A tour of AT&T's Network Operations Center (1979) - AT&T Archives

[@JonathanFisherS]

First thing, this guy's suit is incredible. Second, how crazy it is that ATT put this together using stone age technology by today's standards. The bandwidth between stations would take hours to transmit one frame of this video. Yet here I am.... watching it from my house

[@andrewscharbarth2099]

the technology may have evolved but the methodology presented here is still how things are done.

[@stevesether]

The speeds of connections in 1977 are slow by todays standards, but they're not THAT slow. The T1 was invented in 1962, and was the equivalent of 1.5 megabits/second. In the 70s they pushed this to 3-6 megabits. A single frame of this video is likely only a few kilobytes. At 720P This video may have taken up all the bandwidth of a 5 megabit connection to transmit, at the time, but it could be done. Of course, you couldn't decompress it even with a supercomputer of the time, but that's another discussion entirely. The most astounding thing is that we all have these unimaginable speeds of faster than a T3 (45 megabits/second) that are dirt cheap.

[@aldude999]

@@stevesether Didn't they send standard analog TV over this network? This video is SD and would fit on that bandwidth as analog NTSC.

[@stevesether]

@@aldude999 I think that's right. IIRC the first use of these lines was exactly what you're describing, sending TV across these lines.

[@MyUserTubeAccount]

@@aldude999 they transmitted over copper pairs

[@nocusr]

Enjoyed the video. Retired 2 years ago after 41 years with AT&T, the last 21 as a Network Manager in the GNOC (formerly known as the NOC). It was the most interesting and rewarding job I could have.

[@teltri]

Weren´t you sorry for poor guys sitting control rooms and holding the oldfashioned receivers in they hands? Why didn´t they use headsets instead?

[@jamesb8305]

Was UNIX used to control the works?

[@nintendo9231889]

@@jamesb8305 Unix, cosmos (wirecenter management), many other custom os

[@cat-lw6kq]

I worked in TRCC center in Los Angeles.,we had a huge board with flashing lights but it was not operational, I think visitors were always impressed by it. We monitored all digital lines and T-Carrier systems.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Really, pretty cool .

[@skiaspensnowmass]

I love the way he looks at the ground, searching for the right words to explain voice routing.

[@motelchanel]

I love it 😂

[@cat-lw6kq]

I worked as a tester in TRCC (T-Carrier Restoration Control Center) center in Los Angeles we monitored all the digital lines We had this huge board with lights and it impressed visitors but it wasn't operational. . My job was to test and isolate trouble on the lines and restore service.

[@cdoublejj]

....go on....

[@stargazer7644]

Yeah, our NOC had these huge fancy projectors that lit up maps and computer screens all over the front wall. We called it the dog and pony show. It was only ever turned on when we were due to have visitors for tours. The NOC techs never used it. We weren't even allowed to turn it on the rest of the time to save the very expensive projector bulbs.

[@Chris_at_Home]

I worked the pipeline contract for 9 years which carried all their traffic along with other bandwidth to Prudhoe Bay on a microwave backbone. We even maintained their two way radio repeater system and the network control ring equipment at the pump stations. Then worked in a gateway earth station for AT&T here in Alaska. Im retired now. I worked for other companies before that. We tested all types of circuits.

[@Chris_at_Home]

@@stargazer7644w they just use big screens as the price on them has dropped. I worked at a couple places that they brought the big bosses to. The top three of the company came to the site I worked at together. The bosses also would come to the gateway earth station up here.

[@michaelwhitlow372]

Loved this video! I can just see today’s version of it. 30 people sitting in the NOC. Engineers “We got a problem!” , NOC boss “oh no call the IT Department” . The only IT person they have out of tens of thousands who knows how to fix it get woken up. The 30 Noc people try to take credit. The NOC boss gets the credit. The person who got woken up and actually did fix it gets written up for not responding quick enough.

[@stevesether]

Ha. As someone who works for an ISP, and sometimes gets called at 3am when something is broken, I can assure you that at least my company, we know who fixed the problem. :)

[@ikonix360]

I can see today's version. One server and a program. No real human interaction needed except when there's a problem that needs fixed.

[@bouffant-girl]

That's exactly how the situation would play out in the real world 🌎 😳

[@Horse-c2t]

Such as life. All other jobs are same bs

[@Eliusalmo1]

Excellent! I worked with TAC support.. I saw the transition From CMF, MF Trks signaling to SS7, then voip..TDMA, CDMA and GSM..

