Posted by Franz on February 13, 2009, 1:49:54, in reply to "Re: Telephone "butt sets" - Info? "
4.156.234.198
Telcos have been the leading candidate for dirty sunuvabych of the world since 1960 for me. I've been thru the wars, going back before Carterfone -v- ATT and a few others, hell, I got in when you couldn't own your own equipment in the city where Eastman Kodak not only owned their own system but forced the phone company to give them service as well.
I well recall the time before most of Rochester had rotary dial Stromberg 1243 sets because the Korean War production requirements cut Rochester Tel off at the knees and Bell wouldn't supply them with X-Y switches. I also recall TouchTone arriving on the market, and suckers paying $5.95 to get the phone changed, and $1.50 a month extra on a $4.00 basecharge to be Kool and the leader of their neighborhood.
Since 66 I"VE HAD A BONE IN MY NOSE over Locality Surcharges here. That shit goes back to the Depression and REA, and I live in a spot that causes me to donate $2.05 per month per line to the theiving bastards. Thanks to the DotCom horseshit my little local 3 exchange company got bought by a water utility in Vermont, and was then used to be the vessel to finance buying the huge Rochester Telephone system. The taxpayers are picking up 75% of the borrowing costs so fat pricks in Vermont can drive Ferarris. The best part, the damn company has outgrown REA elidgibility for Locality Surcharges, but continues to charge them because nobody exists to stop them since REA was reconfigured.
The goddamn public is so stupid they cannot understand $2.05 a month per line is a lot of money when you add up all those lines.
The bastards here dropped the surcharge for TT service back around 90 when they decided to become a wire company and centrex company. It had been a joke for years because most everyone knew TT sets worked on all the lines anyhow.
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