Voip and ENUM 1

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Voip and ENUM 1 Plain Old Telephone System From Comfort to Numbering RIPE 46 VoIP and ENUM 1. September 2003 Richard STASTNY ÖFEG/TELEKOM AUSTRIA, Postbox 147, 1103-Vienna enum:+43 664 420 4100 E-Mail: [email protected] [email protected] Today's Roadmap on Numbering 1. POTS – from Comfort to Numbering ¾ Why are the numbers in the PSTN in the way they are? ¾ A historical "Tour de Force" 2. ENUM and VoIP – Numbering and Dialing Plans ¾ ENUM Mapping of E.164 Numbers to Internet Names and Addresses ¾ E.164 Numbers for VoIP and Routing on the PSTN ¾ Why Numbering and Dialing Plans for VoIP? ¾ An Overview and a Proposal 3. VoIP and CLI – Trusted Identification ¾ Calling Line Identification on VoIP ¾ A Proposal Richard Stastny 2 More then 100 Years of Telephony ¾ What has changed since 1900? ¾ Not very much, same as railways ... ¾ same speed, but reduced prices and reduced comfort Richard Stastny 3 From POTS to VoIP The technology was already established after 20 years (more then VoIP today) Functions then now Alerting, Ringing D D Off hook – on hook D D Call set up, dialing Voice, Dial Keys, MFC Receiver and transmitter D D Battery central local Richard Stastny 4 C.B. Steam Phone Circuits ¾ A subscriber line with DC power from a Central Battery ¾ A hook-switch ¾ if on-hook ¾ an AC circuit with a bell and a capacitor for Ringing (high resistance) ¾ if off-hook ¾ a DC circuit with a microphone (low resistance for off-hook detection in C.O.) ¾ an induction coil for separation of the transmitter (to block the DC current) Richard Stastny 5 The Switchboard in the Central Office ¾ You picked up the transmitter (off-hook) ¾ a flap signals this at the switchboard in the central office ¾ the operator answers ¾ you tell her: "Give me the Undertaker" ¾ and she establishes the connection - this was very comfortable Richard Stastny 6 Almon Brown Strowger ¾ This system was nearly perfect, but ... ¾ A.B. Strowger was an undertaker in Kansas City ¾ and the operator was the wife of another undertaker ¾ and connected the calls for undertakers to her husband ¾ Strowger did not like this at all ¾ so he invented the automatic telephone exchange Richard Stastny 7 The Strowger Selector ¾ The strowger selector is controlled by the dial pulses directly ¾ A final selector is able to connect to 100 lines with two digits ¾ the first digit is stepping up vertically ¾ the second digit is turning horizontally bell-head counting ¾ and the digit '0' is ten steps! Richard Stastny 8 A complete automatic switch ¾ Three basic types of selectors: ¾ Uniselector to find a free first selector and attach dial tone ¾ eventually 1 or more group selectors (first, second, ...) ¾ the group selector uses up 1 digit and searches for the next free selector ¾ The final selector uses up 2 digits. ¾ So a local switch uses 2 or more digits ¾ and a number was really an address Richard Stastny 9 The Dial ¾ To control the strowger selectors, a device was needed in the phone to generate the necessary pulses ¾ The idea was, that the caller is controlling the phone system manually with a dial (so "automatic" is questionable) ¾ The dial is able to generate digits transmitted as pulses by "breaking" the DC circuit (you may also dial with the hook switch) ¾ The dial is providing a standardized length of "make" and "break" ¾ Dialing is signaling Richard Stastny 10 Dials – Number Rings and Finger Plates Vienna 1928 Richard Stastny 11 Dialing at central office Richard Stastny 12 Selector Richard Stastny 13 A Strowger automatic exchange Richard Stastny 14 Basic Signals Then ¾ Before we continue, we should recapitulate the basic signals in step–by- step systems, transmitted in-band with DC signals, AC signals or audible tones: ¾ Off-hook (DC) ¾ dialtone (tone) ¾ dialing (DC) ¾ call proceeding (clacker, tucker, hackety-hack, … ;-) ¾ trunk busy (tone) ¾ subscriber busy (tone) ¾ number unavailable (tone) ¾ ringtone (tone) ¾ ringing (AC) ¾ Answer ¾ on-hook or