[@cdoublejj]

....go on....

[@garymckee8857]

You have been around for a good while. I have only been around since SS7.

[@SoCalFreelance]

"take a look at this light for example, this is Steve Wozniak hacking into our phone system using a Cap'n Crunch whistle"

[@mspysu79]

By 1979, he was too busy at Apple for such things. But without the Blue Box Apple may have never happened.

[@orgami100]

That would be at 2600 Herz

[@Bill_N7FTM]

We understand your point but, 1) not hacked with a light. 2) Wozniak used a blue box to do his hacking and 3) the Cap'n Crunch whistle was someone else.

[@orgami100]

Cap'n Crunch whistle emitted a tone at precisely 2600 hertz-the same frequency that AT&T long lines used to indicate that a trunk line was available for routing a new call.... Since I was working for electronic company had access to tone generators.. just recorded the AT&T long distance tones

[@nyccollin]

SoCalFreelance was CAPTAIN Crunch. Mandela Effect.

[@ATTTechChannel]

Even more amazing is the current GNOC. We've updated the video description with a tour that Engadget took last year. Check it out and ask us anything you want to about it.

[@MarkShannonroad_videos]

Both videos are terrific. Cool to see the then and now and the changes that had happened over the years. It makes me kinda wonder what would had happened if Ma Bell wasn't broken up. Where would we be now.

[@pghbob555]

When I worked for AT&T Long Lines in Pittsburgh, I remember a NOC in ouir building on Grant Street. Is there a reason that you don't mention that particular location?

[@grabasandwich]

Robert Knight shhh haha just kidding

[@Lillyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy]

I'd love to ask.. How can I learn and, hopefully, work for AT&T operations in this capacity?

[@nintendo9231889]

@@Lillyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy just join the NSA.

[@scotty3034]

I feel like this guy could sell me a Chrysler Sebring.

[@-fuk57]

Have some faith in humanity, man! I'm sure he's a decent fellow.

[@tomgallagher1865]

Note the heavy gold wrist jewelry: pure 1970's.

[@louismazzamauro7599]

I visited this center while working as a Network Planning Engineer for Southern New England Telephone Co.

[@wanderlustspirit4607]

From the music I couldn’t tell if I was watching a documentary or a porno

[@Toothily]

On a busy day, they could *do it* 50 or 60 times, maybe even more.

[@TexasRailfan2008]

Arcana Snout hmm, I see

[@andrewjames1982]

As a network engineer, for me the answer is both

[@JJVernig]

@@andrewjames1982 I thought the same, this scale of operation has almost disappeared.

[@cat-lw6kq]

I worked in 7 different departments during my time with AT&T. I worked as a tester on both digital and dial tone. I also worked in the field and inside customer prems and central offices. I performed power routines, installed fiber optic and channel banks. Also worked as a dispatcher and supply person.

[@mima85]

That's really fascinating. As it's really fascinating thinking that today's communication systems are thousands and thousands of times more complex and capable than the ones at the time this video was filmed, which were already very complex. This can really give an idea of the sheer scale of a nation/worldwide telco system and all the hard work that's behind simple things like doing a phone call, sending an E-Mail, browsing a website or enjoying real time high definition audio/video streams, all things that we give for granted every day.

[@MaxPower-11]

Things have changed a lot since then. Today’s telecom networks operate completely differently than networks back then thanks mainly to two revolutionary technologies: Fiber optics, which replaced microwave relay links and coaxial cables, and packet switching which replaced circuit switching.

[@mima85]

@@MaxPower-11 Oh yeah, in no way what we have today would have been achievable with the telco technology of those years, especially without packet switching. Maybe something and with less bandwidth would have been obtainable anyway even without fiber optics, by further pushing the limits of copper and radio links, but without packet switching absolutely no way.

[@Zaxarian]

This is great stuff the bell system was amazing For it’s time

[@OshanRuiz]

The speech at the end made me euphoric..

[@Horse-c2t]

I know, I needed to change my pants 👖💦

[@lancetheman28]

My grandparents worked for AT&T, I wanted this job as a kid. I ended up as a manager in a call center for a large company.

[@slowneutron6163]

I took this tour! Right before we took the Love Canal and Three Mile Island Tours. Swell time!

