The Importance Of Reliable Telecoms Systems

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Hospitals

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 12:42:43 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off?

Now is not the time for complacency.

Before it's too late, let us be your independent guide, through all aspects of the ISDN PSTN Telecoms Switch Off and call 03300 240 480

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - KCOM

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 12:38:23 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Speed Cameras

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 12:33:21 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Paperwork

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 11:10:08 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Data Transfer

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 11:04:28 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Torch Telecom

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 11:01:07 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Telecoms Network

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 10:58:36 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Traffic Lights

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 10:54:20 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Tills

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 10:46:30 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - PSTN

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 10:44:24 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Telecoms Infrastructure

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 10:36:11 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? Featurelines / Centrex

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:19:49 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Segmentation 2

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:18:22 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Railside Phones

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:16:47 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Thus

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:15:17 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Weatherproof Phones

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:13:27 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Freephone

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Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Shackled

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:10:21 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Tills

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:08:18 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Fire Alarms

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:03:34 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Cable & Wireless

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:02:12 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Door Access

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 14:00:26 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Call Centre

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:58:26 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - ATM Machines

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:56:55 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Pull Cords

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:55:29 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Death of the Phone Number

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:53:25 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - BT Network Services

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:50:56 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - ISDN2

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:47:41 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Telecoms Cabinet

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:46:13 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Telemetry Lines

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:44:42 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Energis

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:42:00 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Segmentation 1

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:33:42 GMT

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Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Green BT Cabinet

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:28:44 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Mercury Communications

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:26:03 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - BT Vans

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:24:27 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Payphones

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:21:21 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Fax Machines

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:18:54 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - ntl:Telewest

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:15:50 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - CCTV

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 12:46:45 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Parking Machines

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 12:40:34 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - Lifts

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 12:35:46 GMT

Are you switched off by the Switch Off?

Now is not the time for complacency.

Before it's too late, let us be your independent guide, through all aspects of the ISDN PSTN Telecoms Switch Off and call 03300 240 480

Are you switched off by the Switch Off? - LJU

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 12:32:28 GMT

The Development of Telecoms - Leeds

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 14:32:33 GMT

By the late 1950s, computer science, the study of computation, automation and information, was really starting to emerge.

Time sharing between computer users and the possibility of achieving this over wide area networks was starting to look like a reality.

In the 1960s the first prototype of the internet as we know it was developed as a means for government researchers to share information.

1st January 1983 is deemed to be the official birthdate of the internet, the date when all of the various computer networks now had a standard way to communicate with each other using the newly established communications protocol, Transfer Control Protocol/Internetwork Protol (TCP/IP) which allowed different kinds of computers on different networks to talk to each other.

The Internet has been revolutionary in the computer and communications world and has opened up the capability for world-wide broadcasting and by 1998, the Internet was already a massive part of our lives and Leeds, West Yorkshire, had a huge part to play in its development due to the fact that it hosted the world's first Internet Service Provider (ISP), Freeserve.

Freeserve was founded in 1998 as a project between Dixons Group Plc and Leeds-based hosting provider Planet Online to provide free Internet access to customers buying personal computers (PCs) from Dixons stores. The concept was developed by Ajaz Ahmed, a Dixons employee who had become frustrated by not being able to get online without technical knowledge, so discovered a more efficient way for PC owners to get online.

By the time Freeserve was sold in 2000, to French company Wannadoo, it was worth £1.65 billion and had nearly 2 million subscribers, but today it’s better known as EE’s broadband service.

The area is a compact one geographically, covering the centre of the clothing manufacturing industry and including important coal mining areas, engineering industries and a section of the centuries-old woollen trade. Although almost entirely an industrial area, it does embrace to the North a portion of the Yorkshire Dales. Leeds is mentioned in Lord Clarendon's History of 1642 and, according to earlier records, the city was known as Loidise-en-Elmet.

Leeds was one of the first cities to have an automatic telephone system. The main exchange, which employed the "Keith line-switch," was installed in 1918, but was replaced by the "2,000-type" equipment in 1945. The system is rapidly approaching the maximum capacity for a non-director system and the introduction of director working is being planned.

The 55 exchanges in the Leeds telephone area serve some 52,700 exchange lines and 91,000 stations; the total staff, excluding the operating force numbers 1,344.

The Development of Telecoms - Birmingham

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 14:30:28 GMT

Birmingham is home to the BT Tower, the tallest building in the city and a well known landmark.

Along with the London BT Tower, the Birmingham Tower was one of a series of communication towers built across the UK in the 1960s, designed to relay telephone, TV and radio signals around the country.

The Birmingham BT Tower, standing at 152 metres was completed in 1966 and became operational in 1967.

The building has 31 floors, including five levels of circular aerial galleries at the top, testing and maintenance workshops, rooms for archive storage and a canteen.

Many areas of the tower are no longer in use, including a telephone exchange installed in the 1970s, however some exchange equipment, including old Trimphones are still on site.

In its hay day the BT tower contributed to a system that made communication easier for businesses and helped to increase productivity as the dishes were used to send signals to parts of the country that didn't have access to the national fibre-optic broadband network and the tower was part of the microwave relay that was at the time the backbone of the UK's telecommunication network and could handle up to 150,000 telephone conversations and 40 television channels.

The original design of the tower was circular, like its London counterpart. However, problems experienced during the construction of the London Tower led to a redesign of the Birmingham Tower resulting in the square concrete building which could withstand strong winds.

The circular aerial gallery was designed to house the satellite dishes which engineers installed using a trolley on steel rails and then a series of steel cables and poles to hoist them into place.

Over the years, the migration to digital transmission has resulted in many of the services on the tower becoming defunct. The tower still houses around 80 smaller dishes, however the last of the original four metre wide analogue radio dishes was removed on 5th February 2012.

The area covers over 1,500 square miles with a population of approximately two and a half million and includes the important industrial "Black Country“.

There are 124,000 exchange lines, over 200,000 telephone stations, 171 exchanges, 987,000 miles of wire underground and 61,000 miles overhead. The total staff, excluding exchange operating staff is 2,746.

The Development of Telecoms - City of London Region

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 14:27:44 GMT

Territorially the City of London telephone area is the smallest in the country, but for telephones it is among the largest and most congested in the world.

The area's 9.1 square miles comprise the City and portions of adjoining boroughs. The dominant natural feature is the Pool of London, which divides the Area into two parts.

The City, representing London within its ancient boundaries, is the financial and business centre of London. Here are the head offices of the principal banks, insurance companies and mercantile houses and the headquarters of the Post Office which has been in the City for centuries.

In addition, buildings with an historical interest range from the Roman Wall and the 15th-century Guildhall to the baroque splendour of St. Paul's Cathedral and the architectural beauty of Wren's spires.

The City of London was described by Tacitus in A.D. 61 as a "busy emporium for trade and traders". Today (1955), the staff of this region, numbering 3,800, have an opportunity with the restoration of the City to provide amenities for the great financial, shipping and other commercial interests for which it is famous. Already the area contains over 200,000 telephones, served by 17 of the busiest exchanges In the country and the annual revenue is £5,500,000. London rebuilt will entail a great increase in these services, including the provision of many large subscribers' installations, each bigger than most public exchanges.

The area, in addition to its telephone commitments, also performs the telecommunications engineering work for the Central Telegraph Office as well as other voice frequency and tele-printer responsibilities for the whole of the London Telecommunications Region.

The Development of Telecoms - Norwich

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 14:22:58 GMT

In 1877, Professor Barrett gave a lecture entitled "The TELEPHONE in Norwich", presided over by Mr Jeremiah James Coleman, founder of Coleman's mustard.

He brought with him a pair of Bell telephones, loaned from Alexander Graham Bell, with the intention of taking one of them to Cromer, North Norfolk, in order to demonstrate a telephone call from Norwich.

During the lecture, Professor Barrett discussed the history of communications and talked about how latest developments had resulted in the telephone in front of him, which he was now going to demonstrate by attempting to call Cromer.

Unfortunately, all he and Mr J J Coleman heard was a distant mumbling and the call was unsuccessful, leaving some rather disappointed attendees.

Mr Isley, the Head Postmaster in Norwich, proffered that the reason behind the failed communication was that it had snowed heavily that morning, followed by a thaw and the telephone line was insufficiently insulated.

Almost a year later, another trial was made using a telephone line belonging to the J & J Coleman factory in Norwich and their offices in London. This line was 115 miles long and followed the course of the Great Eastern Railway track.

At first the trial was unsuccessful, due to stormy weather, resulting in crackling being heard on the other end of the line. Then Mr C Noble, a cornet player from the Carrow Works Band, played a cornet solo and the music could be clearly heard in London, all the way from Norwich.

Though covering only approximately 1,300 square miles, the area includes the unique Norfolk Broads and several of the "stately homes" of England. It also possesses, in Norwich, the county town and capital of East Anglia. The City is noted for its churches and in particular, for the manufacture of ladies' shoes.

The area is predominantly agricultural and sugar beet is an important crop. The relatively long coastline has many well-known holiday resorts, including the fishing ports of Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

There are 107 exchanges (88 of them automatic), 24,000 exchange lines and 36,000 stations, with 234,000 miles of wire underground and 31,000 miles overhead. The total area staff of 697 includes 478 engineers.

The Development of Telecoms - York

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 12:24:28 GMT

The York area, a territory of 2,500 square miles, extends from approximately Harrogate and Ripon in the west to the Yorkshire Coast in the east.

It includes, in addition to the historic city of York, with its incomparable Minster and City Walls, such well known resorts as Bridlington, Harrogate and Scarborough, which are very popular not only with holiday makers, but for large conferences and sporting events, which call for large-scale special arrangements.

Apart from the places mentioned, the area is mainly rural, with agriculture one of the chief occupations.

