bell...Oh yes, a long ring, a short ring, two rings and ours was a ring and a short ring.
 


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