[@gmc9753]

I worked for AT&T as a programmer in the late 80's in Herndon, VA. One day the group I was working in took a "field trip" to the underground NOC (I think it was a NOC) in Dranesville, VA. That was a fascinating place to visit.

[@victoracunamendez7525]

Yo vivo en frente de tu casa, yo soy el vesino qué ama a tu hija en secreto

[@SeaJay_Oceans]

Thank you AT & T for bringing America together !

[@williamnovak3499]

I'm interested in making a compilation of thoughts and memories, first hand accounts of technicians and operators and anyone who worked for the telephone company. To show what kind of man power, it took to maintain a network that massive. To compare that workforce and skill set to today's. To kind of show my generation and younger what supported America and made it great. Jobs. Working class jobs. That's another subject for another day. I'm doing research to give a background. 1) Compared to then, what differences are there in the network its self. 2) how does today's telephone network differ physically/infrastructure wise and support wise, as in operator assists etc. 3) how does today's network (POTS) link up with cable television providers, internet providers, and how is traffic handled between them how are they all tied together to provide voip? Side question: I used to live in the country and there were 3-4' tall boxes at everyone's driveway with a big line of connects on it for the telephone man. Just our lines were connected in this box since we were at the end of the road but what purpose does this serve? Also one time mentioned to me that they had to add a charge through battery to the line for us to get a dial tone since we lived too far away from the telephone office. What kind of equipment is that?

[@CornWanderer]

they deleted those jobs, everything is voip as of 2000

[@CornWanderer]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_subscriber_line_access_multiplexer they use a DSLAM for that

[@Wag2112]

They added loading coils to each line ( dial tone circuit ) at those cans , it was like an inductor type deal for each line on that cable head - 50 pair cable needed as many loading coils as your neighborhood needed , up to 50.

[@cornelsanders2878]

I spent 45 years with Long Lines the last 10 years I worked for a District Mgr. who received our work from the NOC and we were told we were maximizing the "efficacy of the at&t global network" so therefore the job was easy being a supv. my network goals were easy to achieve every year....

[@zendog57]

I worked network restoration for over 15 years ... my how things have changed. :)

[@videosuperhighway7655]

The background music reminds me of this adult "art" movie I saw on 8mm called in the box. back in the 1970s lol.

[@davidjames666]

was that a documentary on computers? - I guess they thought music sounded technical

[@maxstr]

Wow, a lot of countries in that list don't exist anymore

[@Ingsoc75]

GDR, USSR and Yugoslavia

[@maxstr]

Also Czechoslovakia

[@dzonikg]

​@@Ingsoc75 When i was kid in Yugoslavia and my parent were at work i would use a phone and call random number in New York..i had i fascination then with New York ..it was some strange world off skyscrapers that i could only see on TV sometimes ..when phone start ring my heart would start jumping and if someone there rise a phone and say halo i would be scared and disconnect ..my parents were suspicious off high telephone bills but there was no way they could check because there was no listings for my number ..they tough i had some sympathy in other town so they did not protest

[@-fuk57]

@@dzonikg My brother and I would call Australia from the United States just to wake people up. I used to learn so much from the telephone directory.

[@napasada]

@@-fuk57 I did something similar back in 1980. I would look at the map on the back of the Mountain Bell directory, and it was the same one that all Bell Pages directories had, with the North American area codes. I would randomly call area codes using our home phone number in Arizona to see if others had the same number, but with different area code. Called Jamaica, Illinois, New York, and Alberta, among others. Well, $800 later, my parents got the shock of their life. Needless to say they were not happy about the AT&T Long Lines phone bill they got. I had to do weed duty in the grass for many months. I did however end up with a pen pal in Calgary, Alberta for many years thereafter until early 90's from the person I called.

[@brianswks]

I own the Plains Kansas site now (mentioned on the video)! Lol. No more microwave horns left on it now. New microwave dishes for Internet now.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Really?

[@christodd3361]

I have a site in Eastern CO - we still have the horns up!

[@brianswks]

@@christodd3361 Very cool!! I have the Plains and Sublette ones in Southwest Kansas. I have everything you can imagine on mine.. from cellular to WISP's. They aren't too bad to climb either!

[@Schooney60606]

Rockdale, Georgia! There used to be microwave horns on a building in Conyers. Amazing that they'd reroute a call to the West Coast by sending it all the way to the East Coast.

