|
Posted by on September 11, 2006, 10:24 am
If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Plus which, on (at least the older) AE
> rotary dial phones, the dial would return 'faster' when you removed
> your finger. WE dials pulsed and clicked their way back. PAT]
The dial speed is about 10 pulses per second. (A good modem manual
will tell you exactly the "contact make/break" times and the settings
for outside the U.S. as well).
Anyway, I believe panel switching and certainly crossbar and ESS could
and would accept 20 pulses per second. Way back in HS a kid figured
out on his phone dial an adjustment to make it 20 p/s and it worked
(on either #1 xbar or panel). PBX switchboards had 20 p/s dials.
However, I think they realized this higher speed was rough on
equipment and did not provide it to the general public for that
reason. I don't know if SxS could handle it but SxS components had
wear issues and certain improvements was rough on SxS unless it was
carefully spread out among switches within an office.
During the early ESS trials at Morris IL subscribers were given high
speed dials (and also tone ringers). I wonder how subscribers felt
after the trial was over and they went back to their old system -- and
had to wait 25 years until such features were available again.
Several years ago the Wall Street Journal reported that a good number
of phone customers still had rotary service. I suspect that
percentage has dropped; I wonder how many people still have only
rotary phones in their home today.
As discussed, some pay phones were intentionally converted back to
rotary to avoid drug trafficking, but with cell phones that's not an
issue anymore.
| 
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML site map