The area contains 127 exchanges, 88 per cent of which are automatic. They serve 33,934 exchange lines and 54,875 stations. The total staff numbers 887.

A surprising fact that you wouldn't expect to be associated with such a historic city with its beautiful Minster and roman history is that York, one of the best preserved medieval cities in Britain, has just become the UK’s first Gigabit City.

Who would have thought that a city created by the Romans in 71 AD, who used smoke signals to communicate, is now at the forefront of digital communications.

The Development of Telecoms - London Centre Region

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 12:15:54 GMT

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The Development of Telecoms - Stoke on Trent

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 12:13:39 GMT

According to an interesting article by Factory Night @ Old Telephone Exchange, Stoke-on-Trent * until 1861, the only means of sending a “wire” was from Stoke Railway Station.

In 1862, the United Kingdom Electrical Telegraph Company succeeded in obtaining permission from Parliament to lay lines to all parts of the UK and in that same year Manchester was connected to Harecastle. By November 1862, a line was brought from Stoke to Hanley Railway Station; this office then moved to premises in Fountain Square. By 1863, telegraph offices had been opened throughout the Potteries with the exclusion of Fenton.

During the latter part of the 19th century, the popularity of the telephone grew. In 1890, there were 211 subscribers in the area and all the main police stations had been connected. The telephone was still a great novelty and on a Sunday in April, 1891, the National Telephone Company invited people to their premises in Cheapside to listen to a church service from Birmingham; 40 receivers were used for the occasion.

As the system developed, so did the need for such a means of communication. By 1899, the National Telephone Company, recognising its essential role in the everyday life of the Potteries, decided to build a new and much larger exchange. For this purpose it acquired approximately 600 square yards at the corner of Marsh Street and Mill Street (Trinity Street). The National Telephone Company’s directory of 1904-5 covered all the country and the number of subscribers in the Potteries and district was about 2,200.

Continued improvements saw the introduction of the 999 emergency service, inaugurated in the City by the Lord Mayor, Mr. Peter Williams, from his parlour in Stoke Town Hall, during his term of office in 1945-6.

Almost half the telephones in this compact area covering 803 square miles were concentrated in Arnold Bennett’s well known “Five Towns” in which pottery, coal, iron and steel were produced.

The area includes Leek, centre of the North Staffordshire silk trade; Crewe, the famous railway town and Stafford, the county town whose main industry was heavy engineering. The remainder of the area is agricultural and in the North East, the beautiful moorland country is a favourite haunt of ramblers.

In 1950, the Post Office had 74 exchanges, 60 of which were automatic, 25,883 exchange lines, 44,398 stations and a total staff of 816 including 648 engineering

* Rednile.org. 2022. Factory Night @ Old Telephone Exchange, Stoke-on-Trent, Factory Nights 2009-10 available at: - http://www.rednile.org/factory-nights/old-telephone-exchange-stoke-on-trent/

The Development of Telecoms - Newcastle upon Tyne

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 12:05:21 GMT

In 1881 permission was given to the Post Office to offer public telephone services in addition to the telegraph service. Telephone exchanges were needed to facilitate calls between different areas and phone handsets. They consisted of a panel of switches, indicator lights, ports and cords which enabled calls to be connected and transferred.

When a call came into the exchange, the switchboard operator would see lights flashing on their panel to indicate an incoming call. They would plug a cord into that flashing light in order to converse with the caller. When it was established who the caller wished to speak to, the operator would plug another cord into the receiver's port and switch the call across to them, hence the name "switchboard".

In order to house the new switchboards, some of the telegraph service exchanges had to be converted into telephone exchanges and all of the telegraph equipment replaced by telephony equipment. The first of these conversions took place in Swansea, followed by Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Bradford and Middlesbrough.

One of these exchanges was the Jesmond exchange, which housed an extensive range of equipment and employed highly skilled staff to operate it. This exchange was one of the largest and most important exchanges serving Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

In the 1960's, digitalisation and electronic systems gradually replaced these manual switching systems and current advancements in technology and the advent of fibre optic cables and mobile telephony has meant that many of these exchanges are obsolete. The ISDN/PSTN switch off will mark the end of all remaining telephone exchanges and many will be transformed into accommodation like the Jesmond exchange in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

The Newcastle area, which varies in character, covers 2,300 square miles and stretches from Berwick-on-Tweed on the Scottish border to a line south of the cathedral city of Durham.

It embraces, on the one hand, hamlets in the foothills of the Cheviots and on the long stretch of Hadrian's Wall, fishing villages and seaside resorts on the long coastline, heather moors of north Durham and, on the other hand, the extensive coal fields and busy shipbuilding yards on Tyne and Wear.

Of the 144 exchanges serving the area, 115 are automatic, whilst line plant comprises a network of nearly 500,000 miles of wire, 36,000 miles of which are overhead. The 100,000th telephone in the area was connected in June of this year (1950), the area being the first in the North Eastern Region to attain that distinction. The number of staff, excluding the operating force is 1,487.

The Development of Telecoms - Swansea

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 11:44:00 GMT

Swansea once produced 60% of the world's copper and was known as the UK's Copper Kingdom or Copperopolis.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and in 1881 he patented copper twisted pairs which resulted in the birth of the modern telephone system.

Since the 19th century, copper is the metal that has been traditionally used for communications cables and wires because of its low resistance to electricity, its thermal conductivity and its ability to carry signals over great distances with little interference.

As well as telephone signals, copper has been used to transmit Internet connections, such as broadband and cable television signals.

However, these aging copper phone lines that have been the foundation of the UK's telecommunications infrastructure are about to be disconnected. With their origins in the Victorian era, the demand placed upon them is becoming too much. They are increasingly difficult and costly to maintain due to lack of parts or even knowledge, as most newly qualified engineers are unfamiliar with this archaic technology and with the advent of the smartphone, landlines are being used less and less.

The ISDN and PSTN networks are being replaced by fiber optic based internet telephony. These next-generation technologies are going to be faster, they can cover greater distances, are impervious to electromagnetic interference, save space and enhance cable management and they are future-proof, so are unlikely to become obsolete any time soon.

The Swansea area covering 2,300 square miles, presents sharp contrasts from its giant steel works at Margam, its port of Swansea, through peaceful farmlands to the rugged western coast where stands the ancient cathedral of St. David.

During the late 1940s there were 128 exchanges, with 21,235 lines and 34,189 stations.

Although from this point of view the area is the smallest in the country, it has, nevertheless, 191,000 miles of underground wire and approximately 40,000 miles of overhead to maintain.

As the area is predominantly rural, the provision of service for farmers and kiosks was an important problem.

The Development of Telecoms - Nottingham

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 11:31:30 GMT

The Nottingham telephone area which comprises some 1,200 square miles, includes the County Boroughs of Nottingham and Derby, the Shire of Nottingham and some 500 square miles of Derbyshire, with its beautiful hills and dales.

The industries are varied, ranging from the manufacture of lace and artificial silk to the heavy industries of iron works, coal mining, production of locomotives, aero engines and motor-car engines. Agricultural interests are centred in Derbyshire and the northern part of Nottinghamshire.

Nottingham is also famous for being the place where traffic lights were invented. John Peake Knight was a Nottingham High school student and later a railway signalling engineer, who invented a system with a revolving, gas powered lantern with a red and a green light to control the traffic.

The first ones were placed near to the House of Commons, London in 1868 but unfortunately they exploded and sadly killed a policeman. Further development was put on hold until 1920, when William Potts, an American policeman in Detroit, Michigan developed the four way, three colour system that is still in use today.

The area contains 97 exchanges, of which 71 are automatic, serving over 66,500 exchange connections and 107,000 stations – an increase of 32,000 lines and 54,000 stations since September 1939. The total area staff including engineering grades is 1,318, while the supervising and operating force numbers an additional 984.

The Development of Telecoms - Preston

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 11:27:41 GMT

The row of red public telephone boxes along Preston's Market Street is the longest row of the old style of telephone kiosks anywhere in the UK.

The Post Office had taken over almost all of the country's network in 1912 and the red telephone box was introduced to the London Metropolitan Boroughs as the result of a competition held in 1924 to design a kiosk that would be acceptable, as the previous concrete K1 (Kiosk No. 1) versions had been resisted because some authorities would only accept them if they had thatched roofs.

These iconic red structures known as K2 (Kiosk No. 2) were created by Giles Gilbert Scott, a British architect known for his work on the New Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and Battersea Power Station. He is said to have got his inspiration for them from the tomb of the wife of Sir John Soane, one of the greatest English architects, famous for designing the Bank of England in London.

The K2, constructed from cast iron and painted red, was brought into service from 1926 and the K3, also designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, was introduced in 1929, constructed from concrete to make it more cost effective.

K4, designed by the Post Office Engineering Department in 1927, also sold postage stamps on the outside but was unpopular as the stamps got wet and clumped together. K5 was introduced in 1934 and was a metal faced plywood construction.

In 1935, K6 was again designed by Scott to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V and by this time there were 19,000 telephone kiosks in the UK, however, thanks to K6, also known as the Jubilee Kiosk, by 1949 there were 35,000.

In 1959, architect Neville Conder was commissioned to design a more modern kiosk but his ideas didn't get passed the prototype stage. In 1968, Bruce Martin designed the K8.

In 1980 in preparation for privatisation and rebranding to British Telecom, the Post Office announced that all red telephone boxes would be painted yellow to reflect BT's corporate colours. There was public outcry which resulted in only some of the kiosks being repainted and then in 1982 British Telecom introduced the KX100, which was designed to be more practical than attractive, and this sadly began to replace the existing boxes. 2,000 of the red phone boxes in prominent locations have been given listed status and the rest have been sold off as memorabilia.

The Preston area covers 524 square miles and includes Blackpool, Fleetwood, Preston, Southport and Wigan.

