Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: lvc@cbnews.att.com (Lawrence V. Cipriani) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Illinois Bell's $80 Million plan. Message-ID: Date: 17 Mar 89 13:17:25 GMT Sender: news@vector.UUCP Organization: AT&T Network Systems Lines: 23 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 96, message 1 of 9 > [Moderator's Note: Unfortunatly, no. Not a nickle for an employee to > be on the premises 24 hours per day ... Fire Eibel because ... > *his* decision that million dollar switches don't need attendants at > all times -- has decided to continue playing it reckless. PT] The decision that switching machines don't need attendants at all times was made many years ago in AT&T. The centralized operation administration and maintenance of switching machines saves phone companies millions of dollars every year. It isn't going to go away even with Hilsdale disaster. I wouldn't hold any one person responsible for that debacle, except the technician who ignored the initial alarms. I almost certain Eibel couldn't get a technician at every switch even if he wanted to. After divestiture many of the phone company operations and procedures went unchanged. They just make good economic sense, but that isn't to say there isn't room for improvement. By the way, some switches are literally impossible to have an attendant at since they are in underground sealed vaults. I speak only for myself, AT&T has nothing to do with this note. -- Larry Cipriani, att!cbnews!lvc or lvc@cbnews.att.com