End of an Era (Midland, Odessa: retiring, offices, electric)

[Ttark]

Don;t know if anybody here was aware of it or really cares, but as of yesterday Odessa's #1A electronic switcing system (telephone switch) was cut over to a Genband digital system. This means that Odessa is now the city where electromechanical automatic switching in the north American telephone network reached the end of its 125 year lifespan. (The first was a step/Strowger exchange installed in La Porte, IN in 1892.)

[url=http://www.binrev.com/forums/index.php?/topic/42998-list-of-remaining-1aess-offices/&do=findComment&comment=369260]List of Remaining 1AESS Offices - Page 4 - Old Skool Phreaking - Binary Revolution Forums[/url]
[url=http://www.binrev.com/forums/index.php?/topic/48513-the-mechanical-era-is-over/]The Mechanical Era Is Over - Old Skool Phreaking - Binary Revolution Forums[/url]
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_One_Electronic_Switching_System[/url]

Really a sad time for a phone phreak.

[tambroz69]

I can appreciate your post, thanks. Although I don't entirely understand it, I do appreciate the sentimental value and the historic significance.

[Kthnry]

That's an interesting post and I read more about it, but a better subject line might get more attention.

[Trainwreck20]

Kinda cool, in a geeky sort of way .

[recycled]

Ttark, thanks for passing along that info about Odessa retiring the last Western Electric 1AESS switch.

When I started working for Pacific Telephone & Telegraph 38 yrs ago, 1AESS was high tech for switching. Western Electric 4ESS and 5ESS came along in the early 80s, and most people today don't realize that those 35 year old telephone switch systems are still widely deployed in North America and still carry a huge share of the traffic in the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network).

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, walking into most telephone company central offices would drive you nuts with loud clacking noise from #5XB crossbar mechanical switches, or even in a few cases, step by step switches. It sounded like a thousand people pounding wood sticks together. You would immediately know if you walked into a 1AESS office because the loudest sound would be fans humming on the racks of switch equipment.

[davis449]

From Midland, originally. This is a very interesting thing to learn. Thanks for posting it!

[jackalope48]

Originally Posted by recycled

Ttark, thanks for passing along that info about Odessa retiring the last Western Electric 1AESS switch.

When I started working for Pacific Telephone & Telegraph 38 yrs ago, 1AESS was high tech for switching. Western Electric 4ESS and 5ESS came along in the early 80s, and most people today don't realize that those 35 year old telephone switch systems are still widely deployed in North America and still carry a huge share of the traffic in the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network).

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, walking into most telephone company central offices would drive you nuts with loud clacking noise from #5XB crossbar mechanical switches, or even in a few cases, step by step switches. It sounded like a thousand people pounding wood sticks together. You would immediately know if you walked into a 1AESS office because the loudest sound would be fans humming on the racks of switch equipment.

I spent three hours last year convincing the AT&T call center that they needed to get their line back on a replaced pole. They refused to believe that a line labeled Western Electric was theirs. Kept saying it was the electric company's line