Although the south of the area is highly industrialised (coal and cotton), the greater part of the area is agricultural.

There are 42 automatic and 16 manual exchanges within the Preston area with 40,683 lines and 66,664 stations, 322,644 miles of underground wire and 16,883 miles of overhead wire. The staff numbers 778, of which 582 are engineering.

The Development of Telecoms - London North West Region

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 11:21:02 GMT

The Zoological Gardens – commonly known, as the guide books say, as "the Zoo“ – Lord's Cricket Ground, home of many Tests, Wembley Stadium where the Cup Final is played and Harrow School, one of England's oldest and greatest public schools are among the famous places within the North-West Area of the London Telecommunications Region.

Stretching from the north-west postal area, beyond Greater London into the "Green Belt" districts of Middlesex and Hertfordshire, the area contains probably more of "London's lungs" than any of the other seven metropolitan areas. It includes Regent's Park and Primrose Hill as well as the 280-odd acres of Hampstead Heath. Nevertheless, it is, on the whole, a densely populated area as well as being, in parts, highly industrialized.

In addition to the older urban districts round Regent's Park, it includes the rapidly growing residential estates of the north – western suburbs and it contains a garden suburb lying between the metropolitan borough of Hampstead and the Middlesex county boroughs of Hendon and Finchley.

Among industrial districts, the area includes Park Royal, where Guinness is brewed and the Radio Times is printed and Watford, home of modern colour printing. Elstree, celebrated for film production, gives the name to one of the area's exchanges.

The area, which covers about 140 square miles, provides a good illustration of the rapid expansion of the telephone services since the war; during the past 12 years the number of exchange connections has almost doubled. Today (1956) there are 190,000 connexions and 280,000 stations. Nearly 4,000 people serve subscribers in the area through 32 automatic and six manual exchanges.

The Development of Telecoms - Hull

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 11:15:04 GMT

The important port and fishing centre of Hull lies in the Hull Corporation telephone area, the last of its kind in the country, but the disposal of the heavy traffic to and from the Corporation telephone network is via the Hull Post Office Trunk Exchange. This bring problems of its own, quite outside the routine of normal area working.

During March 1964, Kingston upon Hull Telephones supplied an area of 120 square miles including the City and County of Kingston upon Hull, municipal boroughs of Beverley and Hedon, urban districts of Haltemprice and parts of the rural districts of Beverley and Holderness serving a population of 386,933.

The City is served by seven automatic exchanges and one manual exchange and the surrounding area is served by eight automatic exchanges. These serve 53,115 exchange connections, 74,255 telephones and 325 public call kiosks via 260.050 miles of underground and overground wire and 11,441 telegraph poles. The total number of people Kingston upon Hull Telephones employs is 640 and the annual revenue is just short of £1,000,000.

Hull is also the birthplace of a very special comedian who was born on Christmas Day 1925 – Norman Collier.

One of Norman’s famous routines involved a faulty microphone and when singing the song, “I lost my heart in San Francisco”, the actual word he breaks up is the word Cisco in San Francisco.

How interesting, that a few years later this company would become one of key businesses involved in the building of the internet and Voice over IP. Isn’t it weird that if a voice over IP installation is poorly implemented, the voice quality sounds exactly like Norman’s faulty microphone.

The Development of Telecoms - Canterbury

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 10:48:11 GMT

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The Development of Telecoms - Dundee

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 10:45:37 GMT

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The Development of Telecoms - Cambridge

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 10:42:41 GMT

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The Development of Telecoms - Oxford

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 10:35:38 GMT

The Oxford area covers about 1,500 square miles and includes Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, with parts of Berkshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Northants and Gloucestershire.

The industrial and market town of Banbury, with its "Cross" remembered in the nursery rhyme, is in the north. Westward is the Cotswolds, extending across the area, with many lovely villages of local stone with its typical grey and tawny hues.

Southwards from the Cotswolds the rivers Windrush and Evenlode flow through rich pasture land and the native-bred Oxford Downs sheep are famous for fine fleeces, which account for the fame of Witney blankets.

The Thames flows south between the Chiltern Hills and the Berkshire Downs with much beautiful wooded scenery. To the south west the Downs are crossed by the pre-historic Ridgeway over the Vale of the White Horse. On the northern slopes is the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell. In the east are the Chiltern Hills amid which is "Chequers", the country home of the Prime Ministers.

West of the ChiIterns lies the fertile valley of Aylesbury, nearly 15 miles wide and mainly pasture. Chairmaking, an old rural industry in the Chilterns, has now developed into the manufacture of furniture concentrated in High Wycombe. East of High Wycombe the area is mainly residential.

Coming to Oxford itself, it is 1,200 years since Frideswide founded a priory among the green meadows where the river ran shallow enough for oxen to ford it. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 912, first mentions a group of inhabitants in Oxford: soon after it became renowned for its university. The titular college, University, was the first to house scholars under its own roof, but it did not acquire status until 1280, although Balliol was endowed in 1263 and Merton has an even stronger claim to the greatest antiquity. Perhaps the College which most captures the imagination is Christchurch, founded by Cardinal Wolsey.

Telephone House is quite near to the fine Tom Gateway, surmounted by the tower in which "Great Tom" still sounds 101 bell strokes each night at curfew. Neighbouring Cowley has become a centre of the motor car industry.

The area has 120 exchanges (102 are automatic) and there are 42,593 exchange connections and 74,370 stations. The total staff (excluding telephonists) is 964.

The Development of Telecoms - London East Region

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 11:38:25 GMT

The areas covered by the E1 postcode are Aldgate, Bishopsgate, Shadwell, Stepney, Shoreditch, Spitalfields, Mile End, Brick Lane,

Wapping and Whitechapel.

The London E1 district is steeped in history. The unsolved murders of the notorious 'Jack the Ripper', the bustling maritime industry

which served the Royal Navy, German wartime bombings , the infamous Ronnie and Reggie Kray and the famous Spitalfields market.

This area was traditionally the home of the true Londoner or Cockney, someone said to have been born within the sound of the Bow

Bells from St Mary Le Bow Church, Cheapside. Nowadays this area is rich with diversity and the home of many of the different cultures

that now make up the capital city.

The East telephone area, reaching from the edge of the City of London in an easterly direction along the north bank of the Thames

beyond Tilbury and northwards into Epping Forest is an area of sharp contrasts.

Along the Thames it covers the dock areas of the East India Group and Royal Group of Docks; the Ford Works at Dagenham, Tilbury

Docks and the oil depots of Thames Haven.

It contains the bomb devastated areas of East London, north of the river and large and rapidly developing residential areas in the

County of Essex. It also serves a busy industrial area, embracing light and heavy industry of all kinds.

There are 117,000 connections on 30 Exchanges and 3,200 staff. The area covers 200 square miles.

The Development of Telecoms - Portsmouth

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 11:09:05 GMT

Portsmouth – steeped in Naval tradition and known familiarly in the Senior Service as "Pompey" will bring back many recollections to those who served in the Navy during the two world wars.

The Royal Dockyard, known the world over, was visited on many occasions by Pepys v/hen Secretary to the Admiralty and he makes frequent reference to the town in his Diary. It was from here that Nelson sailed to Trafalgar and it is here that his Flag Ship is now high and dry in a graving dock – attacked by the death-watch beetle, a more dangerous enemy than any she met at sea.

The history of the city is not all of the past, nor is it entirely Naval; Field Marshal Montgomery was Garrison Commander here in 1938 and from Spithead and the Solent his armada sailed on "D" Day. In the world of literature, Portsmouth is represented by Charles Dickens who was born here in 1812, his birthplace is now a museum visited by many each summer, particularly Americans.

Although a small one geographically, the area opened in 1939, covers part of Hampshire and West Sussex and includes such beauty spots as Goodwood, the loveliest English race course and the Isle of Wight, well known to holiday makers. During the summer season the Solent and Spithead are the scene of great yachting activity culminating in Cowes week, known to yachtsmen internationally. Spithead, traditionally the scene of Naval Reviews, will this year (1953) see the Coronation Review, when the Fleet headed by HMS Vanguard, our largest battleship, will be inspected by Her Majesty. The scene will be a memorable one.

The area is 640 square miles; 44 auto exchanges – 20 manual; 39,700 exchange connections; 61,100 stations and 868 total staff.

The Development of Telecoms - Shrewsbury

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 11:07:09 GMT

Shrewsbury with its castle-crowned hill and its ancient black-and-white timbered houses stands on a peninsula formed by a sinuous bend of the River Severn. This town, which is entered from England by crossing the English Bridge and from Wales by crossing the Welsh Bridge, has always been famous as a gateway to Wales and is symbolic of the interplay between the Welsh and English people through the centuries. First came the period of struggle and combat, as witnessed by the walls and ramparts that still exist: later the unifying of the two races symbolised by the Anglo-Welsh character of Shrewsbury.

Like the town from which it is administered, the Shrewsbury area has a strong Welsh flavour, for here England gradually changes from the robustness of the Midlands to the lilt and fantasy of the Welsh hills as one travels from the Border Counties through the heart of Wales by Plynlimon and Cader Idris to the coast of Cardigan Bay. From industrial East Shropshire to Aberystwyth, from Denbighshire to Monmouth via the Shropshire hills, Hereford and the Wye Valley – here, surely, is some of the most beautiful scenery in the country.

A feature of the 4,400 square miles of hill, dale and coast is the isolation of so many of the houses and farms and the scattered districts. One result of this is the abnormally high wire mileage per subscriber and the large number of small exchanges.

There are 226 exchanges in the area, 176 of which are automatic. They serve about 35,500 exchange connections with some 55,000 stations.

Many of the 1,200 staff are out-stationed mainly at Wellington, Hereford, Newton, Llandrindod Wells, Machynlleth and Aberystwyth.

The Development of Telecoms - Long Distance & International

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 09:46:36 GMT

This area is unique in that it has no size – a mere 700 trunk subscribers, no Accounts, Sales or External Engineering Divisions. It makes up for these omissions by having Kelvin House, one of the latest exchange buildings and the best known exchange building in the country, Faraday Building. This is an agglomeration of four buildings, containing, in its 10 acres of floor space, three long-distance automatic units and 1,310 positions, of which 190 are for completing continental traffic. This centre, together with the International Radio Exchange and three trunk demand control centres comprise the area, which is being increased by the addition of two more automatic units. The area office occupies Wren House in St. Paul's Churchyard.

In this area 47 radio-telephone links are terminated, there are also 365 continental lines and 12,895 inland and toll lines. The staff numbers over 5,000, of whom 4,000 are telephonists and allied supervising grades.

The Development of Telecoms - Taunton

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 09:33:14 GMT

Taunton, dating from Saxon times and the scene of the trial known in history as "The Bloody Assizes", is now best known for its public school and colleges and as a shopping and commercial centre of one of the richest agricultural districts in England.

It is the County Town of Somerset and, lying on the A38 main road between Bodmin in the west and Derby in the midlands, is a natural communications and touring centre and one of the principal gateways to the West Country. Another of Taunton's claims to fame is that of being the first town in the country to light its streets by electricity.

The Taunton telephone area covers North Devon, most of Somerset and part of Dorset. From Wincanton in the east to Hartland in the west is roughly 100 miles.

Exmoor, rugged and sparsely populated and the Quantock Hills, both with extensive National Forests, lie to the west and north and on the north coast are Bideford, Barnstaple, llfracombe and Minehead well-known holiday resorts.

The rest of the area is mainly agricultural, but Bridgwater and, in the south, Yeovil are noted for light engineering and glove and aircraft manufacture respectively.

There are 110 telephone exchanges in the area with 32,441 exchange connections and 48,466 stations. 92 exchanges are automatic and the total staff (excluding telephonists) is 769.

The Development of Telecoms - Royal Tunbridge Wells

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 09:28:46 GMT

Tunbridge Wells area comprising parts of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, covers 1,000 square miles between South London and the English Channel.

Residential and rural, it has a diversity of scenery from grazing sheep on chalk downs to hop gardens and orchards on Wealden Clay. Luxurious spring-time blossom brings inevitably to mind that hackneyed phrase "the Garden of England".

Nearly 900 years ago, William, Duke of Normandy, landed at Hastings (now the largest town in the area) for his conquest of England. In 1940, much of the Battle of Britain was fought overhead and the area became part of the "bomb alley" through which the Germans flew to attack London. But in 1944, the area was much used in preparations for the return journey – the invasion of Normandy on the way to Berlin.

Hastings, which is one of the five ancient Cinque Ports, is a thriving seaside resort. Rapid post-war recovery has more than doubled the number of telephone subscribers since 1945. The medieval atmosphere of neighbouring Rye attracts tourists and artists and Bexhill near by, has many private boarding schools and is popular for family holidays. Post-war residential development has been heavy.

The area office town, Tunbridge Wells, recalls the days of Beau Nash and the Dandies taking the waters and promenading on the famous Pantiles: but the town, with its Georgian buildings and extensive commons, is still popular as a place of residence for people working in London.

Industry, including extensive printing works and important railway interests, is at Tonbridge, which is also a market town. A municipal telephone system was operated in Tunbridge Wells until absorption by the National Telephone Company. Development in the Sevenoaks district to the north of the area is rapid; British Railways electric services terminate here and new building estates are presenting problems.

East Grinstead, the other centre of population in the area, is famous for its plastic surgery centre. Bomb damaged buildings have been restored and there are many new building estates. Neighbouring Ashdown Forest is especially popular when autumn tints prevail.

The 54,110 exchange connections and 78,588 stations in the area are served by 107 exchanges, of which 54 are manual. The total staff (excluding telephonists) is 899 and annual revenue £1,150,000.

The Development of Telecoms - Aberdeen

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 09:26:31 GMT

From the pleasant greenness of Deeside to the rugged grandeur of the Highlands, from the fertile farms on the Moray Firth coast to the rough grazing of the Islands, this extensive area of 14,000 square miles covers a territory steeped in Scottish history. The area serves nine northern counties as well as the Islands of Skye, Lewis and Harris and the Orkney and Shetland Islands.

The most northerly subscriber in Great Britain is Muckle Flugga lighthouse in the Shetland Islands. Aberdeen, known as the Granite City, contains many fine buildings including the university, one of the oldest in Europe. The port, well-known for the trawling industry, was in use hundreds of years ago. As a seaside resort and tourist centre, Aberdeen provides for many thousands of holidaymakers each year. Inverness, a fine town at the mouth of the River Ness, is the second largest in the area. Historically, it has claim to be called "The Capital of the Highlands". In the beautiful scenery of the glens, mighty dams are now being built which will turn the waters of the lochs into electricity. These hydro-electric schemes and the economic revival of the Highlands are making big demands for telephone facilities in remote places.

Probably no telephone area in Great Britain is more varied. The area contains the smallest exchange, Shieldaig, with two exchange connections and the largest exchange in Scotland, Aberdeen Main with 9,600 exchange connections. Besides submarine cables to the Islands there are inland submarine cables – across the lochs. Some exchanges and rural call offices are connected to the telephone system by radio. Much of the area is sparsely populated. A quarter of a million poles are needed for the long overhead routes serving 391 exchanges and providing service to the 45,000 exchange connections and 68,000 stations. The telephone staff in the area, including operators is 1,950 and the annual revenue is £1,500,000.

The Development of Telecoms - Southend-on-Sea

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 14:38:33 GMT

The Southend-on-Sea telephone area is one of the smallest in the Kingdom, covering an area of 400 square miles and having 37,012 telephone subscribers.

Known as "Sunny Southend" the Headquarters town takes its name from the fact that it is situated at the south end of the ancient parish of Prittlewell, which contains the famous Priory founded in A.D. 1100.

It possesses the longest pier in the world, which is one and a third miles long and the farthest receding tide of the coastal towns. The Borough also embraces Shoeburyness, the driest spot in Britain, Westcliff and Leigh, prominent in ancient naval history and now famous for its cockles.

Southend enjoys the greatest popularity, both as a holiday resort and as a residential locality. Indeed, the area as a whole, with its proximity to London, has become one of the dormitories of the metropolis and this largely accounts for the high telephone density of residential subscribers.

The principal industrial area is at Chelmsford, the County Town of Essex, where much engineering and electrical equipment is manufactured, whilst at Basildon one of the "New Towns" is being created, bringing into the area further industrial and residential development.

With the coming electrification of the railway tracks and large scale development planning in the area, it is not unreasonable to expect a high rate of telephone expansion within the next 10 to 15 years (1954-1969).

The Development of Telecoms - Southampton

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 14:34:04 GMT

Southampton telephone area extends for about 1,200 square miles containing some half a million population. While the headquarters city, Southampton is largely industrial and is one of the biggest ports in the United Kingdom, most of the area is agricultural. Within its boundaries are two cathedral cities, the defence training ground of Salisbury Plain and part of the New Forest.

On the Avon, twenty-two miles north west of Southampton, is Salisbury, which is the next largest city in the area, with a population of 33,800. Its ancient cathedral, with its spire rising to 404 feet making it the highest building in England, is the centre of a diocese whose present Bishop is the 98th in order of succession (1950s).

Winchester, which was the ancient capital of Wessex and seat of government of Alfred the Great, Canute (who is buried here) and, with London, of William the Conqueror, with 25,790 population, is now a busy county town and home of the oldest public school in the country. The diocese of Winchester includes the deaneries of Jersey and Guernsey.

In the north of the area is Andover, a small agricultural centre, though with some light industries and serving several Royal Air Force establishments.

The area is served by 103 exchanges and 90 per cent, of the 38,600 exchange connections are automatic.

The Development of Telecoms - London North Region

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 14:28:10 GMT

North area (second largest in size in the London Telephone Region) covers 246 square miles of North London, stretching from Hackney in the south to Harpenden in the north and includes the well known Welwyn Garden City and the City of St Albans, which celebrated its millenary in 1949.

Among its more important subscribers are the BBC Television Studios at Alexandra Palace and the De Havilland Aircraft Company at Hatfield.

North London is also famous for the BT Tower, previously known as the GPO Tower, Post Office Tower or the London Telecom Tower. It was completed in 1964 and overtook Millbank Tower, (119 metres, 390 feet) to become the tallest building in London standing at 177 metres (581 feet). It held this accolade until 1980 when the title was taken by the NatWest Tower, (183 metres, 600 feet). Today the tallest building in London is The Shard which stands at 309.6 metres, 1016 feet.

The main purpose of the BT Tower was to support the microwave aerials used at the time to carry telecommunications traffic from London to the rest of the country, as part of the General Post Office Microwave Network.

Due to the number of tall buildings being planned in London, a new taller tower had to be erected to protect line of sight for radio links. The original tower, sited on the roof of a neighbouring building was used to provide a television link between London and Birmingham in the late 1940s.

The BT Tower total construction cost was £2.5 million and was designed by architects Eric Bedford and G R Yeats. It's shape meant that it would not be affected by strong winds in order to protect the communications aerials attached to it. The first 16 floors were used to house technical equipment and power. Above these floors was a 35 meter expanse to attach the microwave aerials to and then there were six floors of suites, office space, kitchens, viewing galleries, a souvenir shop and the piece de resistance was a revolving restaurant, operated by Butlins, called The Top of the Tower. It made a complete revolution once every 23 minutes and offered diners spectacular panoramic views across London.