release from far end (DC and tone) ¾ These are still the main signals we have now. Richard Stastny 15 Basic Signals Now Network A-sub B-sub Off-hook Dial tone Call Set-up Dialing Ringing Ring tone Signalling traffic Answer Answer Ind. User traffic Release Release Ind Release Release Quelle: Siegmund, Intelligente Netze Richard Stastny 16 A phone network ¾ All phone or subscriber lines where connected to the local office ¾ but people sometimes people also wanted to call long distance ¾ so even in switchboard times a central office was connected via "trunk" lines to other central offices Richard Stastny 17 Trunking ¾ Even if local calls could be made automatically in the first half of the last century, long distance calls still required operators. ¾ The connections between the local offices (the trunks) where still only accessible from switchboard operators. ¾ In many cases the digit '0' of the first selector was used to route the call to a switchboard and the operator established the "trunk" call ('0' was selected because it was used rarely) ¾ Subscriber Trunk Dialing (STD) on large scale was introduced in the 50s ¾ International Subscriber Dialing (ISD) was introduced ¾ in the 60s continental and ¾ in the 70s inter-continental. Richard Stastny 18 Trunk Auto ¾ In the beginning, the caller dialed directly into the trunk network like into the local network ¾ but the problem was that the numbers (trunk codes) to dial for a given destination were different for each origination ¾ To unify all trunk codes in a country, additional equipment was necessary between local network and the trunk network ¾ the access equipment (e.g. 2-to-4 wire conversion, tariff pulses) ¾ the register (storing and out pulsing of digits, tariff selection) ¾ and the translator (digit translation) – a preliminary IN-service ;-) ¾ access equipment was needed throughout the call, registers only during call set-up and translators only during translation Richard Stastny 19 Access to Trunk Auto Richard Stastny 20 Register and Translator ¾ Since at this time registers and translators where electromechanical, they had to be simple ¾ Most translation was done by simply deleting and/or adding digits ¾ How could this be achieved? ¾ By creating a tree structured hierarchy of central offices (switching centers) Richard Stastny 21 Austrian Trunk Network ¾ The Austrian Hierarchy - EA, VBA, NGA, HBA, (AVSt) ¾ The Austrian Trunk Code is normally 4 digits: K1 K2 K3 K4 ¾ The Registers are located at the incoming VBA trunks and are adding '0's to go up the hierarchy and/or deleting digits ¾ Step-by-Step System using an Open Numbering Plan (variable digit length) AVSt - Auslandsvermittlungsstelle Register Richard Stastny 22 The translation by the register (RV) – introduced 1951 – The user always dials '0 K1 K2 K3 K4' – The RV dials: To other local office in own "Verbundgruppe" – 'K3 K4' – To other local office in own "Netzgruppe" – '0 K3 K4' – All other: '0 0 K1 K2 K3 K4' II.NGW I.NGW VbGW I. Group Selector, I.GW Richard Stastny 23 North American Trunk Network ¾ The NANP Hierarchy ¾ Class 1 Regional Center ¾ Class 2 Sectional Center ¾ Class 3 Primary Center ¾ Class 4 Toll Centre ¾ Class 5 End Office ¾ Crossbar system using a Closed Numbering System originally in the format X0/1N XXN NNNN; since 1974 in the format XXN XXN NNNN; where X= 2-9 and N=1 to 0; ¾ In addition to the Numbering and Routing Plan also a Transmission Plan and a Tariff Plan was necessary Richard Stastny 24 Dialling Plans ¾ Dialing Plans have a clear hierarchy ¾ for local calls, the local number (subscriber) is dialed directly ¾ for national (trunk) calls ¾ the national trunk network is accessed with a prefix (e.g. '0'), ¾ then the trunk code is dialed to reach the distant local office ¾ and then the local number in the distant local office is dialed ¾ for international (trunk) calls ¾ the national trunk network is accessed with a prefix (e.g. '0') ¾ then the international trunk network is accessed with another prefix (e.g. '0') ¾ then the