Date: Mon, 5 Oct 92 14:21:36 CDT
From: Will Martin <wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Brooklyn Bridge Phone Episode
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 763, Message 2 of 6

> The family tries to arrange a code with the grandparents, who live
> downstairs: when the family should go down to the grandparents, the
> grandparents are to call, hanging up after the second ring.  This is
> to avoid a toll.  I thought a charge for a local call was something
> new, made possible by new technology which could meter all calls.  Is
> this not true?  Were local calls charged for in the fifties (I think
> this is when the show is set)?  Or were the characters confused about
> local vs toll?

> [Moderator's Note: No indeed. We've had measured service in Chicago
> for a half-century; so has New York City. Until the past few years
> they could not tell you *exactly what number* you dialed ... just
> that you did.  If you protested, the next month they'd put a pen
> register on the line to keep track of it for you.  PAT]

I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding here based on the
definition of "measured service". Back in the '50s, my parents had
just this sort of arrangement with my grandparents, who lived a block
away.  The grandparents would call and let the phone ring twice, and
then hang up. We would then call them every time the phone rang twice
and then stopped. (Of course, that meant that you'd always have to
wait till the third ring to pick up the phone, even if you were
standing there right next to it.)

This was because the grandparents had the minimal-cost service of a
party line with a limit of 30 (or so -- don't recall the exact
numbers) uncharged [and also untimed] calls per month. Any calls over
the 30 were charged at ten cents each [I think]. We had a party line
too, but had a more-generous limit of a larger number of calls per
month before a per-call charge would set in, because we paid more.

Note that each call had no timing and no duration limit; there was
simply a counter for completed calls. So a two-minute call and a
two-hour call each counted the same, and, if over the numeric limit
and thus charged for, would each cost ten cents. I do not know if
long-distance calls counted against this limit, or did not because
they went through the operator. (I do not recall if we had direct-dial
LD at this time; Long Distance was something one just did not do. One
wrote letters. :-) This was in St. Louis, MO.

This type of service is probably equivalent to some forms of the
"Lifeline" service for the elderly that some telcos now offer.  Back
then, it was just a lower-cost residential option, which we frugal
Midwesterners chose to save a few bucks per month.  I do not think
this type of service can be bought now, but perhaps a few long-time
subscribers still have it in place.  It was grandfathered in place at
least up to the late '60s, because at that time, when I began working
and had a paycheck, but still lived at home, I told my parents that I
would pay the phone bill from then on, and changed the service to
regular single-party unlimited flat-rate calling.

(Checking the current White Pages here reveals that "Lifeline" is
offered, but appears to be a discount off the bill only, not a special
class of service.  It is defined as a discount of $3.50 per month,
plus the $3.50 Federal End User Common Line Charge is waived.  Also a
discount of up to 50% on installation chages is available.  No
definition of who is qualified for this is given, though; one has to
call the Business Office for information.  What is interesting is that
there is no specification as to limits of class of service the
Lifeline subscriber can choose, so it seems they can have either
measured or flat rate service with the discount taken off.)


Regards, 

Will   wmartin@st-louis-emh2.army.mil OR wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil