ndt
join:2008-08-22
Picayune, MS | reply to glutt
Re: What does a CO look like ?
Just one New Orleans C.O. after Hurricane Katrina.It's the last one I worked in before Retiring in 2001.
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kewlkeed
Grouch
Premium
join:2005-02-05
Knowlton, QC | reply to glutt
Now THERE is the good stuff!!!
I'm not a big fan of crossbar, only because I never had much experience with it. I was always SxS or early incarnations of ESS in my area when I was younger. |
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ndt
join:2008-08-22
Picayune, MS
| reply to glutt
This is what I started on in 1966.Called a Step by Step switching system.Before X-bar and Electronic Switching.There would be thousands of different types(Line Finder,Selector,Connector) in a good size office.They had to be physically maintained.Cleaning,Lubing,adjusting,etc.
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mrkevin
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.
Premium
join:2007-08-07
Aurora, ME
clubs:
 ·US Cellular
 ·Dish Network
 ·magicjack.com
 ·Rivah.net
| reply to glutt
said by glutt  :Hi i was wondering if anybody had any pics of a telco CO, or knew where i might find some. Thanks »FTTH CO and plant pics
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An army of sheep led by a lion, will always defeat an army of lions led by a sheep. |
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nunya
SEE ROCK CITY 475 MILES
Premium,MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
clubs:
·AT&T CallVantage
| reply to glutt
I've had the pleasure of working in many C.O.'s. All Bell. I can tell you that an RBOC C.O. makes most IT or computer rooms look like dumps.
FWIW, when times were slow we would actually *armor all* the vault cables as we went along checking bonds / grounds.
There is a certain smell to C.O.'s which is universal. It's not a bad smell, just unmistakable. It's almost pleasant if you don't have to be in there every day. Anyone who's been in one knows what I mean.
The best was being in there on Mothers Day before the digital switches went in. What a noise! The clickety-clack has now been replaced with the droning hum of fans (much like server fans). The new switches are tiny compared to the old. Many offices still use the old "cosmic" side of the frame with the new switches, which is laughable since it outsizes the switch it serves 2:1.
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Looks like Reverend Wright got his wish - God Damn America. |
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kewlkeed
Grouch
Premium
join:2005-02-05
Knowlton, QC | reply to glutt
Feel free to send me an IM, I'd be really interested in having a bunch. SxS and crossbar are a serious hobby of mine. |
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alphapointe
Premium,MVM
join:2002-02-10
Columbia, MO
clubs:
 ·Mediacom
1 edit | reply to kewlkeed
I don't remember where I got it. When I get home, I'll see if I can find the site it came from, though.
Never mind, Tia just reminded me that that particular sound is from the Culver-Stockton College (Canton, MO) PABX. (I've got a lot of sounds, and it's hard to remember what is what.) |
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kewlkeed
Grouch
Premium
join:2005-02-05
Knowlton, QC | reply to glutt
Holy crap a SxS recording I HAVEN'T heard!
Where did you get that and please tell me you have more??! |
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alphapointe
Premium,MVM
join:2002-02-10
Columbia, MO
clubs:
·Mediacom
| reply to dsdarling
You mean like this 1200 station SxS PABX? |
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kewlkeed
Grouch
Premium
join:2005-02-05
Knowlton, QC | reply to glutt
Music to my ears!
Gawd they just don't make things like they used to. |
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dsdarling
join:2005-04-01
Spokane, WA
1 edit | reply to Lvl4Installer
You want noise...
If you could play 100 of the following file at the same time....
You would have an idea of what noise is.
And then add a #5 Crossbar switch on the same floor....
Oh and this was just 3 numbers dialed.... add 4 more for effect. |
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kewlkeed
Grouch
Premium
join:2005-02-05
Knowlton, QC
1 edit | reply to glutt
LMAO then you need to go visit some SxS and Crossbar COs.
Yes yes I know they don't exist now. But I would imagine the original poster was referring to them being quiet compared to these two monsters. You ain't heard noise 'till you've heard a SxS or XB switch in action.
Edit - Fans hum or roar... But there's nothing out there now that sounds like a group of 100 people, all holding a coffee can of nuts and bolts, and shaking them all at once. |
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Lvl4Installer
@ccarnes.com
| reply to glutt
I haven't read this entire thread, but I scanned and one post by Wayne caught my eye. He said that "most Bellsouth CO's are so clean you can eat off the floor." As a turf vendor who installs in over 100 CO's, I partially agree with that statment. The one that is totally false is when he claims that they're "hardly noisy at all."