country code to reach the national network of the foreign country ¾ then the trunk code to reach the distant local office ¾ and then the local number in the distant local office is dialed ¾ e.g. '0 0 CountryCode TrunkCode SubscriberNumber' ¾ This will be discussed in more detail in Part II Richard Stastny 25 International Subscriber Dialing ¾ ISD was introduced in 1960 ¾ Many concerns where raised: ¾ Who needs it? ¾International traffic in Germany 1960 was 0.6% ¾ My Grandma (= normal subscribers) cannot use it! ¾She will not be able to dial 11 to 14 digits in one rush without making a mistake. ¾ All dials need to be unified (remember slide 11) ¾Who will pay for this? (CCITT Redbook 1960 Unified Dials, no letters – Keypad 1964) ¾ Automatic Tariffing (time and distance proportional) required ¾ In many countries it was considered problematic that a citizen is able to call any other foreign citizen in the world without asking anybody for permission. Richard Stastny 26 History of ITU and E.164 ¾ ITU was founded in 1865 (International Telegraph Union) ¾ CCIR(1927), CCIF(1924) and CCIT(1925) merged 1956 to form CCITT ¾ 1932 ITU changed name to International Telecommunication Union ¾ 1956 CCIF(1924) and CCIT(1925) merged to form CCITT ¾ 1989 Sectors ITU-T, ITU-R and ITU-D ¾ History of county codes ¾ 1960 CCITT Red Book featured a list of 2 digit country codes for Europe (some of them are still in force) ¾ 1964 CCITT Blue Book E.29: basis for existing international numbering plan ¾ 1968 CCITT White Book E.161/Q.11 ¾ 1972 CCITT Green Book E.161/Q.11 ¾ 1976 CCITT Orange Book E.163 ¾ 1980 CCITT Yellow Book E.163 ¾ 1984 CCITT Red Book E.163, E.164 for ISDN ¾ 1988 CCITT Blue Book E.163, E.164 for IDSN ¾ 1992 onwards ITU-T White Book E.164, E.164.1, E.164.3, E.164.3 Richard Stastny 27 Fast Forward: Switching Matrix ¾ The next step where electromechanical register systems (e.g.
Recommended publications
  • EE 122: Networks & Protocols Welcome Our New TA
    EE 122: Networks & Protocols Ion Stoica (and Brighten Godfrey) TAs: Lucian Popa, David Zats and Ganesh Ananthanarayanan http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~ee122/ (Materials with thanks to Vern Paxson, Jennifer Rexford, and colleagues at UC Berkeley) 1 Welcome our New TA Ganesh Ananthanarayanan E-mail: [email protected] Office hours: WF 11-12; location: TBA Discussion section: TBA 2 1 Goals for Today’s Class Type of Networks And the key concept of multiplexing What’s a Protocol ? 3 What Global (non-digital) Communication Network Do You Use Every Day? Roughly speaking, how does it work? 4 2 What’s Another Such Network That You Use Every Day? 5 Taxonomy of Communication Networks Communication networks can be classified based on the way in which the nodes exchange information: Communication Network 6 3 Taxonomy of Communication Networks Communication networks can be classified based on the way in which the nodes exchange information: Communication Network Broadcast Communication Network 7 Broadcast Communication Networks Information transmitted by any node is received by every other node in the network Examples? Usually in LANs ( Local Area Networks) E.g., Ethernet (classical), WiFi E.g., lecture! What problems does this raise? Problem #1: limited range Problem #2: privacy of communication Problem #3: coordinating access to the shared communication medium ( Multiple Access Problem ) 8 4 Taxonomy of Communication Networks Communication networks can be classified based on the way in which the nodes exchange information:
    [Show full text]
  • Searchable PDF Index
