Count on Color! 1955 machines

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

In 1955, color was added to many products. Business
machines were no exception.

Here we see an ad by Burroughs for its ten key adding
machines in various colors:
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1955-03-19/page/n7/mode/2up

Not to be outdone, here we see Remington Rand advertise their
ten keys in color
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1956-06-02/page/n89/mode/2up


At that time Bell Telephone began to offer color telephone sets.
https://books.google.com/books?id=VVIEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA9&dq=life%20bell%20telephone%20color&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=90oEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA5&dq=life%20bell%20telephone%20color&pg=PA5#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Quadibloc]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
At that time Bell Telephone began to offer color telephone sets.
https://books.google.com/books?id=VVIEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA9&dq=life%20bell%20telephone%20color&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q&f=false

That first LIFE magazine ad can also be found here:
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1954-12-04/page/n143/mode/2up

John Savard

[Quadibloc]

Post by Quadibloc

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
At that time Bell Telephone began to offer color telephone sets.
https://books.google.com/books?id=VVIEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA9&dq=life%20bell%20telephone%20color&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1954-12-04/page/n143/mode/2up

However, as you can see from these pages:

http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/ae/ae1a.html

http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/ae/ae34.html

Bell's competitor, Automatic Electric, had telephones in different colors long before Bell condescended to offer them tot he public.

John Savard

[Quadibloc]

And here's another one:

http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/ae/ae40.html

They started offering their telphones in color in 1929... ages before Bell in 1954.

John Savard

[Quadibloc]

Post by Quadibloc
http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/ae/ae40.html
They started offering their telphones in color in 1929... ages before Bell in 1954.

I was unfair to Bell. The Model 302 phone was offered in different colors in 1949:

http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/we/we302.html

John Savard

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Quadibloc
http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/ae/ae40.html
They started offering their telphones in color in 1929... ages before Bell in 1954.

http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/we/we302.html

After WW II, AT&T/Bell System was faced with a huge backlog
in demand for telephone service. They focused on meeting
that. Then there was the Korean War and Cold War.

They were also busy converting manual offices to dial and
manual long distance to Direct Distance Dialing.

By the mid 1950s they caught up with demand and were able
to often beyond bare bones basic services. So they
began to advertise extension phones, color sets, and
other services. Also pushed long distance for social reasons.

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Quadibloc

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
At that time Bell Telephone began to offer color telephone sets.
https://books.google.com/books?id=VVIEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA9&dq=life%20bell%20telephone%20color&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1954-12-04/page/n143/mode/2up

http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/ae/ae1a.html
http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/ae/ae34.html
Bell's competitor, Automatic Electric, had telephones in different colors long before Bell condescended to offer them tot he public.

Has anyone here lived or worked in a town served by an
Independent (non-Bell/AT&T) telephone company?

Anyone ever work at a computer center that used an
Independent telephone company or Western Union for its data lines?

https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1960-10-15/page/n102/mode/1up

https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1960-05-28/page/n17/mode/1up

Before Divestiture, Independents served about 20% of the
nation's telephone lines, though about 50% of the land
area. It was mostly small town or rural areas.

The biggest company was General Telephone, later GTE.
Second was United Telecom. Then many small outfits,
some serving only one or two exchanges.

Most independents bought their equipment from the
Automatic Electric Co of Chicago. GTE later
bought them but originally they were separate.
Other makers included Kellogg Switchboard & Supply,
Leich Electric, North Electric of Galion, Ohio,
and Stromberg Carlson of Rochester NY.

For data services, most companies utilized AT&T.
However, Western Union office private line data networks,
too, sometimes at a cheaper price than AT&T. The
independents offered data service too
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1962-10-13/page/n40/mode/1up

[John Levine]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Has anyone here lived or worked in a town served by an
Independent (non-Bell/AT&T) telephone company?

Of course. That's why everyone in town has access to reasonably priced
gigabit fiber Internet.

[lawrence]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Has anyone here lived or worked in a town served by an
Independent (non-Bell/AT&T) telephone company?

From when I was 11 until I left home, (and for 20 years after I left
home) we lived in territory covered by an independent (Citizens Utilities
when I lived there, sold their holdings to ... Frontier, I think)

Not only that, while we were only 10 miles from Redding (Bell
Territory), there were a handful of <i>other</i> independents within a
short drive. Tuolumne, with holdings near Shingletown (half an hour to
the East), Happy Valley Telephone with holdings in Happy Valley (half an
hour to the West), Fort Jones Telephone up in Fort Jones / Etna (where
an acquaintance was CFO) plus a few others that I'm forgetting.