Todays CO's are incredibly loud. There is no debating that. The Nortel switches hum like mad, and the Alcatel backbone is horrible. Probably the worst of all is the cooling fans of the Alcatel 1000's. In a moderate sized office these DSLAM's were lined up 4 to 40 bays deep, and had 2 to 3 fans per bay!
A close third are the Cisco GigE switches... the 7600's I think? One local tech even called in OSHA because he felt his desk was to close to the Nortel switch. I don't know what OSHA said, but his desk was moved... |
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Javik
Premium
join:2006-10-02
Gilman, WI
| reply to glutt
Historical movies of phone system design/use
If you're looking for extreme-detail historical information and actual video footage of operating centrol offices, you need to head over to the Internet Archive at archive.org RIGHT NOW. 
.
1935 Movie: Development from the beginning in 1877 to 1935, shows a map of the US as local exchanges were first installed, then long distance lines, and intercontinental lines. How loading coils improve the distance of signals, how the vacuum tube produced an explosion of growth.
Far Speaking - History of Telephone
»www.archive.org/details/FarSpeak1935
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1950s Movies: Customers did not have dials. They pick up a handset on a party line and then a central office human phone operator makes the call for them on partially automated dialing equipment.
How operator toll dialing worked before automation, how the "new" automated switched toll dialing works, sounds of the early DTMF tones, a view of the relays and equipment of the CO, the construction of switching equipment at a Western Electric factory, the process of upgrading to automation across the United States.
Speeding Speech
»www.archive.org/details/Speeding1950
.
How to be a CO operator, how to use a rotary dial, and the call routing lookup process:
Operator Toll Dialing: Dialing
»www.archive.org/details/Operator1949_2
.
Various signals from the equipment to the operator.
Operator Toll Dialing: Cord Signals
»www.archive.org/details/Operator1949
.
Sharing the work of making connections and customer billing under heavy system load.
Operator Toll Dialing: Teamwork
»www.archive.org/details/Operator1949_4
.
- Javik |
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weaseled386
join:2008-04-13
Port Orange, FL
·Verizon Wireless B..
·Bright House
| reply to glutt
Re: What does a CO look like ?
If you're looking for a specific picture I could probably come up with something.
I looked a an ADSL cross connect block in a previous post. Yes, that is what they look like in the CO's. On the left side of the block is POTS, and on the right ADSL. In the RT's this changes! A 50 pair T1 tie pair block is installed. On T1/R1 is POTS, and T2/R2 is ADSL. The protector coil is changed out with one that has two pair coming out the top of it. The blue pair is POTS and orange is ADSL. This creates the biggest mess you can possibly imagine!!! This does not hold true for the U-Verse DSLAM's. They are hard spliced directly to a cross box. |
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Dude111
An Awesome Dude
Premium
join:2003-08-04
USA | reply to glutt
Boy that CO looks HUGE  |
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spg
Grrrr
join:2001-10-31
NOT Texas!
| reply to glutt
Check out this one. I don't work this one anymore, thank goodness. It's called the Madison Complex and used to be the tallest building in LA. You could get lost in the first manhole out of this one!
»www.thecentraloffice.com/Calif/L···ison.htm |
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FixManTx
Premium
join:2005-02-06
Carrollton, TX
| reply to hafizullah
Here in Houston the CO's are concrete/brick buildings 2-3 stories tall, kinda plain looking with 2-3 dozen installer trucks/vans in a fenced-in lot, and the ILEC's logo on the building. Ours just changed from SBC to AT&T. I haven't noticed a CO out in the outlying towns but I'm sure they have the same kind of buildings with Verizon's logo. |
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forefun
join:2004-04-21
Austin, TX
| reply to glutt
I worked for AT&T from 1996 to 1999 in KC in Sales. I attended a CO tour at their downtown office several times as well as a Disaster Recovery Seminar. This CO (14th & Oak in KC)contained the largest LD (4ESS) switch at the time. This was the most impressive CO I have ever seen. At one time, the 4ESS Switch took up 4 floors. The first time I toured this CO, it took up half of 1 floor. Quite impressive at the time. The other thing that impressed me about this CO was the Power. Two seperate power feeds with wet-cell batteries that would power the entire building for 8 hours and a deisel generator that would power the building indefinitely. The Network Disaster Recovery Exercise was Incredible in and of itself. Link: »www.corp.att.com/ndr/ |
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DigitalXeron
There is a lack of sanity
join:2003-12-17
Hamilton, ON
1 edit | reply to glutt
COs are simply glorified Datacenters run by telcos =p |
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