    TELEPHONE COLLECTORS INTERNATIONAL Telephone Collectors International is an organization of telephone collectors, hobbyists and historians who are helping to preserve the history of the telecommunications industry through the collection of telephones and telephone related material. Our collections represent all aspects of the industry; from the very first wooden prototypes that started the industry to the technological marvels that made the automatic telephone exchange possible. If any of this interests you, we invite you to join our organization. Look around and see what we have to offer. Thanks for stopping by! Telephone Collectors International website including become a member: http://www.telephonecollectors.org/ Questions or comments about TCI? Send e-mail to [email protected] ********************************************************************************* Books Recommended by the editors: Available now ... Old-Time Telephones! Design, History, and Restoration by Ralph O. Meyer ... 264pp Soft Cover 2nd Edition, Expanded and Revised ... A Schiffer Book with Price Guide for Collectors Available at Phoneco.com or Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 4880 Lower Valley Rd, Atglen, PA 19310 e-mail: [email protected] ********************************************************************************** Coming Soon: TELEPHONE Dials and Pushbuttons Their History, Development and Usage by Stanley Swihart ... 2 volumes, 300 pp ea. Box 2818, Dublin, CA., 94568-0818. Phone 1 (925)-829-2728, e-mail [email protected] *********************************************************************************
    [Show full text]
  • Ode to Charles: Friend, Neighbor
    November 24, 2020 The Our 27th Year of Publishing FREE (979) 849-5407 PLEASE Weekly © 2020 Bulletin mybulletinnewspaper.com TAKE ONE LAKE JACKSON • CLUTE • RICHWOOD • FREEPORT • OYSTER CREEK • JONES CREEK • ANGLETON • DANBURY • ALVIN • WEST COLUMBIA • BRAZORIA • SWEENY Ode to Charles: Is it COVID or friend, neighbor just the crud? By Edward A. Forbes By John Toth The Bulletin The Bulletin Thanks for the memories, Charles I woke up in the middle of the and Linda Miller. night, freezing. The thermostat read They were dear friends. During 78 degrees. Why was I shaking? a difficult time in my life, they were My joints were hurting. I jumped friends to me and my children. I into a nice, warm shower and took couldn’t have loved them more. two Advil. Home duties permitting, I always Did I catch COVID? That’s the stopped at the Millers on my way first thought that ran through my home. mind. Charles sat outside his home, I wear a mask in public, stay away or later, in the screened sun room from crowds, wash my hands, use added to their home. Charles and hand sanitizer and do everything I each had a beer - Miller Lite, of course, and he would smoke a ciga- rette. I had quit smoking in 1991 and Ramblings (Continued on Page 12) else I am supposed to. But I felt like crud, and the pandemic was the first thing I thought of. Leon Hale asked I didn’t have all the COVID symp- toms. But with this pandemic, you never know. Anything is possible.
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief History of the Internet 1848 the Electric Telegraph
    12/15/13 It is anticipated that the whole of the populous parts of the United States will, within two or three years, be covered with net-work like a spider's web. A Brief History of the Internet Hari Balakrishnan <[email protected]> When was this sentence written? 6.02 Fall 2013 Lecture #24 Several pictures taken from Wikipedia 6.02 Fall 2013 – Guest Lecture Lecture 24, Slide #1 6.02 Fall 2013 – Guest Lecture Lecture 24, Slide #2 1848 The Electric Telegraph • Cooke and Wheatstone, Railroad Telegraph, 1837 About the electric telegraph In The London Anecdotes, 1848 As quoted in Tom Standage, The Victorian Internet • First pickpocket arrest: 1844 • First murder arrest: 1845 6.02 Fall 2013 – Guest Lecture Lecture 24, Slide #3 6.02 Fall 2013 – Guest Lecture Lecture 24, Slide #4 1 12/15/13 The Morse-Vail Telegraph “The Victorian Internet” 1836: Morse design Vail: powerful electromagnets Morse Code (1835-1837) • By Morse & Vail 1891 • 1838: demo’d over 2 miles • 1844: US-sponsored demo between Baltimore and Washington DC America’s first telegram (1844) 6.02 Fall 2013 – Guest Lecture Lecture 24, Slide #5 6.02 Fall 2013 – Guest Lecture Lecture 24, Slide #6 Dots and Dashes Span The Globe Wireless to the Rescue! • Communications arms race in the Imperial James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) Age "... we have strong reason to conclude that light itself -- including radiant heat, and other – No nation could trust its messages to a foreign radiations if any -- is an electromagnetic power disturbance in the form of waves propagated – 1893: British-owned Eastern Telegraph Company through the electromagnetic field according to electromagnetic laws." Dynamical Theory of the and the French crisis in Southeast Asia Electromagnetic Field, 1864.