[@frozencanuck3521]

Really digging that sweet intro and outro music

[@TheFoodieCutie]

I love this 70s tv background music, reminds me of Sesame Street

[@cnafyi]

The tune at the start sounds very Bob James (who did the theme for TAXI)

[@kc0eks]

love the videos posted here. lots of great videos

[@superdaveozy7863]

Excuse me while I compress the operations of this entire large room into a desktop computer with an ethernet cable.

[@peterweatherley7669]

With the benefit of nigh on four decades of technological progress to help you along the way. Show some respect for the people who built this beautiful thing with nothing but slide rules and electromechanics

[@deepspacecow2644]

This definitely still exists. Just much faster equipment connected.

[@boulder89984]

This is the automatic routing center for our two cans and a string internet connections. I see we are humming along at 300 baud. This was impossible just a few years ago!

[@MM-hu3ys]

The original AT&T, American Telephone and Telegraph, should never have been broken up !

[@Kylefassbinderful]

lol they should've been broken up years before they did

[@TheoSmith249]

Actually the breakup of AT&T was a massive investment boon for wall street. That was the major reason. Also many senators and congressmen of the day made off like bandits.

[@ikonix360]

​@@Kylefassbinderful So we could have had less innovation that was brought about by ma bell?

[@kathleenking47]

If it wasn't broken, we wouldn't have SMARTPHONES..in which I'm watching thru now

[@ikonix360]

@@kathleenking47 You're right. We would have had something way more advanced.

[@swissthun60]

Well done..., Thanks for sharing!

[@voipportland6911]

Great video! A modern Network Operations Center (NOC) is a little different. An automated attendant will answer and you say what you want/need. After speaking/asking for 20 mins in frustration you press zero fifty times for help and then you are transferred to a call center in India and then probably hung up on. Now that is progress....

[@Doctorrayify]

I noticed he said there were two centers in Canada, was that operated by Bell Canada on behalf of AT&T or was it a joint operation?

[@mobile_vic]

The two Canadian centers were operated by Bell Canada (Montreal) and Saskatchewan Telephone (Regina). In the US, one of the regional centers was operated by GTE (San Bernardino, CA)

[@Bananas21ca]

More of a Joint Operation. Bell Canada was a regional operating company under the Bell System at one time. When AT&T was forced to sell off their stake in Bell Canada, it made sense to continue working together as much of our phone networks were modelled after the US Bell System.

[@Michael_Livingstone]

Where were they?

[@napasada]

There is a historical site that I help maintain on the Bell System, which also has information on Bell Canada. It was 1975 that AT&T finally sold their last remaining stock holdings in Bell Canada. The ties ran deep. An AT&T Vice President would always sit on the board of directors of Bell Canada, until I believe after the 1960's. Here is the Bell System Memorial historical web site that has much interesting information. www.beatriceco.com/bti/porticus/bell/att/historical_financial.htm

[@kathleenking47]

Zeros and ones for middle numbers of area codes In 1980, CA had 8 atea codes, now they have over 40 And look like PREFIXES

[@telocho]

Canada is part of NANPA, as is part of the Carribean, and share one numbering plan under country code 1. Rest of the world follows ITU-T.

[@elstyr]

Nice insight how AT&T's NOC's looked like back then. Are there videos which describe the network/routing tech in more detail? 7:05: As a German I find it interesting that in 1979 East-Germany was listed before (West)-Germany, and the line to East-Germany hat an odd status light :-)

[@EdDunkle]

I can't imagine phoning East German back in the day. I'm sure NSA was listening.

[@napasada]

Maybe DDR (East Germany) was listed before, because list could have been alphabetical.

[@MyUserTubeAccount]

love these old videos. i been at Verizon long enough to appreciate the old timers, and try to keep their professionalism and craftwork going. unfortunately, the new employees know NOTHING about the history of ATT/Bell, don't care, and take a s**t in every subscribers location they visit. CWA!

[@hawks675_]

Does anybody recognize the music played at 8:40? I've tried soundhound/shazam. It sounds like a Hugo Winterhalter arrangement of something, but I'll be damned if I can put my finger on it. Any ideas?

[@cnafyi]

The start of it sounds like Harry Nilsson - Everybody's Talkin but then veers off, any idea what the first music is - sounds like Bob James?

