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Posted By: EV607797 This is old news, but still interesting. - 10/18/08 07:48 PM
It's hard to believe that even into the 21st Century that there were still communities with no telephone service in the United States. Here's a story from a UK publication about it. I particularly like the closing paragraphs of the story:

TAKE A LOOK HERE.

Here\'s another article from USA Today.
Reads to me like somebody down there is gonna need a .. yep, you guessed it. A 1A2 System.
Interesting find Ed. Bet there are still more out there as well.

The rules in both the US & Canada should have been changed many decades ago forcing the telcos to supply the service at THEIR cost.

As well they should have been banned from charging "milage" to all rural clients. Bell was forced to stop that maybe 10 years or so up here.

So what does Bell do in response? Create new "Price Zones". Leave it to the Big Boys to find a way to screw the public every time.
That's what the universal service charge on your phone bill is suppose to be used for.

Here\'s AT&T\'s explaination of the charge

The reason I bring this up is I read an article not long ago that stated the USF (universal service fund) was over funded and no longer really needed for land line service and they are giving funding for cell service in rural areas, which cell users don't pay into the fund. So that makes the article Ed linked to even more interesting.

More info on what it\'s used for
Posted By: KLD Re: This is old news, but still interesting. - 10/19/08 07:34 AM
.....or this article on the back page of the local newspaper on Thursday, Oct 16, 2008.
__________________________________________
Crank phone statue dedicated in Maine

WOODSTOCK, Maine(AP) -

The western Maine town where America's last
hand-cranked phones were used now has a
reminder of its place in history: a 14-foot statue of one of the antique phones.
Despite rainy conditions, a crowd turned out Monday for the dedication of the statue in
Woodstock. That also marked the 25th
anniversary of the last call made by a hand-cranked phone belonging to the Bryant Pond Telephone Co. in October 1983. The company was later acquired by the Oxford County Telephone &
Telegraph Co. The 1 1/2-ton, black steel statue was sculpted by Gil Whitman of Woodstock, a cousin of former Bryant Pond phone
company owner Elden Hathaway. The sculpture's
crank works, and Whitman plans to install a
bell that will sound when the crank is turned.


Crank phone statue dedicated in Maine

Just a bit off topic but in reverse... laugh
Ken, do you have a copy of the multicolored map of serving ILECS in KS. As I recall, areas of the extreme NW part of the state were black, for no service. Of course, up in that area, the most of the servee's would speak with chirps, squawks, and other non-human noises. Not much up there anyway. But, there are other states that are probably worse off. Wyoming, Oregon, and the Dakotas come to mind. John C.
I had come over here to start a post on the link to the below story… This seemed to be closely related to this topic.

Related story
dave,
didnt they still have operators in PEI into the late 70s, i have a contempra (with the northern telecom stamp not northern electric) with a vinyl pad where the keypad would have gone. i was told it came off PEI
Jay, we had "Operators" here in Quebec until the late nineties. Still a few, I'm sure as they can't "Farm Out" the French required here to India. Then again, the India personanel can't talk English either laugh

The phone you have was probablu used as a "Taxi" phone in a grocery store or the like. Just needed "Ring down" to work....no dialing.

Northern Telecom was the 1st name change from Nortern Electric; then later again to Nortel.
im a phone collector i know the history of nortel smile

i mean old operator/ party line exchanges when i talk about operators, my neighbor confirmed he didnt have a dial on his phone on the island till 1982
Jay:

I remember there being several exchanges in the 514 area code that were manual offices until well into the 1980's.
well back then the 514 are code covered quite the area. most of the old 514 is now 450
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