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Perspectives of Development of Antique Analog Telephone Systems Vinayak L
    Review Historical Perspectives of Development of Antique Analog Telephone Systems Vinayak L. Patil Trinity College of Engineering and Research, University of Pune, Pune, India Abstract—Long distance voice communication has been al- ways of great interest to human beings. His untiring efforts and intuition from many years together was responsible for making it to happen to a such advanced stage today. This pa- per describes the development time line of antique telephone systems, which starts from the year 1854 and begins with the very early effort of Antonio Meucci and Alexander Graham magnet core Bell and ends up to the telephone systems just before digiti- Wire 1Coil with permanent Wire 2 zation of entire telecommunication systems. The progress of development of entire antique telephone systems is highlighted in this paper. The coverage is limited to only analog voice communication in a narrow band related to human voice. Diaphragm Keywords—antique telephones, common battery systems, cross- bar switches, PSTN, voice band communication, voice commu- nication, strowger switches. Fig. 1. The details of Meucci’s telephone. 1. Initial Claims and Inventions Since centuries, telecommunications have been of great cally. Due to this idea, many of the scientific community interest to the human beings. One of the dignified per- consider him as one of the inventors of telephone [10]. sonality in the field of telecommunication was Antonio Boursuel used term “make and break” telephone in his Meucci [1]–[7] (born in 1808) who worked relentlessly for work. In 1850, Philip Reis [11]–[13] began work on tele- communication to distant person throughout his life and in- phone.
    [Show full text]
  • Electronic Inventions and Discoveries
    w Electronii In ItfililllatullHHI Discovert A- (KB Electronics from its earliest beginnings to the present day Fourth Edition ^5p jm ,#* GWA-Dummer Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Gordon Bell http://archive.org/details/electronicinvent14gwad Electronic Inventions and Discoveries Electronic Inventions and Discoveries Electronics from its earliest beginnings to the present day 4th revised and expanded edition G W A Dummer MBE, CEng, FIEE, FIEEE, US Medal of Freedom (former Supt. Applied Physics, Royal Radar Establishment, UK) Institute of Physics Publishing Bristol and Philadelphia © G W A Dummer 1997 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Multiple copying is permitted in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency under the terms of its agreement with the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals. First edition 1977 published under the title Electronic Inventions 1745-1976 Second edition 1978 {Electronic Inventions and Discoveries) Third revised edition 1983 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 7503 0376 X (hbk) ISBN 7503 0493 6 (pbk) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data are available Published by Institute of Physics Publishing, wholly owned by The Institute of Physics, London Institute of Physics Publishing, Dirac House, Temple Back, Bristol BS1 6BE, UK US Editorial Office: Institute of Physics Publishing, The Public Ledger Building, Suite 1035, 150 South Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA Printed in the UK by J W Arrowsmith Ltd, Bristol.