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Most independents bought their equipment from the
Automatic Electric Co of Chicago. GTE later
bought them but originally they were separate.
Other makers included Kellogg Switchboard & Supply,
Leich Electric, North Electric of Galion, Ohio,
and Stromberg Carlson of Rochester NY.

We were served by a Stromberg-Carlson XY Office. I went to work for
Citizens, briefly, and they had a good mix including AE, (sh)ITT and
WeCo switches. (Including a shiny new 1AESS for their territory in
suburban Sacramento)

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
For data services, most companies utilized AT&T.
However, Western Union office private line data networks,
too, sometimes at a cheaper price than AT&T. The
independents offered data service too

Two of the local independents in my area made up a non-trivial amount of
revenue offering IMTS service (early to late 80s) at a price
*substantially* less than Bell offered. The acquaintance who worked in
finance at FJT said that the actual cash revenue was 'nice', but what
*really* paid off for them was the inbound traffic from the nearby Bell
territory that balanced out the settlement accounts.

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by lawrence
We were served by a Stromberg-Carlson XY Office. I went to work for
Citizens, briefly, and they had a good mix including AE, (sh)ITT and
WeCo switches. (Including a shiny new 1AESS for their territory in
suburban Sacramento)

The following writeup from Stromberg Carlson describes their
central office systems, including the XY system.

XY was similar to step-by-step but operated in a single plane
rather than up and down. From what I heard, it was a pretty good system.

Courtesy of Telephone Collectors Intl, a hobbyist group.

https://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/browse/document-repository/document-archive/60-sc-catalog-1955-stromberg-carlson-central-office-equipment-section-b/file

[JimP]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Quadibloc

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
At that time Bell Telephone began to offer color telephone sets.
https://books.google.com/books?id=VVIEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA9&dq=life%20bell%20telephone%20color&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1954-12-04/page/n143/mode/2up

http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/ae/ae1a.html
http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/ae/ae34.html
Bell's competitor, Automatic Electric, had telephones in different colors long before Bell condescended to offer them tot he public.

Has anyone here lived or worked in a town served by an
Independent (non-Bell/AT&T) telephone company?
Anyone ever work at a computer center that used an
Independent telephone company or Western Union for its data lines?

Some of the smaller towns in the county I grew up in had their own
telephone systems. Most had it in someone's house. You could call home
from Scout camp, but it cost 25 cents extra plus the cost of the call
for 3 minutes. Then you paid by the minute. Collect only. My parents
told me to never do that again unless it was an emergency. It cost 75
cents. When I got back home, they took it out of my allowance.

[J. Clarke]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Quadibloc

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
At that time Bell Telephone began to offer color telephone sets.
https://books.google.com/books?id=VVIEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA9&dq=life%20bell%20telephone%20color&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1954-12-04/page/n143/mode/2up

http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/ae/ae1a.html
http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/ae/ae34.html
Bell's competitor, Automatic Electric, had telephones in different colors long before Bell condescended to offer them tot he public.

Has anyone here lived or worked in a town served by an
Independent (non-Bell/AT&T) telephone company?

Yes. When I moved here most of CT was served by Southern New England
Telephone, which did not become a Bell until 1998.

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Anyone ever work at a computer center that used an
Independent telephone company or Western Union for its data lines?

Such as it was I worked in one that used somebody who wasn't AT&T. Now
I forget who. I do remember though that we had a video conference
system that used a T1, and any time we made a call on it we had to
call Atlanta to get them to patch the connection. One of the boss's
sure fire money wasters--the major use was by the boss's
brother-in-law, who had a girlfriend in Texas who worked for a law
firm with a compatible system. We were provided several free hours a
month by the manufacturer of the conference system for the purpose of
marketing the service. Those hours mostly got used by those two
talking dirty to each other. I remember poking my head in the
conference room and deciding that I was never gonna do that again.

