Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!spool.mu.edu!telecom-request From: bill@gauss.eedsp.gatech.edu (Bill Berbenich) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: End of the [Party] Line Message-ID: Date: 1 Apr 91 01:49:24 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Reply-To: bill@eedsp.gatech.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 110 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 264, Message 1 of 8 I read this story off the AP wire and was reminded of the days, not so long ago in 1982 and '83, that I had a party line in rural Maine. I felt like I was reliving a little bit of early Americana by having a party line in the Eighties. As I recall, it was either have a party line or wait a few months and pay an extremely high installation fee to get a private line. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this story as much as I did. By JANET L. CAPPIELLO Associated Press Writer WOODBURY, Conn. (AP) -- In the bucolic towns of western Connecticut, where farmhouses and antiques shops dot the rolling hills, about 100 people are hanging onto a piece of the past: the telephone party line. But as the Woodbury Telephone Co. starts to upgrade its equipment this spring, the holdouts will all be switched to private lines, forced into the age of computerized telecommunications. Woodbury Telephone, itself a relic from the days of small, independent phone companies, has received permission from state regulators to replace the last of its two- and four-party lines with private lines. Southern New England Telephone Co., which serves 1.5 million customers to Woodbury's 16,000 customers, eliminated its last party line in January. Around the nation, the number of party lines has been steadily decreasing but one study in 1987 by the United States Telephone Association said there were still 2.8 million people on party lines. In 1985, there were 4.6 million party lines, it said. Although the party line is going the way of hand-cranked telephones, J. Garry Mitchell, Woodbury Telephone's president, sees no reason to mourn. He calls party lines old-fashioned, and has been trying to abolish them for two decades. "Party lines (are) nothing to be proud of," Mitchell said. Party lines were popular from 1910 until the early 1960s, he said. Customers share a phone wire but have separate telephone numbers. Even the people with party lines, mostly older customers, say they've put up with the occasional inconvenience of finding someone else already on the line more for economy than out of a sense of nostalgia. In 1961, Woodbury Telephone charged $6 a month for a two-party line, $4.95 for a four-party line, and $7.25 for a private line. Today, those costs haven't risen more than 50 cents per month. Robert Keating, a 61-year-old Woodbury architect who grew up with a party line, says he has one now because it's the cheapest way to have separate telephone numbers for his home and the business he operates out of his house. Still, having party lines is "sort of nice, in a way," he said. "It sort of keeps the town rural, if you want to call it that." Telephone lore has it that party lines were a great source of gossip for busybodies bold enough to eavesdrop on their neighbor's conversations. Norma Bennett, 72, a retired Woodbury operator, remembers the story about two women who were chatting on their party lines while a third listened in. "One said, `I wonder when the mailman is coming?' And the one who was listening in answered, `Soon, because he just went by here."' Party lines were once standard telephone fare because there wasn't enough equipment to provide private lines, Mitchell said. Some party lines accommodated up to ten customers, usually all in one neighborhood. Woodbury Telephone has provided telephone service in the towns of Woodbury, Southbury and Bethlehem and parts of Roxbury and Oxford since 1899. SNET serves the rest of the state, except for a small corner served by New York Telephone. Woodbury Telephone is being allowed to eliminate the service now because of a $1.8 million equipment upgrade, Mitchell said. Eliminating party lines also became imperative because of computerized 911-emergency response systems. When a caller dials 911, the caller's address appears on a computer screen at the dispatch center. With party lines, there's a risk that the address could be that of the other customer, Mitchell said. Freida Gauthier, 78, who has had a party line "ever since I had the phone ... over 40 years," says she's willing to pay a little extra for the sense of security she will get having the emergency 911 service. "I live alone," she said. She too has kept the party line because the service is less expensive, and she rarely uses her telephone. She talks fondly of the days when people got much of their news through party lines. "Other people would listen in to what was going on. That was fun," she said. She quickly added that she had never eavesdropped herself. Bill Berbenich Georgia Tech, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 uucp: ...!{backbones}!gatech!eedsp!bill Internet: bill@eedsp.gatech.edu