Unfortunately the restaurant was closed to the public after a terrorist bomb was detonated in 1971 and then public access to the building was ceased in 1981. The BT Tower is now a grade II listed building and only occasionally used for corporate events and special events such as Children in Need.

Despite the fact that microwave links have now been replaced by subterranean optical fibre links, the tower is still used as the site of a major UK communications hub. The second floor contains the TV Network Switching Centre which carries broadcasting traffic and relays signals between television broadcasters, production companies, advertisers, international satellite services and uplink companies.

There are 128,000 exchange lines in the area, connected to 37 exchanges, of which 29 are automatic. The total staff numbers approximately 3,200.

Brochure Announcement

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 13:16:58 GMT

We are proud to announce the launch of our new brochure.

To view our new brochure visit: https://lnkd.in/dm7qjTGD

The Development of Telecoms - Sheffield

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 15:48:47 GMT

"Made in Sheffield" is a legend known throughout the world for high quality steel products.

More than half the value of the steel produced in this country comes from Sheffield; steel for peace and steel for war, for high speed cutting tools and armour plate, for roller bearings and gun barrels. The first stainless steel, which revolutionized the cutlery trade was produced here in 1912.

The discovery about 250 years ago of the method of making "Old Sheffield Plate" has led to the present extensive manufacture of artistic silver ware and electro-plate for which Sheffield is so well-known. There is probably hardly a household in the country without its Sheffield electro-plate, as well as Sheffield cutlery and garden tools.

The city with its 513,000 inhabitants is the fifth largest in England and the largest in the North Eastern Region.

Sheffield is the centre of a telephone area serving a wide variety of needs. It includes not only the coal mining and dense industrial districts of South Yorkshire, but also scattered and mountainous rural parts.

The Pennine Chain runs southward almost to Sheffield itself and below the city, the area extends into the Derbyshire countryside and includes Chesterfield, the Peak National Park and the Hope Valley. Further to the east it reaches Worksop in North Nottinghamshire and so comes down towards Sherwood Forest and the Dukeries, its boundary running with that of the Nottingham telephone area.

In the Sheffield telephone area there are over 90,000 stations of which 95 per cent are automatic, the highest proportion in any provincial area. The annual revenue exceeds £1,500,000.

The Development of Telecoms - Reading

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 15:46:22 GMT

The Reading area lies in the heart of the County of Berkshire, but includes portions of Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east and Hampshire to the south.

It embraces some of the most beautiful scenery of the Thames Valley, the picturesque villages of the Chiltern Hills and the rolling Berkshire Downs with their prehistoric associations. The Thames flows through the area, bordered by the picturesque towns and villages of Goring, Streatley, Sonning, Pangbourne, Marlow, Maidenhead, Eton and Windsor.

Reading, the largest town in the area, has a worldwide reputation for its biscuits, beer and seeds. It is also the seat of one of the newer universities. Next in importance commercially is Slough, a thriving community with varied business interests. The nearby film studios at Iver provide a fluctuating traffic load at the local exchange.

On the sporting side, the area is noted for the racecourses at Ascot and Newbury and for the numerous horse breeding and training stables on the Berkshire Downs. Henley-on-Thames, home of the famous Regatta, attracts oarsmen from all over the world.

The Development of Telecoms - Edinburgh

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 15:44:20 GMT

The main work of the area is centred in Edinburgh, capital city of Scotland, famous for its medical school and its now firmly established international festival of music and drama and birthplace of Alexander Graham Bell.

The 2,615 square miles of the area also embrace most of the historic Border country with its ruined abbeys and thriving and world-famous industry of tweeds and knitted garments and both sides of the estuary of the Forth. It is in these areas of the Lothians and Fife that the future of the coal industry of Scotland lies. One of the most outstanding landmarks of the area is, of course, the Forth Bridge.

Edinburgh has the highest telephone density of any city in the country outside London. It is also unique among provincial areas in that the operating staff in the city itself comes under the direct control of the Telephone Manager.

In the whole area 165 exchanges, of which 114 are automatic, serve 73,106 lines and 114,661 stations. It maintains 449,123 miles of wire underground and 42,322 miles of wire overhead. The total area staff, including engineering, operating and office is over 2,000.

The Development of Telecoms - Peterborough

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 15:42:16 GMT

Although Peterborough is well known for its Cathedral, the Peterborough telephone area has many other claims to fame. Here is Bourne, birthplace of Hereward the Wake and the British Racing Motors car; Oundle Public School; and the sands of bracing Skegness.

Other towns in the area include Boston, famous for its lantern-towered church, "Boston Stump"; St. Ives, with its chapel in the middle of the bridge over the River Ouse; and Wisbech, inland port on the River Nene.

The varied industries of the area include the manufacture of agricultural machinery, steam rollers and diesel engines. Natural resources include large brickyards, ironstone workings, cement works and the finest arable land for root crops in Britain.

Here is the country of potatoes and sugar-beet and strawberries, of vast expanses of tulip fields around Spalding and of long straight "drains", which draw anglers from all parts of Britain.

The Royal Foxhound Show and Peterborough Agricultural Show attract large crowds to Peterborough every summer and call for the provision of many temporary exchange lines.

The area contains some 2,051 square miles. It has Ermine Street as its backbone, from Caxton Gibbet in the southeast to Gonerby Moor in the north-west.

It contains 124 exchanges, 91 per cent of them automatic – the largest percentage in the Provinces. They serve 26,848 exchange lines and 44,069 stations. Mole-drained cable runs for miles through the rich black Fen soil, linking many isolated farmers with civilisation. The total staff numbers 714.

The Development of Telecoms - Plymouth

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 15:40:06 GMT

The Plymouth area, at the extreme south-west of the British Isles, includes Cornwall and part of Devon. It extends from the beautiful South Hams near Salcombe in the east (now recovered from war-time use by the Americans as a training battle-ground, using live ammunition) to the Isles of Scilly, noted for their early spring flowers, 30 miles from Lands End. The main island, St. Mary's, is served by a magneto exchange, named Scillonia, to which the "off islands" are connected by submarine cable. One island is served by a country satellite exchange, parented on Scillonia. The junctions to the mainland are routed via a VHF radio link. At the other end of the area is Dartmoor Prison, originally built for French prisoners-of-war, set some 1,360 feet above sea level at Princetown.

The telephone area of 1,850 square miles has a perimeter of 384 miles of which 300 are coast-line. In addition to the large holiday resorts such as Newquay, there are numerous smaller ones scattered all round the coast.

Camborne, near Truro, is still the centre for the manufacture of mining equipment, and the famous School of Mines is situated there. St Austell is the centre of a thriving china clay industry which was the third highest dollar earner last year.

The present temporary office overlooks the world famous Plymouth Hoe, with the statue of Sir Francis Drake and the memorial commemorating the victory over the Armada in the foreground and beyond, the English Channel. From the upper windows can be seen ships of the British and other navies passing to and from the Royal Dockyard and liners discharging their passengers and mail. The spot from which the Pilgrim fathers sailed in the "Mayflower" is only a short distance away. The city centre was devastated during the war, but Plymouth began to plan its reconstruction even before the war ended and has since made quite remarkable progress with the rebuilding of the shopping centre.

What is believed to be the first effective telephone installation in Britain was set up in Plymouth by Graham Bell in 1877 and the actual instruments used are in the Plymouth Museum.

There are 43,150 exchange connections in the area and 137 exchanges of which 101 are automatic. The total staff (excluding telephonists) is 1,158 and the annual revenue is £1,000,000.

The Development of Telecoms - London South West Region

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 15:34:24 GMT

The area lies almost entirely in Surrey, extending southwards from the River Thames to the slopes of the North Downs. Its 292 square miles of country have many beauty spots and notable among the places of interest are Hampton Court Palace, Kew Gardens and Richmond Park.

Associated with this area are diverse sporting events which command world-wide interest – Lawn Tennis Championships (Wimbledon); Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race (Putney); Royal Horse Show (Richmond) and the Derby (Epsom).

Of the 55 exchanges, 24 are automatic. There are 166,000 exchange lines (of which 12,000 are shared service) and 223,000 stations. Over 1,088,000 miles of wire underground and 16,000 miles overhead exist. The total staff of all grades exceeds 4,700.

The Development of Telecoms - Bedford

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 14:58:38 GMT

This area covers the whole of Bedfordshire and parts of Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire – a total of 865 square miles.

Bedford is situated on the Ouse and has many historical associations, perhaps the best known being its link with John Bunyan (the author of Pilgrims Progress). It is an important educational centre and its famous Grammar School was founded in 1552.

The area, mainly agricultural, includes the town of Luton, formerly world-renowned as the centre of the straw hat trade and still famous for hats; but more important new industries in Luton are those concerned with the manufacture of motor vehicles, ball bearings, etc. Other world-famous engineering firms exist at Bedford, which is also a centre for brick making.

The rapidly expanding satellite towns of Hemel Hempstead and Stevenage are in the area and exceptional telephone growth is therefore expected soon.

The number of exchange lines at present is 26,586 and stations 48,174. There are 86 exchanges, of which 70 are automatic. Staff employed in the area numbers 680.

The Development of Telecoms - Blackburn

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 14:55:05 GMT

The Blackburn area, which is situated astride the Lancashire and Yorkshire border, comprises the four large manufacturing towns of Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley and Rochdale, the towns of the Rossendale Valley and the surrounding districts. Although the southern part is industrial, it contains large tracts of moorland and, to the north, the forests of Bowland and Pendle, the Ribble and Hodder Valleys, all of which are of exceptional natural beauty.

There are many places of historical and literary interest in the area— notably Pendle Hill and Whalley Abbey around which Harrison Ainsworth and other writers have woven their stories about the Lancashire Witches. At Wycoller, on the border of the area, near Colne is Wycoller Hall which Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre calls Ferndean Manor. The Grant Brothers, mill owners of Ramsbottom, were the originals of Charles Dickens' Cheeryble Brothers. Downham is regarded as one of the loveliest villages in England, at Ribchester the Romans had a station, while at Hoghton Tower in 1617, James I was so pleased with the loin of beef served at table that he knighted it "Sir Loin“.

