14 replies to this topic

[JmanA9]

I met a really nice phone technician a few months ago. He offered to take me around for a day when I was home on break from college, and show me lots of Windstream's equipment in the field, and in the CO. Unfortunately, he called me earlier this week to tell me that Windstream was laying 400 people off across the country, and he was one of them. Luckily, he wants to get me in before he gets out. I can't believe that the guy's losing his job after 40 years, and he's calling me to make sure I get my tour. Like I said, he's a really good guy.

So, if anybody wants me to ask the man anything, let me know! The switch we'll be visiting is a DMS100 that serves a large part of rural Pennsylvania (5 towns). It has 2 remotes serving a total of 6 exchanges. It has ADSL2+ capacity. Like I mentioned, the company is Windstream. Anyway, I'm headed back home around 4 PM EST tomorrow to meet him. Make sure you get your questions to me by then.

I'm not sure if I can take pictures, but if I can, I'll take lots. I'll post a writeup of the trip when I get back. He mentioned to me a few months ago that he has a collection of old wooden phones, so that'll be interesting I think he said there's some old SxS and NX-1 parts laying around too.

[seabass]

Wow, what an opportunity. I don't have any specific questions, but I'll definitely keep an eye out for your write-up. If you can, at least get some pics of the old phones.

[SigFLUP]

I met a really nice phone technician a few months ago. He offered to take me around for a day when I was home on break from college, and show me lots of Windstream's equipment in the field, and in the CO. Unfortunately, he called me earlier this week to tell me that Windstream was laying 400 people off across the country, and he was one of them. Luckily, he wants to get me in before he gets out. I can't believe that the guy's losing his job after 40 years, and he's calling me to make sure I get my tour. Like I said, he's a really good guy.

So, if anybody wants me to ask the man anything, let me know! The switch we'll be visiting is a DMS100 that serves a large part of rural Pennsylvania (5 towns). It has 2 remotes serving a total of 6 exchanges. It has ADSL2+ capacity. Like I mentioned, the company is Windstream. Anyway, I'm headed back home around 4 PM EST tomorrow to meet him. Make sure you get your questions to me by then.

I'm not sure if I can take pictures, but if I can, I'll take lots. I'll post a writeup of the trip when I get back. He mentioned to me a few months ago that he has a collection of old wooden phones, so that'll be interesting I think he said there's some old SxS and NX-1 parts laying around too.

All I have to say is FUCKING SWEET!!

[dmine45]

I'm not sure if I can take pictures, but if I can, I'll take lots. I'll post a writeup of the trip when I get back. He mentioned to me a few months ago that he has a collection of old wooden phones, so that'll be interesting I think he said there's some old SxS and NX-1 parts laying around too.

Gonna say - ask him about the NX-1 days. I do remember that switch (though at the time I had no idea what kind of switch it was - Phone Trips really helped!). IIRC, the DMS-100 was added to the CO to take care of overflow (a new prefix) while the NX-1 continue to serve the original 2 prefixes for a while. Take a camera if you can, and take pictures not only of the DMS-100, but of the old SXS and NX-1 parts.

Sad to hear he's losing his job after 40 years. Is the DMS-100 also handling local tandem functions? Or do they hand that off to Verizon?

I'm curious to learn the history. Prior to Windstream, that area was Alltel, and before that the Murrysville Telepphone Company. Just wondering when Alltel took it over?

If anybody wants to know what the CO looks like - here's a pic from 2006:

http://www.co-buildings.com/midatl/724/export.jpg

[JmanA9]

I got the tour on Friday! I was there for 3 1/2 hours, and I took lots of pictures and lots of notes. Unfortunately, my access to the internet is extremely limited right now. I'd like to post the pictures sometime this week, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen since there's so many of them. Hopefully, you guys will hear back from me sooner rather than later.

[JmanA9]

Hey, I'm back! I organized all the photos, and I uploaded them. I included descriptions for just about every picture.

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me for the entire tour. About halfway through, my sister drove it down to me (women....). I went back and took pictures in those parts pretty hastily because I felt bad making the guy go back through half of the office, although I know he didn't mind. You'll see that because some pictures are a little blurry. Anyway, please give me your questions/comments. I'll start working on the writeup of my trip tomorrow.

http://picasaweb.goo...feat=directlink

Enjoy!

Edited by JmanA9, 08 November 2009 - 07:59 PM.

[SigFLUP]

dude, thank you!

[ThoughtPhreaker]

http://picasaweb.goo...863555326616866

hahaha, wow, I can imagine the conversation that went on when you took that picture

"and over here, we have the modems we use to administer CO equipment!"

"Oh...uhh, I see." *flash goes off + shifty stare*


Anywho, very nice . Looks like the place has a lot of history in it

Edited by ThoughtPhreaker, 09 November 2009 - 07:11 AM.

[PurpleJesus]

nice. I could get lost in there for days...

[seabass]

Yeah, that was cool.

[edison]

CO tours are awesome, aren't they? I got to tour a GTE switch in central CA almost 2 decades ago. Can't even remember what type it was - I think a Nortel.

Then I got a job in the NOC for a telco wireless carrier and got to hang out in the switch whenever I wanted. Our switch was next to an abandoned 1AESS and I spent more time playing around that thing than our 5E. Never thought to take pics, but I still remember the op console with 4th column keys (A-D).

Edited by edison, 11 November 2009 - 01:01 AM.

[ThoughtPhreaker]

ha, nice. Do you remember what color it was by any chance? Most Nortel switches have pretty distinct frame colors.

Anyway, 1As are a little amazing, aren't they? By far, they're some of the oldest switches out there, and they still manage to support some features the GTD-5 can't do. I won't call them out, but there's enough still out there that one of our members here gets service from one.

[dmine45]

That was awesome! Thanks for sharing!!!

When I was in the area about 3 1/2 years ago, most of the pay phones had been removed or were disconnected in place. Sad that they're removing all the pay phones en masse. I remeber using those pay phones at CCAC when I was a student there a number of years ago.

I knew of the NX-1 crossbar, but didn't know they had a step there. I remember when the DMS-100 was first installed on the 733 prefix, while the NX-1 still served 325 and 327. Later those two were "folded in" to the existing DMS-100.

Too bad the NX-1 was not still around (I think it was removed well over 15+ years ago).

I had known the area was Mid-Continent before it was Alltel, and now Windstream. It was a very small independent before that.

Back in the day they relied on Bell of PA for tandeming functions. Wonder if they still do, or do they connect to LD companies directly from there?

I'd like to have a tour of the nearby Monroeville, PA central office. Back in the day it was a #5XB. Ah, the memories!

Edited by dmine45, 11 November 2009 - 07:54 PM.

[ThoughtPhreaker]

Back in the day they relied on Bell of PA for tandeming functions. Wonder if they still do, or do they connect to LD companies directly from there?

Yup. It homes off of two switches in Pittsburgh; one is a DMS-200, and the other a Voice over ATM switch of some sort. I'm guessing a 5E since that's generally the protocol they use on their internal switching matrix. Anywho, both of them are former Bell Atlantic switches.

[JmanA9]

I'd like to have a tour of the nearby Monroeville, PA central office. Back in the day it was a #5XB. Ah, the memories!

That's next on my list too!