    [Show full text]
  • "Self-Serve Ad Exchange: This Century's Strowger Switch?" (PDF)
    Self-Serve Ad Exchange: This Century’s Strowger Switch? Written on October 6th 2008 by Greg Jarboe | ADOTAS EXCLUSIVE — What is an ad exchange? And why could a self-serve advertising exchange transform the ad world as profoundly as the Strowger switch changed the communications world a century ago? Let’s answer the first question before we tackle the second. According to netlingo, an ad exchange is “a company that brokers online advertising by bringing Web publishers and advertising buyers together on a Web site where they can participate in auctions for ad space. Set up in a Nasdaq-like exchange for the buying and selling of digital advertisements, an ad exchange is a marketplace where publishers and advertisers can find and execute advertising transactions.” Examples of ad exchanges include ContextWeb’s ADSDAQ, Google’s DoubleClick, Microsoft’s AdECN, and Yahoo’s Right Media. So, what is a self-serve advertising exchange? ContextWeb provided the first part of the answer in October 17, 2007, when it opened the ADSDAQ “Selling Desk” – an easy-to-use self-service web application that allowed online publishers to name the CPM they would ask for their advertising inventory. For the first time, even niche content sites and blogs were able to make their ad inventory available on the media exchange. According to Andy Beal’s search marketing blog, Marketing Pilgrim, “The new self service ADSDAQ Exchange Selling Desk lets bloggers and publishers: • Name their CPM price. When your inventory clears the ADSDAQ exchange, you will be paid the CPM price you set. No revenue share.
    [Show full text]
  • Telecomwriting.Com's Telephone History Series
    privateline.com's Telephone History Series by Tom Farley 215 19th Street West Sacramento, California 95691 USA http://www.privateline.com http://www.privateline.tv [email protected] [email protected] Compilation and .pdf formatting by Dave Mock http://www.geocities.com/dmock_1/ [email protected] Privateline.com's Telephone History Series by Tom Farley http://www.privateline.com Private Line's Telephone History Part 1 -- to 1830 "We picture inventors as heroes with the Intrigue aside for now, the story of the genius to recognize and solve a society's telephone is the story of invention itself. problems. In reality, the greatest inventors have been tinkerers who loved tinkering for its Bell developed new and original ideas but own sake and who then had to figure out what, did so by building on older ideas and if anything, their devices might be good for." developments. Bell succeeded specifically Jared Diamond because he understood acoustics, the study of sound, and something about electricity. I. Introduction II. Early Telephone Development III. The Other inventors knew electricity well but Inventors: Gray and Bell little of acoustics. The telephone is a shared accomplishment among many pioneers, therefore, although the credit and I. Introduction rewards were not shared equally. That, too, is often the story of invention. Telephone comes from the Greek word " . an inspired black- haired Scotsman of tele, meaning from afar, and phone, twenty eight, on the meaning voice or voiced sound. Generally, eve of marriage, a telephone is any device which conveys vibrant and alive to sound over a distance. A string telephone, new ideas." Alexander a megaphone, or a speaking tube might be Graham Bell : The Life and Times of the Man considered telephonic instruments but for Who Invented the our purposes they are not telephones.
    [Show full text]
  • TOPIC 2:SWITCHING INTRODUCTION 1.Strowger (Step-By-Step) Switching
    TOPIC 2:SWITCHING INTRODUCTION 1.Strowger (step-by-step) switching The Strowger switch, also known as Step-by-Step or SXS, is an early electromechanical telephone switching system invented by Almon Brown Strowger. It is a specialized version of a stepping switch. Step by Step Switching or Strowger switching was the first automatic telephone system introduced by Almon B. Strowger. This system uses selectors for switching. The selectors used in Strowger exchange are mainly of two types: 1. Uniselector 2. Two motion selector. Both the selectors belong to the same types of switches called rotary switches. UNISELECTOR This is called uniselector because the rotary motion of this switch is in one direction, i.e., the wiper assembly moves only in one direction. The uniselector consists of moving contacts called wipers. These are used to make electrical connections with any one of several contacts, called bank contacts, in an arc around it. The arc in most cases consists of ten steps. The wiper assembly is divided into three sets of wipers so that the switch has to turn through only one third of a full circle when operated. These wipers are operated by an electromagnet, called driving magnet, with the help of a ratchet and pawl mechanism. When current flows through the windings of the driving magnet, it is energised and attracts the armature; the pawl slips over one tooth of the ratchet wheel. The ratchet is prevented from movement in the reverse direction by a detent. When the current stops through the windings of the driving magnet, it is de-energised, and the armature comes back to its rest position.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Director's Report