The inventions of the flying shuttle by John Kay of Bury, the spinning jenny by James Hargreaves of Stanhill on the outskirts of Blackburn, the spinning frame by Richard Arkwright of Preston, the combination of the jenny and frame by Samuel Crompton of Bolton and the invention of the steam engine by James Watt in 1770 lead to the erection of spinning mills and at the beginning of the 19th century Blackburn had three such mills and home spinning and weaving began to decline.

Blackburn is now the centre of what is probably the largest cotton manufacturing area in the world, but many other heavy and light industries are also carried on.

Blackburn and Accrington automatic exchanges, opened in 1916, are among the oldest automatic exchanges in the country and many leading townsmen of Blackburn played an important part in the early days of the National Telephone Company. Among them were Mr W E L Gaine, General Manager and Mr Eli Heyworth, Chairman of the Executive.

The area covers about 622 square miles and contains 48 exchanges with 50,814 exchange connections and 81,214 stations. The total staff (excluding telephonists) is 872.

The Development of Telecoms - Belfast

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 14:50:37 GMT

This widespread area embraces the six counties of Northern Ireland covering 5,237 square miles. It is also the centre of the famous Irish linen industry. The remainder of the area is mainly agricultural and is renowned for its beauty spots.

The main town is the City of Belfast, which is well known for shipbuilding and engineering in particular the most famous ship of all time, Titanic. Harland and Wolff began construction for the White Star Line in 1909 and three Olympic-class ocean liners were built. Olympic (1911), Titanic (1912) and Britannic (1915).

On 15th April 1912, Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, after hitting an Iceberg. There were approximately 2,200 souls on board and the rescue of over 700 survivors was possible due to new wireless telegraphy equipment invented by Guglielmo Marconi and his vision of equipping ships with telegraphs.

During the voyage, the wireless operators on board Titanic would spend time communicating with other ships and sending messages ashore for wealthy first-class passengers. Unfortunately this meant that the ships channels were jammed with passenger communications, so several ice warnings being transmitted over the same frequency were missed or ignored.

Thankfully after the collision, when Titanic started to transmit distress signals, Harold Cottam, the radio operator on board Carpathia received the first message, sent by Jack Phillips and immediately informed the captain, who headed towards the last known position of Titanic, 60 miles and four hours away.

If it had not been for Marconi and the wireless telegraph, there would have been no survivors. Many lessons have been learned from the Titanic disaster, the most important being that first-class passenger ships had to adopt a 24-hour radio watch, use the same wavelength to transmit signals and at regular intervals radio silence had to be maintained to listen for distress calls.

There are 198 exchanges in Belfast, of which 156 are automatic, 43,366 lines, 70,139 stations, 309,378 miles of underground wire and 51,740 miles of overhead wire. The total staff, excluding operating force is 1,435 including 1,110 engineering.

The Development of Telecoms - Coventry

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 14:43:58 GMT

The Coventry area covers about 1,400 square miles, mainly in Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. It includes the interesting towns of Northampton, which has one of the few remaining round churches in England; Warwick, recalling the days of medieval chivalry with the battlements and towers of Warwick Castle; Leamington with its 900 years old “Midland Oak" which reputedly marks the centre of England; Rugby with its famous public school founded in 1567 and, of Post Office interest, its high powered radio station; Nuneaton which takes its name from a 12th century Benedictine nunnery now in ruins; Stratford-on-Avon with its Shakespearean associations and Wellingborough in addition to the rapidly growing City of Coventry.

The scenery is attractive outside the main towns and surprisingly rural considering its proximity to the industrial concentration of the Midlands.

Coventry itself is probably best known because of the bombing it suffered during the second world war and the coining of the word "Coventration". Despite the destruction to its historic buildings, there still remain houses with projecting fronts which belong to the 15th and 16th century and two of the city gates. The town grew up around the magnificent Benedictine abbey founded by Leofric, Earl Mercia in 1043; his wife was the "Lady Godiva" of the well-known legend.

Coventry is an interesting and versatile city. Throughout the ages, it has changed its predominant industry to suit the most profitable market available at the time and has therefore for most of the time maintained a high degree of prosperity. In the middle ages, the main industry was woollen textiles, but this changed to silk, then clocks and watches followed by cycles, motor cycles and cars.

The clock and cycle industries have almost disappeared now and motor cycle production is greatly reduced, but there is still a thriving textile industry and it is the headquarters and location of one of the country’s largest manufacturer of rayon yarn. The main products are, however, motor cars, machine tools and aero engines. One of the large manufacturers of telephone equipment also has a factory in the city.

The area contains 81 exchanges with approximately 45,000 exchange connections and 79,000 stations. The total staff (excluding telephonists) is 925 and the annual revenue is £1,600,000.

The Development of Telecoms - Guildford

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 14:38:52 GMT

The earliest line of communication left in this country is the Old Road. Along it travelled pre-Roman Britons seeking new settlements. Much later the road was called the Pilgrim's Way, because of its use by Chaucer's pilgrims, traveling to Canterbury "the holy blissful martyr for to seek”. The Old Road can still be traced along the North Downs – the principal geographical feature in a telephone area of 750 square miles.

The area is mainly residential, community life being centred on Guildford, Aldershot, Basingstoke, Camberley, Dorking, Farnham, Godalming, Haslemere and Woking.

Light industry lately been attracted to most towns, notably Basingstoke and Woking. Aldershot and Camberley are well known in military history. There is everywhere a lively farming industry.

As modern successors of those who made the Old Road, the Post Office now provide telephone communications through 69 exchanges, serving 66,300 telephones. The staff (excluding operators) numbers 485 and the annual revenue approaches £1,000,000.

The Development of Telecoms - Chester

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 14:28:58 GMT

From the Dee estuary to the Isle of Anglesey and south to historic Harlech, the Chester area covers some 2,250 square miles.

The scene is one of sharp contrasts; the coal mines and the trading estate around Wrexham give way to the great steel works at Shotton, while along the North Wales coast are famous holiday resorts such as Rhyl, Colwyn Bay and Llandudno.

Crowning all is lovely Snowdonia, centre of the first National Park in Wales, land of wild grandeur and beauty, with its snow-copped peaks and lovely mountain streams.

The headquarters are in Chester, the gateway to North Wales on the banks of the Dee – a famous garrison town even in Roman days and now a busy commercial and shopping centre served by a fine modern telephone exchange.

In such a widespread area, many of the 1,050 staff are out stationed, particularly at Bangor and in Colwyn Bay and Llandudno. There are 144 exchanges serving the area (99 of them automatic) with over 51,000 stations, at which more than 600 operating staff are employed.

The Development of Telecoms - Brighton

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 14:25:53 GMT

The mention of Brighton suggests at once happy holidays and although the telephone area, which covers 750 square miles of the County of Sussex, it includes many of the most favoured residential towns and villages on the South Coast, its past and more recent history and activity reveal it to be much more than a playground.

During the War, the area played a vital role in providing and maintaining key military telecommunications. Post-war years brought an unprecedented demand for telephone facilities for re-settlement and for establishing new light industries throughout Sussex. 51 per cent, of the subscribers are now on the "Business" tariff.

There are 85 exchanges, 51 of which are automatic. The 100,000th telephone in the area was installed in October 1949. Staff, excluding day and night operating forces comprises 1,387 men and women, of whom 80 per cent are employed in the engineering and traffic grades and 20 per cent in sales and accounting.

The Area watchword is "Progress"

The Development of Telecoms - Manchester

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 14:25:18 GMT

Metropolis of the North, hub of the Lancashire textile industry (the largest permanent single export activity in the country) – Manchester. A great inland City, which, by the construction of the 35-mile Ship Canal in 1894, became one of the principal ports of Great Britain. Manchester does not thrive on cotton alone: coal, steel, engineering, chemical and allied industries contribute to make it one of the great workshops of the world.

Apart from the "Manchester Guardian", six national newspapers publish their northern editions in this city and we must mention such other famous institutions as the Halle, the Free Trade Hall, Old Trafford and that playground of the North, Belle Vue.

The Manchester telephone area, with the twin cities of Manchester and Salford as the focal point, covers 822 square miles. Oldham and its mills to the north; Northwich with its vast ICI chemical plant to the south-west; Macclesfield, the silk town due south; to the south-east, over the wild Derbyshire Hills, Buxton Spa and at the bleak north-east tip of the rea, Holme Moss Television Station.

There are 86 exchanges, of which 63 are automatic, serving 234,500 stations, with half a million miles of wire, of which only 35,000 miles is overhead. The total staff (including telephonists) exceeds 4,300 and the annual revenue is £4,000,000.

The Development of Telecoms - Scotland West Region

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 14:23:32 GMT

The Scotland West area covers the west of Scotland from Dumfriesshire in the south, with the romantic Gretna Green just inside the Scottish border, to Mallaig in the north. It includes the North and South Uist in the Outer Hebrides and the islands off the west coast both south and west of Skye.

The area is spread over approximately 10,400 square miles of territory, almost as large as the Home Counties Region, but not so compact. The variety of type of community is infinite, ranging from the rich agricultural and grazing areas of the south through the industrial areas of the Clyde-Forth valley to the remote farms and crofts of the Western Highlands and Islands. It encircles, but does not include Glasgow and stretches each side of the Firth of Clyde, which is the delight of yachtsmen and the scene of many trial trips of great liners and ships.

High mountain ranges and the sea lochs comply, indenting the coastline combine to give the area some of the most magnificent scenery in the British Isles, which attracts a considerable amount of tourist and holiday traffic. Indeed the Iochs are the principal hydrographic feature of Scotland as a whole, both on the mainland and in many of the islands. The largest in Scotland and in Great Britain is Loch Lomond (24 miles long).

