The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-06-02
Toll Operations
 Over Telephones
Supervisor John Putnam Ex-
 plains the System
Two Distinct Classes of Oper- atOrS and Their Duties-GOOd Toll Operator Result of Much Training

1 AOH opCI dtOI NcSuit Ol NIuCl
 Training
 of the Southern New England Tele-
 phone Company, has written for "The
 Telephone Bulletin" an explanation of
 the method used by the company ir | handling its toll calls In the course
 of his article he says:
 | In taking up any operating sub- | Ject, It is, perhaps, of first import
 ance to distinguish between the vari-
 ous operators involved in the routine 1 of any call that passes through an | operating room. This particularly | applies to employees who are not work | ing every day with an operating force. What. may seem self-evident to the trafhc man is not at all so evident to other employees. The operator who answers subscribers calls and takes
 his order, is known as the A operator or subscribers operator. She may complete the subscribers call in her own switchboard by means of the
 multiple jacks or in another exchange over trunk lines. The B operator is an operators operator; that is, she puts up connections for other opera tors. Theoretically she may be at an inward toll, or ring down trunk posi-
 
 front of her, or she may be at a B position. In the latter case, she puts up connections by means of trunks, which are wires extending from her board to another switchboard. One reason for the 'B' operator is easily understood when we consider that. to give the toll operators in a large ex- change. a subscribers multiple would cost $3,000 for every three positions, or S1,000 per operator.
 Toll traffic, in comparison with the days traffic is small. In an exchange like New Haven there are about TO- 900 local calls per day and from 1900 to 2.00O toll and long distance calls. The toll operators in Connecticut are divided into two classes, inward toll operators, and outward toll operators. An inward toll operator completes calls in the multiple for other ex- changes. The outward toll operator makes the ticket, calls the distant ex- change, and completes the connection. Recording operators doing only record ing, as ticket writing is called, have been discontinued in this State. We use the switching or REX operator, but as she Is not important to this article, we will simply state that her duty is to connect exchanges together on through or switched calls.
 The best telephone service is the IOcdl SSTVlce OH SlnSle SWlICnDOdru where the operator takes the order and completes it without delay When we approach the problem of toll oper- ating,f however, we find that it in- wolves writing down of the order and timing the length of conversation, as a charge for the conunection must be made. This clerical work involved in writing the ticket must be done, but at the same time. operators time ana circuit time must be saved as much as possible.
 As the toll telephone day in Con- necticut Is but seven and eight-tenths hours long for the State, it is evident that the traffic department must avail itself of all the toll business offered by the public. It might be explained here that the toll telephone day is the day to busy hour ratio, or the total number of toll calls divided by the of calls in the busy hour. Plant men should not blame traffic men if they are fussy' about toll cir cults being out of order during the busy hours of the day. We are glad trouble affects the traffic, it is only in l the most abnormal cases of trouble, such as sleet storms that the loss of circuits is felt at all.
 To appreciate the importance of toll traffic, let us give few figures. In 1910, this company handled 3,991 ,226 revenue producing toll messages, about 1 II per cent of which were long dis | tance messages. The toll receipts for the same year were $595, ,02351, or $7.69 per station. While this is not a heavy | per station figure, it may be consid- | cred very fair in view of our low | rates
 ''The early methods of toll operating | involved a ticket at each end of the | Iine It is known as the 101 Method | and is now used somewhat by the long | distance company on long haul work. | The great disadvantage of it was that | operators used the circuits too much l of the time in passing tickets and in | talking with each other. The theory was that the tickets, or reports of them, were cross checked at some central checking office and the ex- change which failed to show a mes sage was sent a deficiency bill. asking the manager to pay the ticket or ex- plain why it was not on his report. They always got an explanation.
 ''The next step in toll operating was to cut out the B operator at the dis tant office and the inward ticket and allow the line operator at the originat- ng exchange to deal with the distant subscriber directly. This method is known as the 103 method and was first put in use in Connecticut in January, 1905. This resulted III so much econ ,rry in handling toll work and so much increase in speed in the service that it las been in use with notifications ever since.
 "One of the next moves in toll oper- ating was to dispense with the record ng operator, the A operator con- lecting the calling subscriber directly. o the line operator, who makes the ticket, orders up the subscribers line ,ver the 'B' board, calls the inward oll operator at the distant exchange, who calls the desired subscribers sta ion
 .'The 10s Method of operating has been stiTl further developed into what S known as the A-B Method. In his method the subscriber calls the A operator, who makes a two-num- per ticket and calls the 'B operator It the distant exchange who, in turn, .aIls the desired subscriber. It is evil lent that the Connecticut method of operator is at all times half A-B and rom the small exchanges when one operator is on duty entirely A-B if he ticket is two number. We have lot gone wholly to the A-B Method, IS cur experience in mixing toll and ocaI operating at the same board has lot convinced us of it's desirability. ynder certain light loads, the "A oper- ltor can handle a toll call very com ortably, but, as the load becomes