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1960-10-15/page/n102/mode/1up
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1960-05-28/page/n17/mode/1up
Before Divestiture, Independents served about 20% of the
nation's telephone lines, though about 50% of the land
area. It was mostly small town or rural areas.
The biggest company was General Telephone, later GTE.
Second was United Telecom. Then many small outfits,
some serving only one or two exchanges.
Most independents bought their equipment from the
Automatic Electric Co of Chicago. GTE later
bought them but originally they were separate.
Other makers included Kellogg Switchboard & Supply,
Leich Electric, North Electric of Galion, Ohio,
and Stromberg Carlson of Rochester NY.
For data services, most companies utilized AT&T.
However, Western Union office private line data networks,
too, sometimes at a cheaper price than AT&T. The
independents offered data service too
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1962-10-13/page/n40/mode/1up

[Peter Flass]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Quadibloc

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
At that time Bell Telephone began to offer color telephone sets.
https://books.google.com/books?id=VVIEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA9&dq=life%20bell%20telephone%20color&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1954-12-04/page/n143/mode/2up

http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/ae/ae1a.html
http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/ae/ae34.html
Bell's competitor, Automatic Electric, had telephones in different
colors long before Bell condescended to offer them tot he public.

Has anyone here lived or worked in a town served by an
Independent (non-Bell/AT&T) telephone company?

Never had Bell until I moved into my last house. Rochester Tel for many
years, than GT&E. Now no landline, and no AT&T wireless.

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Anyone ever work at a computer center that used an
Independent telephone company or Western Union for its data lines?
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1960-10-15/page/n102/mode/1up
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1960-05-28/page/n17/mode/1up
Before Divestiture, Independents served about 20% of the
nation's telephone lines, though about 50% of the land
area. It was mostly small town or rural areas.
The biggest company was General Telephone, later GTE.
Second was United Telecom. Then many small outfits,
some serving only one or two exchanges.
Most independents bought their equipment from the
Automatic Electric Co of Chicago. GTE later
bought them but originally they were separate.
Other makers included Kellogg Switchboard & Supply,
Leich Electric, North Electric of Galion, Ohio,
and Stromberg Carlson of Rochester NY.
For data services, most companies utilized AT&T.
However, Western Union office private line data networks,
too, sometimes at a cheaper price than AT&T. The
independents offered data service too
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1962-10-13/page/n40/mode/1up

[Dennis Boone]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Has anyone here lived or worked in a town served by an
Independent (non-Bell/AT&T) telephone company?

Nebraska's Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph was a fairly large regional
independent, dominating the state pretty effectively, until it was eaten
by Alltel in '98.

On a tour of one of the downtown COs in the early '70s, I recall seeing
one last manual switchboard which they said was about to be phased out,
but most of their service was on electronic equipment at that point.

De

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Dennis Boone

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Has anyone here lived or worked in a town served by an
Independent (non-Bell/AT&T) telephone company?

Nebraska's Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph was a fairly large regional
independent, dominating the state pretty effectively, until it was eaten
by Alltel in '98.

TCI has a 1955 history of the company. Interesting read.

https://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/browse/document-repository/catalogs-manuals/other-manufacturers/11969-the-history-of-lincoln-telephone-and-telegraph-1955-ocr-op-r

[Quadibloc]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Has anyone here lived or worked in a town served by an
Independent (non-Bell/AT&T) telephone company?

I live in Canada, so I'm not sure if it counts.

Alberta is currently served by Telus, which is the new name for Alberta Government Telephones. Saskatchewan has SaskTel. But Ontario and Quebec
are part of the Bell System.

I live in Edmonton, Alberta. Edmonton was the first Canadian city to have dial telephones - using Automatic Electric equipment. When I first came to
Edmonton, though, Edmonton Telephones (also independent of Bell, and run by the municipal government - it later sold out to the province after an ill-
fated attempt to get a better deal on long-distance service) used Northern Electric equipment, the same as Bell.

So while both AGT and Edmonton Telephones were not owned by Bell, they did just buy all their stuff from Bell.

John Savard

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

Post by Quadibloc

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Has anyone here lived or worked in a town served by an
Independent (non-Bell/AT&T) telephone company?

I live in Canada, so I'm not sure if it counts.
Alberta is currently served by Telus, which is the new name for Alberta
Government Telephones. Saskatchewan has SaskTel. But Ontario and Quebec
are part of the Bell System.

It wasn't a small company, but GTE served the South Carolina coast for
many years along with HTC (Horry Telephone Collective) which is still
extant. Verizon eventually got got the GTE areas, and then Frontier
took them.

And of course everyone knows the phone company that (sorta) served
Hooterville!

[Andreas Kohlbach]

Post by Quadibloc
Alberta is currently served by Telus, which is the new name for
Alberta Government Telephones. Saskatchewan has SaskTel. But Ontario
and Quebec
are part of the Bell System.

While in ON and QC is also Videotron and Rogers I believe.

[Alfred Falk]

On Friday, September 18, 2020 at 12:52:50 PM UTC-6,

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Has anyone here lived or worked in a town served by an
Independent (non-Bell/AT&T) telephone company?

