Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: joe@icjapan.info.com (Joe Talbot) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Magneto Telephones Message-ID: <9986@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 21 Jul 90 10:02:00 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: Joe Talbot Organization: Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan Lines: 51 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 503, Message 7 of 8 In article <9810@accuvax.nwu.edu> davidb@pacer.com (David Barts) writes: >The telephone at the rest area looked like a normal Western Electric >pay phone, except that it had no dial mechanism and there was a >wooden box with a hand-crank magneto mounted beneath the phone. >The instruction sheet for the phone was either typed or handwritten >and said to announce that you were calling from "Fenner Roadside Box >Number 4", after successfully ringing up the operator. (It has been >about ten years, so I may not have remembered the name 100% >correctly.) The "Fenner roadside rest stop" phones were Fenner #1 and #2. They finally went away last year and became very unreliable Baker phone numbers. It was part of Pac*Bells project to eliminate toll stations. The projest involves the construction and use of many new microwave sites and disital carrier. Here's a summary of what happened to the toll stations: Amargosa #1,3,5, - were converted to something dial (probably Baker.) Halloran Springs/Summit - were changed to Baker numbers. Ludlow - Baker numbers (out of service all the time, the whole town dies for days at a time. The service comes from a van parked near town with a dish on the roof and a fence around it. Odd.) Amboy - Baker numbers (frequent outages). Essex, Saltus - Baker numbers. Lanfair Valley - Baker numbers. Fenner - Baker numbers. Chiriaco Summit - GTE numbers from Desert Center (on Pac*Bell carrier and lines. Imagine paying for Pac*Bell service and getting GTE piped in. Frightening!) Some just turned into charge a calls (so they wouldn't have to collect the coins I'll bet). With the restriction being done IN THE SET! Smart pay phones! On POTS (plain olde telephone service) lines. Amazing. Those of us who frequent the desert are pleased that cellular service is coming even to the most remote area due to the heavy traffic on I-15 and I-40. The landline service isn't reliable enough yet. Joe Talbot "What am I doing here?" Voice Mail 011-813-222-8429