The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-12-09

ARE MANY
telephone Experts
Shows the
Faults.
OVERHEAD WIRES
ARE: TOO CLOSE
Office Apparatus is Good But
the Operators Are Careless.
What Is Needed.

Reconstruction of the outside tele.
phone system and reorganization of RI.
of'1ce working force, are the remedies
suggested for the Improvement of the
present telephone service, by an exper;
electrician who has had many years
of telephone experience.
For personal reasons he does not de-
sire his name to appear, though he
made plain to an Advertiser renorter
yesterday the force of his suggestions
FOR the Improvement of the service.
The management of the company is
mere TO blame than the directors" said
the expert, land believe if Mr.. Ather-
ton was on his feet the telephone sys-
tenn would be in much better shane
tnan 1t Is now, for he always took a
pride in keeping up the service. There
is possibly some excuse for the present
management, for when Mr.. Iehigh
came here he did all he could to better
the system. But he did not have the
wherewith to put the line in order as
f ffeoIdssffs sae the pubnc IS Paying org urvr.-
dends for the use of the telephone, un-
satisfactory as 1t is.
1.-THE primary cause of the present
trouble is in the outside construction.
The greatest fault is in the picayunish
manner of construction, the crowdlng
of wires upon the cross-arms in close
proximity increasing the induction. and
making the wires liable to cross and
tangle up. This close wiring makes
them liable to become tangled in any
storm or high wind. A second reason
is that the wires are placed on cheap
porcelain arms, and therefore the waste
is one thousand per cent more than If
a glass insulator had been used with
proper insulation. If the wires were
stretched tighter they would be less
liable to cross, and the wind would not
affect them if the outside construction
had been what it should be.
1.-The service in the office is certainly
the fault of the manager. Things are
left too much to the head operator and
the telephone operators are careless ano
lax. The fault is easy to find. If yol
can't get your proper connection, Oh
there is delay in answering, it is simply
the carelessness of the operator. TIT
: switchboard and office apparatus art
all right, the faults are entirely witt
the mode of outside construction ant
with the office service, which can b.
t easily relnedied.
5 IF the outside overhead wiring too
twice the space it does now it woul'
make the service ten times more eff
!, cient. Then the company should hav
inspections at reasonable intervals, t
= test the phones. No telephone or DIR
battery will last an indefinite periot
f and regular tests should be made an
i the telephones adjusted. The batterie
used sat present are of little value
! There is no inspection now, and III
n | office needs a general shaking up.
1t THE outside construction can be in
II proved only at great expense III
:. wires should be laid underground
e cables in the business district. or {
l. least a part of the wires placed
e cables, on the overhead system and II
remaining wires placed further apar
+ to avoid the danger or crossing. The
h, are many improvements required GU
'g side. but the Office apparatus is as goo
as can be got anywhere. The people
a charge of it can be improved upon, al
j. the management should see that t
operators are more careful"