[@hawks675_]

@@cnafyi Right - I thought it was a version of Everybody's Talkin' too, but no joy. I thought it might be Floyd Cramer or maybe James Last, but again - nothing. I mailed AT&T to see if they had a cue sheet for this but no reply on that front. I agree the opening number sounds like Bob James; that electric piano and the brass are his style. I listened to what I could find from Bob James prior to 1979 but no matches. It's not impossible AT&T commissioned these two pieces and they were never released commercially...

[@maxvideodrome4215]

Gotta love that board in the NOC

[@theirishreptilian]

Is there a video tour inside the AT&T long lines building in New York City?

[@MushroomNinja]

lol no, it's confidential

[@nintendo9231889]

Just join the NSA!

[@visionist7]

If New York gets nuked that building will probably survive. Depends on how far away the nuke goes off. The core of 1 WTC will probably survive too.

[@randomvariety7874]

those computer systems look identical to what they are still using today that's how old ATT's tech is

[@orgami100]

Intel 8088

[@maxpayne438]

@@orgami100 I still use my 4770k, so they're way better

[@orgami100]

@@maxpayne438 That's funny. .don't believe i7-4770K & 8088 are the same. . Although they are related as a grandfather..

[@atiainc]

can i se pics or vid? of todys?

[@kathleenking47]

I miss newscasters with diction..like this. I used to he a telephone company operator..started in 1980

[@webluke]

Amazing how now all of those calls can fit in a single fiber line now. It is also funny they would manually change the flow of calls over the "computer" switching. They would look at the load then call a human to switch how the calls would flow at the busy area too. I bet the thought that the computer screen showing a printout of text every few seconds was top of the line. I bet more than 90% of the microwave links are all just rusting away like the one in our town, too big to get rid of, too expensive to maintain. The big building just full of fiber switching now with 3-5 people working full time for the entire area for a few hundred miles.

[@CheapSushi]

I dislike AT&T in its current form, at the same level as Comcast, but I did love this video and appreciate the work that went into the switching machines and command centers back then.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

The earlier videos are better.

[@napasada]

AT&T was a better company back then, and really took service to the nation seriously. It was not all about high CEO salaries, and quality in the network was top priority.

[@ikonix360]

​@@napasada Think the problem now is deregulation.

[@napasada]

@@ikonix360 Precisely. Though not a big fan of regulation, but when it comes to the national electrical grid, and our communications grid (network), having a central cohesive "One System, One Policy, Universal Service". What we have now is just a mess, and with no real research, development, manufacturing, and oversight of installation of end-to-end network systems, it becomes a convoluted mess.

[@Chrissy4605]

Very Interesting. I can only imagine how few people run that type of technical center!!! Most domestic calls today are routed along fiber-optic lines. More and more calls for International calls are also being routed over fiber-optic trunk lines. If you dig and see orange stop immediately as it is very likely a fiber-optic line!!!

[@SuperSpecies]

The absolute majority of all international traffic travels over submarine fibre. A major difference now is that they usually have an ip/Ethernet transport rather than the old sdh/sonet etc.

[@Zoomer30_]

Anytime one these indicators is lit, it's have a goooood time.

[@cowboytim9882]

Could the lapels of his suit jacket be any WIDER?

[@visionist7]

Chicks love it

[@syntaxerorr]

Would this switching be around level 4 of the iso model? TCP?

[@telocho]

syntaxerorr Circuit switching, not packet switching. Compare it to X.25 not to tcp. It's more like layer 3 in OSI, layer 2 being the point-to-point circuit signalling.

[@stargazer7644]

Lol, no. most of these circuits were analog voice circuits over microwave, not even digital yet. The data links for control of the network were not IP.

[@MaxPower-11]

These phone lines were circuit switched rather than packet-switched.

[@northhankspin]

What are those two blue things beside his computer monitor? speakers?

[@nocusr]

At what time?