Road and rail communications, because of the lochs and high mountain ranges are difficult and few, less so for telephone development, but the nature of the terrain presents constant and exciting challenge.

The area headquarters are in Glasgow, about seven miles at the nearest point from the area controlled and it was the first of those few areas whose headquarters are situated in another telephone area.

There are 70,783 exchange connections in the area and 368 exchanges of which 276 are automatic. The total staff (excluding telephonists) is 1,630 and the annual revenue is £2,000,000.

The Development of Telecoms - Exeter

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 14:21:17 GMT

Exeter area is wholly contained in glorious Devon of contrasting loveliness. This pleasant county stretches from the rain and wind-swept Atlantic seaboard in the north to the southern shore over moorland, tor and fell, down the sylvan valleys of Exe, Teign and Dart and then to the rich, red alluvial farmlands whose meadows seem perennially lush-green in the mild, equable climate.

It is essentially a dairy farming county. Devon's agricultural industry makes a most important contribution to the nation's food supply.

Devon's southern coastal resorts attract hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers each summer. Small wonder, therefore, that Torquay, Queen of the English Riviera, has been chosen as the venue this year (1950) of the International Conference on Tariffs and Trade. This will involve the provision of 1,000 new telephones.

The Exeter area takes in 1,580 square miles. It employs a staff of just under 1,000 and it has 116 exchanges (99 of them automatic) with 39,000 exchange connections and 55,000 stations. The installation of telephones for Devon farms has been a major post-war task. During the past two years (1948-50), over 1,400 telephones have been connected, involving the erection of nearly 8,500

poles.

The Development of Telecoms - Leicester

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 12:13:17 GMT

The Leicester area is about 1,300 square miles in extent and covers the County of Leicestershire and parts of eight surrounding counties. It is a pleasant and gently undulating country-side; in fact, hunting country. The famous Quorn, Pytchley, Belvoir, Cottesmore and Ferney hunts are still a regular feature of this east Midlands country-side.

The City of Leicester dates back to pre-Roman days being one of the five Danish Burhs and it was an important station in Roman times. The battlefields of Bosworth and Naseby are within the boundaries of the area and Cardinal Wolsey died in the old Abbey at Leicester. Ashby de la Zouch awakens memories of Ivanhoe and was the scene of the imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scots. The ruins of Lady Jane Grey's home still stand in Bradgate Park in Leicester and there is also the incomparable Belvoir Castle, a majestic spectacle set on a hill which catches the imagination.

More recently, there is one of the oldest tunnels in the country, built by Stephenson, at Glenfield and the second rail road in England from West Bridge to Swannington. The first railway excursion was from Leicester to Loughborough. Among the notable men born in the county were Robert Herrick, Lord Macaulay and Latimer, Bishop of Worcester.

The area's industries and products are diverse, ranging from brewing to textiles and from heavy engineering to plastic toys and optical glass. Loughborough has literally sent its name ringing round the world by its famous bells and carillons. The county's granite is famous and everyone knows the association of Leicester with the hosiery trade. It may not be so well known that nearly all the boot and shoe machinery used in this country is made here and that most of the women's shoes manufactured in Britain are made in Leicester.

Leicester is served in the main by automatic exchanges of the Siemens No. 16 type opened in 1926. Burton-on-Trent is notable in the telephone world for its Bypath automatic system opened in April 1932, which is to be replaced by standard equipment in a few years' time.

The area contains 109 exchanges with 57,500 exchange connections and 92,150 stations. The total staff (excluding telephonists) is 1,100.

The Development of Telecoms - London West Region

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 12:10:41 GMT

The West London area, a territory of 124 square miles, extends from London's famous Marble Arch to the lesser-known peaceful surroundings of Egham in Surrey and Harefield in Middlesex.

It includes such well-known places as Kensington with its great stores, world famed museums, colleges and the Royal Albert Hall and artistic Chelsea, with its Royal Hospital and Army Pensioners. The area is bounded on the southern side by the historic Universities Boat-Race course. Olympia and Earls Court, homes of famous exhibitions and annual events, beloved by Londoners, present their own special problems. The British Industries fair, the Royal Tournament, the Amateur Athletic Championships at the White City, the Chelsea Flower Show and Rugby International Football at Twickenham are some of the more important events staged in the area.

The BBC Television Studios at Shepherds Bush, the British Film Industry at Ealing and Denham and the vast industrial factories of the Great West Road are among the more important installations maintained. At the end of the West Road lies London Airport to which come the aircraft of all nations, transporting the peoples of the world to the hub of the British Commonwealth.

32 Exchanges, of which 26 are automatic, provide service over the 136,000 lines to close on a quarter of a million telephones, producing a revenue of over £3,000,000 annually. The total staff numbers 3,700 and the area Headquarters are at Acton.

The Development of Telecoms - Colchester

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 12:02:01 GMT

Colchester makes claim to be the oldest town recorded in British history and much of its massive Roman wall still stands. Colchester has connection with Shakespeare's Cymbeline, Queen Boadicea, King Cole (of nursery rhyme fame) and the Civil War. Its Castle is the largest Norman keep in the country and is constructed largely of Roman building materials; the Castle houses a museum with an exceptionally fine collection of Roman remains among which are two amphorae (storage jars) discovered four years ago when excavating for the foundations and basement of the extended Colchester exchange.

Along the 60 miles of coastline are many well-known holiday resorts such as Clacton, Frinton, Walton-on-Naze and Felixstowe. Yachting enthusiasts are catered for at Brightlingsea, West Mersea, Pinmill and Wivenhoe. At Wivenhoe, shipbuilding has been in progress since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

The Oyster Feast for which Colchester is famous and which was founded in antiquity, has been revived in recent years in full splendour. Engineering works at Colchester give employment to many, but the main industrial activities of the area are centred at Ipswich.

The 350th anniversary of the death of Colchester's most distinguished son William Gilberd has recently been observed. He was physician-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I, but his fame rests on his exhaustive and original treatise on magnetism published in 1600.

The bulk of the territory is given over to agriculture and fruit growing. Many of the scenes made familiar by the paintings of John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough are to be found in this area, within whose confines both men were born.

Aldeburgh, in the north east corner of the area, which is widely known for its annual festival of Music and the Arts, is also the landing point of Anglo-Dutch cables.

Colchester is the headquarters of the area which covers parts of the counties of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk and is of 1,311 square miles in extent. Its 110 exchanges, 81 of them automatic, serve 34,542 subscribers' connections with 53,017 stations. The staff total is 779.

The Development of Telecoms - Bradford

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 11:52:55 GMT

Wherever men deal in wool Bradford is a name of paramount consequence. Perhaps this very renown tends to obscure its other claims to notice. These are associated with circumstances as diverse as its unique geographical position midway between the east and west coasts in the heart of the industrial West Riding and its ecclesiastical importance as one of the newer bishoprics. Its cathedral, originally the parish church, dates back to the 14th century.

The city of Bradford is the headquarters of the area, but nearby are the important textile centres of Huddersfield and Halifax, which are also well known for their engineering and chemical products and Keighley which is world famous for textile machinery.

To those unacquainted with the Bradford telephone area, not the least surprising feature is the wild unspoilt country within easy reach of the towns, country of romance such as the Bronte country, the Yorkshire Dales and Yorkshire Moors.

The area covers 785 square miles of which more than half is rural; indeed the territory north of Skipton is very sparsely populated. Here are the headwaters of the rivers Aire, Wharfe and Ribble, long deep dales, steep and desolate fells, isolated and remote.

This part of the area is now largely designated as a National Park. The scenery is austere and grand rather than dainty, although there are numerous charming waterfalls and little lakes or "tarns" with plenty of wild life.

The area contains 61 exchanges of which 43 are automatic serving over 67,000 exchange connections with about 105,000 stations.

The total staff inclusive of operating force numbers 1,660. The annual revenue approaches £1,700,000.

The Development of Telecoms - Cardiff

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 11:49:39 GMT

Stretching from the estuary of the River Severn to the Brecon Beacons, the Cardiff area covers approximately 1,600 square miles.

It includes the sea ports of Barry, Cardiff and Newport. Although steel and coal were the basic industries of this part of South Wales, trading estates consisting of factories in light industry have been established in several parts of the area. In contrast, there are very large expanses of rich farming country in Monmouth, Breconshire and the Vale of Glamorgan.

There are 51 automatic and 78 manual exchanges with 40,206 exchange lines and 70,989 stations, 296,300 miles of underground and 49,150 miles of overhead wire. The total staff, excluding exchange operating staff is 1,103 and the main preoccupation of engineering and traffic staff now is the conversion of Cardiff exchange to automatic working towards the end of 1951.

The Development of Telecoms - Gloucester

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 13:11:12 GMT

The ancient City of Gloucester is the headquarters of a telephone area of about 1,420 square miles, mainly in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. Although predominantly agricultural, a variety of important light industries are carried on in Gloucester and some of the smaller towns. Many are connected with aircraft construction. Fighter planes prominent in the Battle of Britain, notably the Hurricane, were first manufactured in Gloucester. The world's first successful gas turbine jet-propelled aircraft, the Gloster Whittle E.28/39 completed its initial flight trial here in 1941. This was followed by the Gloster Meteor and more recently the GAS (now named the Javelin).

Besides Gloucester's magnificent Cathedral, the surrounding district will recall to many the Cotswolds and the Wiltshire Downs, each with their particular type of scenic beauty—Arlington Row at Bibury, Painswick Beacon, Symonds Yat and Savernake Forest.

