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Posted by on January 21, 2008, 7:40 am
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On Jan 19, 7:21=A0pm, Fred Goldstein
> 1+ was thus an artifact of the way step worked,
> and it wasn't necessary on a crossbar.
I don't think SxS _absolutely_ required 1+, I think there were other
methods as well, such as seeing if the second digit was 0 or 1 and
routing the call. I'd have to check the Bell System history to be
sure. In 1970 there still were a number of dial offices that did not
offer DDD.
Some SxS offices got a "poor man's common control" front-end in the
1960s amd 1970s where the phone number was stored, translated, then
fed out to the steppers. This allowed more efficient use of the
steppers and trunking. It also allowed for DDD, Touch Tone, etc. The
Bell Labs Record had various articles in the 1970s of various add-ons
(some simple) to SxS offices to add to their lifespan and operating
efficiency.
> The no-step areas tended to be no-toll-alerting areas.
Some panel/crossbar areas had it, such as 1+7D within the NPA for toll
calls.
> Unfair? Consider that most of these metro areas also had
> multiple-message-unit tariffs. Those were technically "local" calls,
> but cost more than many toll calls.
Message units were an easy way to automate a high volume of short toll
calls that in other places would simply be toll. Phone bills in metro
areas would be long and complex if every message unit call was
itemized. It also allowed charges less than a nickel. If you look at
rates at communities without message units, you'll find calls for
similar distances had similar charges, only they were billed in money
amounts.
As an aside, while a descendant of the message unit system is still
used in the Phila metro area, the units have been reduced, some calls
that were timed are now free.
| ![Re: [Telecom] 1+10D, was 11X and N11 Codes](/images/header.jpg)
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