[@SJR_Media_Group]

*_WOW Those were the Days.... Been There... Done That..._* The 80's saw the Breakup and Reorganization of Bell and ATT. A number of Baby Bells - REBOC's (Regional Bell Operating Centers) were tasked with providing dial-tone to local callers. ATT was provider for all Long Distance Calls. It was the WILD WEST for Private Interconnects. They sold telephone systems to mostly business customers, arranged dial-tone from REBOC's and Long Distance from ATT. Both companies terminated their lines inside the premise on a RJ 21 telephone block. The private interconnects would be responsible for everything past this point. I worked for two different and competing Interconnects. Later, I started my own company and specialized in PC Based voice mail and automated attendants. Today there are too many companies and options. Analog voice lines being replaced with digital IP based lines. VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol). Cell services, and more. I guess I am old school - still have a Land Line, although it's DSL Digital Subscriber Line; both voice and data. *_It's anyone's guess what is in store for 2023 and on into the future._*

[@tjsh02]

3:18 "Houston 4, you got a problem" :D

[@DavidTrejo]

“DUDE W’RE ON THE PHONE WITH SPACE! “😡 😁

[@vinceplacanica7813]

A lot has changed since then....

[@johnbroski1993]

Lol the NOC now is like 1 or 2 people.. and they are miserable

[@ikonix360]

POTS was once something to be very proud of. Imagine if ma bell hadnt been broken up in the 80s how much more advanced telephone technology and other transmission technology would be. The issue now is basically AT&T is trying to control it all only without regulation.

[@tma-1704]

Actually, it would most likely be less advanced. Competition is what drives innovation. AT&T had no incentive before divestiture to improve the network since they were guaranteed a profit when they were a monopoly.

[@chalmerbasham695]

With everything going VOIP I wonder what the NOC looks like now?

[@hey_buddy_waz_up]

A cubicle somewhere in India

[@Gojoe107]

Would love to see a modern one!

[@kgfgfg1]

There is no modern one. This is now done totally digital in an digital Network. Only monitored from India.

[@finaltransconfigurat]

Kgfd's ignorance is astonishing lol.

[@finaltransconfigurat]

He's the kind of guy that doesn't understand that "cloud" computing just means you don't own your own equipment.

[@lukerinderknecht2982]

Check the description, there's a link to another video of a modern GNOC.

[@Gojoe107]

@@lukerinderknecht2982 found it!!! Thanks! I didn't scroll everything! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXO6ZIKXlrCMd9k

[@hey_buddy_waz_up]

Is this system UNIX based?

[@WhitfieldProductionsTV]

how many longline uplinks are left?

[@kevinarthur7634]

So cool!

[@DrLumpyDMus]

"OK all you computer techs, working in the network room, locked away from the public. You'll be required to wear a suit and tie to work. But you can take the jacket off when seated at your huge, oak, office desk."

[@山田ちゃん]

Now I will make a virtual/in-game telephone service provider. I am working on a really realistic high graphic game

[@calif1mc]

They way it was when I was 8 years old.

[@jkanclark]

IF this facility or anything like it still exists today, I’d be surprised if it’s staffed by 10% of what it was back then

[@edwardpate6128]

You would be absolutely correct!

[@visionist7]

If I were POTUS back then I would have mandated the analogue network be maintained in case of nuclear war.... would be very expensive and impractical though

[@nocusr]

No, you’re wrong. This video was shot in 1979, the GNOC still exists, and the total staff is at least five times more.

[@tsfreh]

Nice presentation

[@jamesb8305]

Powered by UNIX?

[@LMacNeill]

By 1979, definitely.

[@nintendo9231889]

Cosmos and others.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Good question.This is 2019. The Unix systems used in the late 1980's on college campuses, and universities- scientific organizations have progressed .I actually worked on them as a student . There is the same physics, more or less; however, both the physics, and engineering need work. Those wires suck.

[@telocho]

The phone exchanges run their own operating system, usually written in a language like CHILL. Unix would be the choice for the operator terminals (tty's)

[@stargazer7644]

Many parts of the 4ESS system were powered by 3B series mini computers running DMERT which was similar to a real-time Unix OS. It was designed for high availability.

[@johneygd]

Were those networks already digital at the time,i ask this because telephones were annalogue backthen, unless am wrong.

[@nisserot]

It was mostly analog. Check out the work of Evan Doorbell.

[@mrFalconlem]

Good ole ma belle

[@68lincoln]

The phenomenal job done by AT&T Long Lines, from after World War II to the unfortunate and misguided break up of AT&T in 1984, is fascinating. Take the L5 system, in 1974 for example, it could carry 108,000 simultaneous conversations. The balance of interstate traffic, 69 percent, was carried by microwave radio routes and the remaining one percent in very rural areas on copper paired wire cables. Nowadays of course almost all traffic has moved to digital systems on fiber optic routes.

