People stay around a long time. The result is that they go bananas.
March 11, 2025 8:45 AM Subscribe
AT&T Workers: Drugged, Bugged and Coming Unplugged; Moving the Indiana Bell Central Office; History of Engineering and Science at Bell Labs; How the Telephone Helps the Farmer; and much more of the lore of telecommunications from the library of Telephone Collectors International.
Central exchanges are massively complicated facilities so pulling off that move without interruption is a testament to insane planning.
And when I worked for AT&T a few years back, I was amazed to see just how many people working there had been there for 30+ years. It might be one of the few hire to retire companies left.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:38 AM on March 11 [3 favorites]
And when I worked for AT&T a few years back, I was amazed to see just how many people working there had been there for 30+ years. It might be one of the few hire to retire companies left.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:38 AM on March 11 [3 favorites]
AT&T's tech channel has an archives section full of these gems. Seattle's Connections Museum also has a splendid channel that explores telephony topics, and is so, so, so worth a visit if you're in the area.
posted by Dr. Twist at 9:47 AM on March 11 [5 favorites]
posted by Dr. Twist at 9:47 AM on March 11 [5 favorites]
What is it with moving telephone exchange buildings?
I suspect it's a cost consideration. IF service can be maintained uninterrupted, then moving the building is probably the least expensive option, compared to constructing a new building, which (in addition to building the place) would necessarily include duplicating all the equipment already up-and-running in the old building. Then, there's the troubleshooting, testing, etc. etc. to assure no loss of service when the switch is made.
It does seem insane, though, when "nah. let's just rotate the old place" is the correct option.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:49 AM on March 11 [1 favorite]
I suspect it's a cost consideration. IF service can be maintained uninterrupted, then moving the building is probably the least expensive option, compared to constructing a new building, which (in addition to building the place) would necessarily include duplicating all the equipment already up-and-running in the old building. Then, there's the troubleshooting, testing, etc. etc. to assure no loss of service when the switch is made.
It does seem insane, though, when "nah. let's just rotate the old place" is the correct option.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:49 AM on March 11 [1 favorite]
I made a post about the Indiana Bell move a while ago. The main thing I remember is the architect in charge was Kurt Vonnegut Sr.
posted by zamboni at 9:49 AM on March 11 [4 favorites]
posted by zamboni at 9:49 AM on March 11 [4 favorites]
I hereby put in a plug for The Idea Factory (2012), a great history of Bell Labs.
posted by doctornemo at 11:09 AM on March 11 [2 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 11:09 AM on March 11 [2 favorites]
It might be one of the few hire to retire companies left.
They've been pushing us out in droves the past few years. I am at 27.5 and doubt I will see 30. Even the unionized workers are being squeezed and offshored.
posted by soelo at 1:27 PM on March 11 [5 favorites]
They've been pushing us out in droves the past few years. I am at 27.5 and doubt I will see 30. Even the unionized workers are being squeezed and offshored.
posted by soelo at 1:27 PM on March 11 [5 favorites]
my grandfather worked for Michigan bell from 1926 to 1966. Ann Arbor's exchange was folded into the AT&t merger in the 80s.
I remember going to the old exchange which had the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and season 2 episode 6 of Lost. my grandmother worked briefly for Michigan Bell after college as a translator. She had one in-box and two out- boxes, the first out box would go to the consulate, newspaper etc. the other one was locked and went into some room she never talked about.
I still find it hard to accept that my grandmother, in late 1920s was some sort of a spy. she had some of the trade craft down, taught knitting. for instance when I would raid the candy dish, she can hear me way in the kitchen.
interesting subject thanks for posting it.
posted by clavdivs at 1:42 PM on March 11 [5 favorites]
I remember going to the old exchange which had the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and season 2 episode 6 of Lost. my grandmother worked briefly for Michigan Bell after college as a translator. She had one in-box and two out- boxes, the first out box would go to the consulate, newspaper etc. the other one was locked and went into some room she never talked about.
I still find it hard to accept that my grandmother, in late 1920s was some sort of a spy. she had some of the trade craft down, taught knitting. for instance when I would raid the candy dish, she can hear me way in the kitchen.
interesting subject thanks for posting it.
posted by clavdivs at 1:42 PM on March 11 [5 favorites]
They've been pushing us out in droves the past few years.Yeah, saw that as a hard change coming post-COVID. The whole RTO mandate from Stankey's office after knowing engineers who'd been at home for decades was clearly a shadow layoff and more of their attempts to shed debt/obligations post the DTV/WB media empire attempt.
posted by drewbage1847 at 1:48 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]
telephonecollectors.info . . . that's a really, er, 'responsive' website.
posted by splifingate at 5:48 PM on March 11
posted by splifingate at 5:48 PM on March 11
telephonecollectors.info . . . that's a really, er, 'responsive' website.
Firefox apparently shows a little turtle in the dev tools for sites that take longer than 500ms to load.
The web turtle is doing his best. Your telephone-related queries will be answered in the order in which they were received.
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 6:06 AM on March 12 [2 favorites]
Firefox apparently shows a little turtle in the dev tools for sites that take longer than 500ms to load.
The web turtle is doing his best. Your telephone-related queries will be answered in the order in which they were received.
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 6:06 AM on March 12 [2 favorites]
re: Moving the Indiana Central Office. Whoa, I thought "moving" meant going from one building to another so I was mystified as to what the big deal was about employees going inside. For those who haven't seen the link, it is literally a move. Amazing. And so it goes.
posted by storybored at 8:18 AM on March 12
posted by storybored at 8:18 AM on March 12
In the mid-1980s I had a temp job for a few days, decommissioning an old telephone exchange. We had powered wire-cutters to blaze through the nests of wires that connected each switch module (IDK what they were called... they appeared to be made mostly of brass and weighed probably 30 pounds, taking up about 6 vertical slots in a 19" rack). The racks were non-standard tall (it was a high-ceilinged room, like 2 stories, probably specially made to hold the giant tall racks), and bundles of wires, each bundle the thickness of a man's thumb, that fanned out as the bundle entered the rack. The labor that went into making the place must have been incredible.
4 guys destroyed it in less than 3 days, standing at the tops of 12' ladders, sawing the switches out of the racks with power clippers, dismounting them with power screwdrivers, and hurling them to the concrete floor below.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 8:38 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]
4 guys destroyed it in less than 3 days, standing at the tops of 12' ladders, sawing the switches out of the racks with power clippers, dismounting them with power screwdrivers, and hurling them to the concrete floor below.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 8:38 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]
This is a great website, ContinuousWave. I have a telecoms history. Thanks for posting.
posted by storybored at 2:20 PM on March 12
posted by storybored at 2:20 PM on March 12
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posted by Dr. Curare at 9:14 AM on March 11 [1 favorite]