    Published by the Telecommunications History Group, Inc. DENVER, COLORADO Winter 2010, Vol. 14, no. 4 www.telcomhistory.org Editor, Jody Georgeson Director’s Report By Jody Georgeson group, and later in the issue, we continue the early history of the telephone in Washington state. Another year is nearly gone and we at THG We are proud to be the first publish a new are still collecting telecom history. It’s a good short story by our own Marty Donovan. We hope thing, because the history of our industry you enjoy reading about a young family and their continues to evolve. Most of us remember when adventures with an old Strowger-dial telephone. AT&T introduced the Picturephone® or when I thought you’d enjoy seeing a Christmas Telstar first orbited the Earth; we thought it was card we found. They can be ordered at the stuff of science fiction. Who would have seltzergoods.com. thought we’d be sending text messages, taking and sending photographs, talking to people across the globe, reading books, playing games, and who knows what else, all on the same “phone”? Telecom companies continue to evolve, too. Several of the “Baby Bells’ have recombined to form giant companies (like Verizon and AT&T), while Qwest is about to become part of CenturyLink and a cable company is the third largest provider of telephone service in the country. All of these developments are grist for the mill of history. With the support of members like you, and the hard work of our loyal volunteers, we will continue to collect and disseminate evidence of this ever-changing, endlessly fascinating industry.
    [Show full text]
  • Automatic Electric History
    AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC History It is sad but true that many of the world's successful inventors were not capable of turning their invention into a production item. They needed a businessman or syndicate to provide the business and finance skills they lacked. Without these, many good inventions would have languished. These include the telephone itself. Without the business skills of Gardiner Hubbard and his associates Alexander Bell may never have been able to see the potential of his invention fulfilled. Another such was Almon Brown Strowger. He had invented an automatic telephone switch that showed great promise, and formed a company in 1891 to handle the patents and their licensing. The company had some rather crude demonstration switches made by a Wichita jeweller, but production was still a long way off. The businessman in the story was Joseph Harris (left). He saw the potential of the Strowger switch in 1890 and formed a new company, the Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange Company, to build and install the equipment. The company came into being on October 30, 1891. Mr M A Meyer, a Chicago financier, was the company President, Almon Strowger was Vice President, and Joseph Harris was the company Secretary. In the next year another valuable man joined the company, Alexander Keith. He had been sent to evaluate the Strowger system by the Brush Electric Company. His favorable report led to Brush buying a large quantity of shares in the company, which provided some much- needed capital for development work. Keith so liked the system he was persuaded to resign from Brush and join Strowger.
    [Show full text]
  • I Had to Buy a Corded Phone but I'm Not an Ipad Addict the Beauty of Giving Thanks
    November 26, 2019 The Our 26th Year of Publishing FREE (979) 849-5407 PLEASE Weekly mybulletinnewspaper.com © 2019 TAKE ONE LAKE JACKSON Bulletin• CLUTE • RICHWOOD • FREEPORT • OYSTER CREEK • ANGLETON • DANBURY • ALVIN • WEST COLUMBIA • BRAZORIA • SWEENY The beauty of I had to buy a giving thanks corded phone By Janice R. Edwards The old one finally broke, The Bulletin I looked up. At first, I couldn’t only to be replaced with see anything, but then I turned and a new one just like it. looked up-river, and they appeared By John Toth - hundreds of Snow Geese and The Bulletin If you had trouble getting through Memories are made of this to The Bulletin by phone the other day, blame the phone - it broke. Blues hanging from the heavens It was one of those old landlines and flying in ever-changing multiple I bought many years ago. You know V formations. They were the only it’s time to replace the phone when things in the crystal blue sky with the you can’t remember when you sun glinting off their white wings; the bought it - or when it breaks. beautiful sight took my breath away. I whispered, “Thank you for this, God.” I looked around with renewed Ramblings joy – I have a lot to be thankful for. A group of White and Brown Peli- It tried to work, but something cans were preening and hunting for inside it was not right. The little breakfast across the river. Roseate screen became garbled and made Spoonbills were seining for shrimp. no sense.
    [Show full text]