I live in Canada, so I'm not sure if it counts.
Alberta is currently served by Telus, which is the new name for Alberta
Government Telephones. Saskatchewan has SaskTel. But Ontario and Quebec
are part of the Bell System.
I live in Edmonton, Alberta. Edmonton was the first Canadian city to
have dial telephones - using Automatic Electric equipment. When I first
came to Edmonton, though, Edmonton Telephones (also independent of
Bell, and run by the municipal government - it later sold out to the
province after an ill- fated attempt to get a better deal on
long-distance service) used Northern Electric equipment, the same as
Bell.
So while both AGT and Edmonton Telephones were not owned by Bell, they
did just buy all their stuff from Bell.
John Savard

Most Canadians outside of Ontario and Quebec were served by provincial
(often government-owned) or regional companies. Most used Northern Electric
gear, I believe. NE just mostly made WE equipment with the NE badge. I
think the only independent design was the "Contempra" introduced in the late
60's.
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/remembering-an-iconic-
ottawa-creation-50-years-later

However, even within Bell territory in Ontario there were still small local
companies. When I started grad studies in Astronomy at U of Western Ontario
in 1970 I was told that the observatory just outside London was served by a
local telco and when it was opened a few years earlier it had a crank phone.
(It had an NE 500 when I was there.)

[Quadibloc]

Post by Alfred Falk
Most Canadians outside of Ontario and Quebec were served by provincial
(often government-owned) or regional companies. Most used Northern Electric
gear, I believe.

Yes, you're quite right. However, I was looking at a 1953 Edmonton telephone
directory online, and it noted the availability of Monophone telephone
sets, so apparently the changeover away from Automatic Electric equipment
only took place shortly before I came to Edmonton at a tender age.

The telephone numbers in that directory were five and six digits long, instead of being
of the form three digit exchange followed by four digit number.

John Savard

[Quadibloc]

Post by Quadibloc
The telephone numbers in that directory were five and six digits long, instead of being
of the form three digit exchange followed by four digit number.

I was able to find out that the Bell telephone number format, referred to as "2-5 telephone
numbers", since they were made from two letters and five digits, was adopted in Edmonton
starting from March 15, 1959.

The telephone directory showing those new numbers for the first time advised subscribers
with telephones that didn't have the letters on the dials that they could have them replaced
free of charge.

John Savard

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Friday, September 18, 2020 at 12:52:50 PM UTC-6,

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Has anyone here lived or worked in a town served by an
Independent (non-Bell/AT&T) telephone company?

I live in Canada, so I'm not sure if it counts.
Alberta is currently served by Telus, which is the new name for
Alberta Government Telephones. Saskatchewan has SaskTel. But Ontario
and Quebec are part of the Bell System.

Telus merged with B.C. Tel, so B.C. is also served by Telus.
For what it's worth, I've seen a Telus office in Toronto.

I live in Edmonton, Alberta. Edmonton was the first Canadian city
to have dial telephones - using Automatic Electric equipment.
When I first came to Edmonton, though, Edmonton Telephones
(also independent of Bell, and run by the municipal government -
it later sold out to the province after an ill-fated attempt to
get a better deal on long-distance service) used Northern Electric
equipment, the same as Bell.
So while both AGT and Edmonton Telephones were not owned by Bell,
they did just buy all their stuff from Bell.

The delicious irony was that AGT's head office was in Edmonton,
and thus had to be served by EdTel, even though they hated
each other's guts.

[maus]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Has anyone here lived or worked in a town served by an
Independent (non-Bell/AT&T) telephone company?

An English example, Kingston-upon-Hull

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Anyone ever work at a computer center that used an
Independent telephone company or Western Union for its data lines?
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1960-10-15/page/n102/mode/1up
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1960-05-28/page/n17/mode/1up
Before Divestiture, Independents served about 20% of the
nation's telephone lines, though about 50% of the land
area. It was mostly small town or rural areas.
The biggest company was General Telephone, later GTE.
Second was United Telecom. Then many small outfits,
some serving only one or two exchanges.
Most independents bought their equipment from the
Automatic Electric Co of Chicago. GTE later
bought them but originally they were separate.
Other makers included Kellogg Switchboard & Supply,
Leich Electric, North Electric of Galion, Ohio,
and Stromberg Carlson of Rochester NY.
For data services, most companies utilized AT&T.
However, Western Union office private line data networks,
too, sometimes at a cheaper price than AT&T. The
independents offered data service too
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1962-10-13/page/n40/mode/1up