John Rowland wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 1 Jan 2005:


What might the rest of the exchange be used for? I know that part of the
WIllesden exchange in Harlesden Road is being / has been converted to flats,
but what about others?

The one in Worthing, which was originally the old Swandean exchange and
was upgraded when STD came in in the 1960s (before then, we had to lift
the telephone and wait for an operator to notice that we had done so),
has been pulled down and houses built on the site, I gather. My
parents' number was originally Swandean XXX, when we moved into that
house in 1959 - these days it's Worthing YYYXXX, but the final 3 digits
are the same as they always were!
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 18 December 2004

"Clive Coleman" wrote in message
...
In message , Martin
Underwood writes
Button A / Button B or pay-on-answer callboxes: remember those wretched
pips
I remember button A/B phones but not with pips, if I recall they came with
the slightly more modern type where when the call was answered you then
got the pips to insert the money.

Yes, you're probably right. Button A/B phones had been phased out by the
time I remember using a callbox. I only saw one in a hotel that we stayed in
when I was little (about 1970) - I presume the GPO hadn't got round to
replacing it with a "pips" phone.

Button A/B were pre-payment (like modern phoneboxes), weren't they - hence
button B to return your coin if there weas no answer. Nowadays no buttons
are needed because the coin is automatically consumed if the call is
answered (equivalent to pressing A) and automatically returned (if not used)
when the handset is replaced (equivalent to pressing B). I'm not sure why
this functionality wasn't included in old callboxes: surely it wasn't
difficult even in valve-amplifier and relay days.

Martin Underwood wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 1 Jan 2005:

- Button A / Button B or pay-on-answer callboxes: remember those wretched
pips

The first call we received after we'd gone to STD (Subscriber Trunk
Dialling - before then, we'd had no dialling of any kind) was from a
phone-box, and my mother was most upset at the thought of "That horrid
noise" whenever the phone rang.....

But do you remember "the pips" that would warn you when you'd been
talking for three minutes on a long-distance call (trunk call, they were
called), since such calls were extremely expensive and charged in
3-minute units. Few people wanted to prolong a call once they'd heard
"the pips".
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 18 December 2004

Stephen Osborn wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 1 Jan 2005:


The flash change over for London numbers (from 0171 xxx xxxx to 020 7xxx
xxxx) was at 1 am on 22nd April 2000.
That was Easter Saturday so there more time than usual to sort out any
problems, also the network load the following week would be lower than
normal.

But right from the beginning of that year you could dial 020 7xxx xxxx
or 020 8xxx xxxx, and you programmed your phone like that so that you
didn't have a problem on the Tuesday of Easter week. At least, we did
where I worked.
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 18 December 2004

"Mrs Redboots" wrote in message
...
Martin Underwood wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 1 Jan 2005:

By the way, why was the letter U not used as a year letter? I can
understand
why I, O, Q and Z were omitted because they are too similar to digits 1, 0
[O and Q] and 2. But what digit could U be confused with?


I think it was considered too similar to V.

I'd have thought that U and V were fairly easy to distinguish - unlike a
letter D, a letter O and a digit 0 which *can* very easily be confused in
the square font that's used on numberplates. OK, so you won't have an O or 0
in the year position, but D and O are allowed interchangably in three-letter
part of the numberplate. DDO, DOD, ODD, OOD and other permutations are
extremely hard to distinguish.

"Mrs Redboots" wrote in message
...
John Rowland wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 1 Jan 2005:


What might the rest of the exchange be used for? I know that part of the
WIllesden exchange in Harlesden Road is being / has been converted to
flats,
but what about others?

The one in Worthing, which was originally the old Swandean exchange and
was upgraded when STD came in in the 1960s (before then, we had to lift
the telephone and wait for an operator to notice that we had done so),
has been pulled down and houses built on the site, I gather. My
parents' number was originally Swandean XXX, when we moved into that
house in 1959 - these days it's Worthing YYYXXX, but the final 3 digits
are the same as they always were!

My parents number went from Stoke Mandeville (01296 61) XXXX to Aylesbury
(0296) 61XXXX - so not a lot of change there!

"Mrs Redboots" wrote in message
...
Stephen Osborn wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 1 Jan 2005:


The flash change over for London numbers (from 0171 xxx xxxx to 020 7xxx
xxxx) was at 1 am on 22nd April 2000.
That was Easter Saturday so there more time than usual to sort out any
problems, also the network load the following week would be lower than
normal.

But right from the beginning of that year you could dial 020 7xxx xxxx
or 020 8xxx xxxx, and you programmed your phone like that so that you
didn't have a problem on the Tuesday of Easter week. At least, we did
where I worked.
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 18 December 2004

Both before and after 22nd April 2000 you could use 0171 xxx xxxx or 020
7xxx xxxx - that is standard parallel running practise. The 01* codes for
the areas affected were switched off separately some months later, each one
on a weekend a fortnight apart.

Before 1 am 22nd April 2000 you could use xxx xxxx but not 7xxx xxxx within
London
After 1 am 22nd April 2000 you could not use xxx xxxx but could use 7xxx
xxxx.

"John Rowland" wrote in
message

What might the rest of the exchange be used for? I know that part of
the WIllesden exchange in Harlesden Road is being / has been
converted to flats, but what about others?

I am beginning to have problems telling this newsgroup from uk.telecom

Exchanges from the "predigital" era are much larger than they need to be
now - Wandsworth for instance is a 6 floor building but I'm told that only
one room in one floor is now used for the digital exchange equipment.

Some exchanges have:

- been closed
- sold for flats etc
- converted into office space for BT (or others)

However, I gather most of the extra space has simply been mothballed in the
past and is actually gradually coming back into use - now that developments
like xDSL and LLU mean that more space is needed in exchanges and the
distance from an exchange to the end user becomes an issue (before it wasn't
really a factor) - its also less likely that exchanges will be totally
closed in future because of this - though I believe there are still have
plans to close a couple of exchanges in Central London.

Regards
Sunil

In message ,
Martin Underwood writes

I'd have thought that U and V were fairly easy to distinguish - unlike a
letter D, a letter O and a digit 0 which *can* very easily be confused in
the square font that's used on numberplates. OK, so you won't have an O or 0
in the year position, but D and O are allowed interchangably in three-letter
part of the numberplate. DDO, DOD, ODD, OOD and other permutations are
extremely hard to distinguish.

And U was used in the Isle Of Man for MAN xxxU, AMN xxxU etc.
registrations similar to British ones.
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

"Steve Fitzgerald" ] wrote in message
...
In message , Martin
Underwood writes

I'd have thought that U and V were fairly easy to distinguish - unlike a
letter D, a letter O and a digit 0 which *can* very easily be confused in
the square font that's used on numberplates. OK, so you won't have an O or
0
in the year position, but D and O are allowed interchangably in
three-letter
part of the numberplate. DDO, DOD, ODD, OOD and other permutations are
extremely hard to distinguish.

And U was used in the Isle Of Man for MAN xxxU, AMN xxxU etc.
registrations similar to British ones.

I didn't know that? So did they use the letter suffix to denote the year? If
so, did it start at the same time as in Great Britain - ie A=1963, B=1964
etc? If so, I presume it went out of sync in the early 80s when IOM used U
and GB used V.