DISTANCE CALLS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 101, 23 January 1935, Page 8

DISTANCE CALLS

Telephone Exchange From the Inside BUSY OPERATORS Lights Instead of Bells Just about the only place in Wellington where telephone bells are not to be heard is the telephone exchange. Up iu the toll department dozens of New Zealanders are speaking to each other daily from all parts of the country, through medium of the 10 busy operators there. Another operator sits, kept working very busily, at the information . telephone. There are flashing little bulbs of light, a murmur of conversation, deftly-moving hands, occasional buzzes —but no bells. The carillon would be quite outdone if there were; the toll ’ and information departments receive so many rings that if a bell sounded it would be difficult to hear anything. The little bulbs of light are the means of denoting a call; as soon as one is made each of Hie 10 operators knows about it when lie sees it shining in tlie row before him. Any one of them may answer tlie call. This was not the system that was once in vogue, but the telephone branch has been investigating its system recently, and the new system is one of the innovations introduced for the sake of greater efficiency. All calls once used to go to the one operator, known as the recorder, who took down its details on a form. The remaining operators each dealt with calls to a particular section of the country, and the recorder handed over the card to the operator concerned, who put the call through. Now each operator does his own recording, and can take over calls to any part. More lights at the bottom of the board tell the operator when the person speaking has hung up the receiver. The operator by means of a switch is able to listen in to hear if the line is clear; then the call is disconnected. Other lights tell when trunk lines are in use for incoming calls. All the outgoing circuits are lettered for identification ; when one of them is in use a white signal tells all the operators along the board. Two of the switchboards are used to receive incoming calls, but the operators are not kept as busily engaged as might be expected, although they very literally have their hands full. The reason is that some exchanges, instead of having to dial the Wellington exchange to put through a toll call here, can dial straight through to the wanted number from their own exchange. 'Similarly in such automatic exchanges as Palmerston North, Wanganui, and ■Masterton, the Wellington exchange can dial right through without having to call the local exchanges. Even seme of the manual exchanges arc provided with dialled telephones so that they can make a call direct to the subscriber in an automatic exchange. One of the switchboards is slightly different from the others. The plugs used in it are double-ended, and the operator deals with calls to the South Island, all of which have to be made through Christchurch or Blenheim. • The double-ended, plugs serve to boost up the voice strength for better transmission. Timing the Calls. Every now and then,one meets a disgruntled person who complains bitterly about being overcharged for a toll call. In such cases it may usually be assumed that he who complains is nothing more than a bad judge of time. Human judgment has little to do with the timing of a toll call. The work is done by special clocks, into ■which the card recording the call is inserted as soon as the call is made. The time of application, is [hen stamped by mechanism Inside the clock upon the card. When the call is connected the time is again stamped upon the card. Two little dials are also stamped upon the top of the card, and when the call is finished hands appear upon these, which' show exactly how many minutes have elapsed. This method of recording appears to be quite as infallible as can be devised. Just now the Post and Telegraph Department is investigating the telephone toll service to see how much it can be speeded up so as to be better able to meet the requirements of users. The ideal that is aimed at is the total elimination of those cases when the caller, after reaching the exchange, has to hang up again and wait some minutes before contact is effected. Already a great improvement has been made, and from 50 to' 60 per cent, of Wellington toll calls are completed without delay. Growth of Business. The depression, by the way, isjshowing clearly in the graphs kept in connection with toll calls. The number of calls is not recorded: instead the volume is kept in speech-miuutes. There were about three and a half million speech-niinutes of toll calls in 1914. This volume increased to the record total of eleven million speechminutes in 1930, and fell again to nine million in 1033. The total, however, showed a gradual increase in 1934. Another interesting graph shows the' peak load of calls. The busiest period in most exchanges is from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., in the period before reduced rates were made available after 6 p.m. The other busy hours were between from 7 to 8 and 9 to 11 in the.morning. There are three classes of toll calls —short, up to 35 miles; medium, up from 40 to 150 miles; and'long, over 160 miles. Short calls make up 64 per cent, of the total, and 33 per cent, of the revenue; medium calls make up 32 per cent, of calls, but 47 per cent, of the revenue, and there are only four per cent, of long calls; these, however, contribute 20 per cent, of the revenue.