[@dedoughboy]

How does it work today?

[@DavidHansen725]

fiber optic land lines.

[@dedoughboy]

walking down memory lane....lol

[@TacoCrisma]

fiber lines route the major pathways across the us. usually 500 gig lines, then they break out to central offices and go from 500 gig lines to oc192's all the way down to T1 lines as the lines are broken down further through equipment.

[@glaysonnn]

Este homen é vivo hoje ?

[@MadScientist267]

Complete with 70s technoporn music!

[@rum-ham]

There sure are a lot of illuminated lights (network problems) on the board he's showing us..

[@am74343]

There simply isn't enough Fender-Rhodes electric piano in documentaries nowadays... LOL!

[@bronxfireradio]

Sir, don't touch the big board. Sir!

[@dwill123]

The 'REAL' AT&T.

[@mark33545]

Probably could have done some nice insider trading using the info they had.

[@JamesHalfHorse]

So unlike all the NOCs I have worked in and yet the same.

[@davidjames666]

Odin or Datablitz? anyone out there know what I am talking about?

[@jasonsignor7237]

Wow. The music at the end. 🤣

[@telocho]

ST Maarten spelled wrong as ST Marrten

[@faizanjoyia]

This is circuit switched network now everything packet switched network if there is overflow the call will still go through but will be bad quality

[@coolvideos8864]

Cap'n Crunch! If you know, you know.

[@adancalderon8915]

Informative. It is sounds strange to me hearing "ROOTing" vs "r-OUT-ing" with an American accent. I have heard British people pronouce it the other way.

[@tylersheehy3918]

What about texting?

[@teltri]

Poor people. They had to hold the oldfashioned telephone receivers in hand all the time. Why didn´t they use headsets?

[@visionist7]

It might be for the purpose of the video... most people hadn't seen headsets in 1979 probably. Then again this video wasn't for public consumption I don't think

[@summersky77]

10:21 From a time when people would actually pick up the goddman phone.

[@teltri]

Poor people. They had to hold the oldfashioned telephone receivers in hands all the time. Why didn´t they use headsets? I used to work for AT&T in Europe and it was a pretty demanding job.

[@OrangeDiamond33]

They tried going hands free but discovered everyone was beating off then. Thats why they went back to receivers.

[@nintendo9231889]

@@OrangeDiamond33 hey I can do that with one hand!

[@napasada]

@@OrangeDiamond33 "Reach Out And Touch Someone" (old Bell System slogan from 1970's)

[@OrangeDiamond33]

napasada Yep I remember that. More like reach down and touch yourself

[@stargazer7644]

These people aren't operators. Talking on the phone isn't their primary job.

[@blthetube1]

Why was I expecting this song to break out? kzbin.info/www/bejne/rovddq16oMp7sKs 3:42 Woah....Slow Down!!... Sophisticated switching machines.... Sounds like some king of alien take over.... That's too sophisticated for us simple folk...

[@Angellady11]

That toupee on his head 😂

[@andyblackpool]

How prehistoric to the modern eye

[@jameshackintosh]

That music lasted long.

[@duralate]

Imagine just doing your thing at work and some journalist pretending to be working has the *audacity* to ask you to keep an eye on his stuff.

[@deanchapman1824]

Back when we used to dress up for work.

[@anthonyborrego489]

I LOVE " GUI " !?! ; )

[@BeryJensen]

4 people didnt get a free line during this video

[@coolvideos8864]

0:30 erm No! thats your job!

[@jpolar394]

Ahhhhh .....The days when life was simple and everyone was not living like robots. The word "Cellphone zombie " was not invented yet.

[@napasada]

I still like to use on occasion my Western Electric 500 model series rotary phone from 1955. Works great on my analog phone line. The sound is much clearer than most cell phones, because of the high quality of materials that Western Electric used in their equipment. Many cell phones sound like a tin can, and is so annoying.

[@tychothefriendlymonolith]

3:10 I'll take Columbia vs Michigan for 20...

[@nwenetworkengr3408]

12 mins ago - You may also like ... 13 retweets 13 likes ... 5 retweets 8 likes ... David Headley says 26

[@scottburns5376]

And then Randall stephenson came along and tuned the company into a dumpster fire

[@ryanfraley7113]

To be fair the break up and how it was handled did that before Stephenson even thought he would be CEO