The fashionable promenade, the squares and terraces of Regency houses of which Cheltenham Spa is so proud are well known, as are also, for a different reason, the extensive railway works at Swindon. Cirencester, sometimes called "Ciceter", Stroud, the home of West of England Cloth and Marlborough, whose interests centre round its famous school, are among the other towns of the area.

The Severn Bore, the Druids' Stones at Avebury, the Severn Wild Fowl Trust – these are but a few of the many notable features of an area rich in natural and historic interests.

Of the 108 exchanges serving some 32,000 subscribers (53,250 stations), 88 are automatic. The waiting list has been halved in the last three years (1950-53) and now stands at 1,550. The total staff for this area is 933.

The Development of Telecoms - Middlesbrough

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 13:09:18 GMT

Middlesbrough area covers North Yorkshire and South Durham. It consists of a heavy industrial belt on Teesside, which has grown up in the past 100 years and is still rapidly expanding; and sparsely populated agricultural country spreads over Weardale, Teesdale, Swaledale and Wensleydale extending to the watershed of the Pennine Range.

The area has the distinction of providing the communications for the largest chemical plant in the world, namely Imperial Chemical Industries, to whose established works at Billingham has recently been added the vast new works at Wilton; the two being connected by a tunnel under the Tees.

The other main industries of the area are steel and shipping; one-fifth of Great Britain's output of steel comes from Teesside, which makes it the largest steel producing area in the country. 42 per cent, of Great Britain's tonnage of new ships is built on the Tyne, Wear and Tees.

The area is 2,075 square miles in extent; it has 76 automatic exchanges, 25 manual, 34,227 exchange connections, 58,247 stations and 817 total staff. The total annual revenue of the area is £1,034,700.

The Development of Telecoms - Bournemouth

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 13:07:26 GMT

The Bournemouth telephone area comprises 1,056 square miles, mainly in the County of Dorset, although the most densely telephoned part is around Bournemouth in Hampshire.

The area has a beautiful coast line and hinterland and its boundaries closely coincide with the Wessex of Thomas Hardy.

Its most important industries are holiday making (which keeps telephone people very busy!) and agriculture and there is also the important naval base of Portland – a huge rock which supplied the stone for St. Paul's Cathedral and other famous buildings. It is packed with relics of English history, ranging from the days of the earliest British inhabitants to the invasion of Europe in 1944. The first cross-channel cable to the Normandy beach head was terminated at Southbourne in Poole Bay.

No report about the area would be complete without mentioning the close ties with the Channel Islands, where a number of engineering staff maintain the trunk for communications.

There are 70 exchanges, 22 manual and 48 automatic, 70,300 stations, 43,300 exchange connections and a total staff of all grades of 950. Almost all the largest exchanges are still manual. The annual revenue is now about £1,000,000.

The Development of Telecoms - Glasgow

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 13:04:43 GMT

The main towns are the City of Glasgow which received a Burgh of Barony in 1175 and has grown with shipping, shipbuilding and engineering; Paisley, famous for thread manufacture and Rutherglen, a Royal Burgh since 1126. The area is bounded to the north-west by the banks of Loch Lomond.

One of the most famous comedians from Glasgow is Billy Connolly who started out working in the Glasgow shipyards as a boilermaker and welder.

In 1937, the most attended European football match in history took place at Hampden Park where Scotland beat England 3-1 with 149,547 people in attendance – a European record.

68 exchanges, half of which are automatic, serve 92,000 exchange lines and 145,000 stations. The trunk exchange opened in 1940, has 362 operators' positions in one switch-room.

There are 994,000 miles of wire underground and 22,500 miles overhead. The total engineering, operating and administrative staff exceeds 4,000.

The Development of Telecoms - Bristol

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 13:00:26 GMT

The Bristol area includes the City and County of Bristol, together with portions of Gloucester, Somerset and Wiltshire, covering an area of 1,343 square miles.

The industrial parts of the area are mainly situated around Bristol and Bath. In contrast, the agricultural districts embrace such beauty spots as Cheddar, famous for its gorge and caves, the City of Wells, noted for its Cathedral and astronomical clock and the Mendip Hills. To the South West of the area are the well-known holiday resorts of Weston-super-Mare and Clevedon. Bristol, of 450,000 population, plays an important part in the maritime life of the West Country.

It is a city of mixed industrial and commercial activities, including tobacco, aircraft, chocolate, paint, boots and shoes, printing and general light engineering. From here, John Cabot sailed in 1497 on his voyage which culminated in the discovery of Newfoundland. Bath, the second largest city in the area, is renowned for its roman baths and its georgian architecture.

The 124 exchanges, of which 93 are automatic, serve over 66,000 exchange lines and 110,000 stations. The total staff, including 1,350 in the engineering grades, numbers about 1,700. The supervising and operating staff in the area approaches 950.

The Development of Telecoms - London South East Region

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 12:58:15 GMT

The South East area, London Telecommunications Region, stretches along the south bank of the Thames from Battersea to Lambeth and from Deptford to beyond Gravesend. Its southern limits reach the Kentish slopes of the North Downs.

The territory is rich in historical associations; here, Sir Walter Raleigh spread his cloak for the first Queen Elizabeth; here, at Deptford, were laid the foundations of Britain's modern naval strength; here, Wat Tyler made his early bid for democracy.

The area comprises stretches of industrial, residential and agricultural territory and its features include the Greenwich Naval College, the National Maritime Museum, Kennington Oval and Woolwich Arsenal.

Its products are many and varied, ranging from portland cement, telecommunications equipment and dustbins to hops, beer and silk from the silkworm farm at Lullingstone Castle.

The Area covers about 228 square miles. Its 39 exchanges have 160,000 exchange connections and 220,000 stations. It is growing at the rate of 8,500 exchange connections per year (1953-54). The staff numbers about 4,000.

The Development of Telecoms - Liverpool

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 12:54:13 GMT

Merseyside, with its river, ships and docks, forms the hub of the area. Consequently, the Liverpool telephone service plays a large part in furthering the export drive. But, besides shipping, many other industries are carried on.

The area contains a sample of nearly every business activity in the country and supports a population of about two million.

The industrial centre is surrounded by rich agricultural lands in South-West Lancashire and North Cheshire, centred on Ormskirk and Warrington.

To the East are the towns of Warrington, St. Helens, Widnes and Runcorn, with their heavy engineering, chemical, glass and coal mining industries. To the West is the residential Wirral Peninsula, far out in the Irish Sea is the Isle of Man, renowned as a holiday resort and the Mecca of racing motor cyclists.

The area covers 680 square miles, wherein 175,000 stations are served by 78 exchanges (47 are automatic) and by 812,000 miles of wire (784,000 miles are underground). About one-third of the stations have been connected since 1945. This has involved a very heavy programme of plant expansion and the adoption of many expedients to exploit the area's resources to the full.

The total staff, including 1,700 engineering and 2,250 operating grades, numbers about 4,500. The annual revenue exceeds £3,000,000.

The Development of Telecoms - Lincoln

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 15:49:11 GMT

The Development of Telecoms - Lincoln

The Lincoln area, covering as it does 2,029 square miles, made up of North Lincolnshire and parts of Nottinghamshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, is one of pleasing contrasts, which range from Lincoln itself, with its magnificent cathedral – "The Jewel of Europe“ – and a history going back to pre-Roman days, through pleasant and fertile agricultural districts to the modern steel town of Scunthorpe.

Industrially too, this area is one of contrasts: coal mining near Doncaster; fishing at Grimsby; steel at Scunthorpe; oil at Immingham and bulbs at Spalding; and from the engineering works at Lincoln but a short distance to placid inland waterways beloved of fishermen.

From the telephone point of view, Lincoln's post-war effort has been great. Service has been provided for 25,000 new subscribers, nearly 2,000 of whom are farmers, many of whose long lines created a special problem. This again reflects the diversity of the area, since provision of service was assisted greatly by mechanical pole-erecting and cable-laying aids – the latter first used during the war to meet the problems of service to some 40 aerodromes.

Risks and Rewards of the ISDN and PSTN 2025 Switch Off

helen.chadwick@segmentationgroup.com (Segmentation Group) — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 08:57:55 GMT

It’s happening, it’s time to prepare

What is going to happen?

In 2015, BT announced that it is preparing to switch of its ISDN and PSTN networks in favour of faster paced digital solutions, as ISDN and PSTN are no longer capable of delivering the volumes of voice data needed in an increasingly digital world. By September 2023, you will no longer be able to purchase any new ISDN lines, leading to 2025, which is the proposed date of the ISDN switch off.

According to Ofcom’s 2018 Communications Market Report, there were 33.1 million fixed landlines in the UK (including ISDN) and approximately 6.4 million of those belonged to business users.

These include: -

Broadband services that are delivered on a single line, e.g. Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Lines (ADSL) and Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC)
Specialist equipment, e.g. alarm lines, lift phones, payment terminals, traffic light systems, remote access, fax and payphone lines, emergency pendants, dialysis machines, telemetry devices, modems and any other special services
Least Cost Routing (LCR) and Carrier Pre-Selection (CPS) will also be affected at the same time, so your costs may increase because of this.

BT are now encouraging organisations to make the transition to alternative solutions and with this information in mind, now is the time to prepare and make a considered switch, instead of a panicked one, that can bring many benefits to your business.

What is ISDN?

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) is a telephone network that allows both voice and data services to be delivered over digital lines simultaneously. ISDN was introduced in 1986 to transfer old landline technology over to digital, but with the advent of broadband, this technology is now outdated.

What is PSTN?

PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) is the older analogue telephone network, that has been around since the invention of the telephone. It was used for analogue voice communication and was enhanced by ISDN, which enabled digital transmission of voice and video over the PSTN network.

What are the alternatives? Do I throw it all away?

21st Century technology has drastically moved on from ISDN and PSTN and these technologies are lagging behind modern alternatives. Switch Off 2025 is as much of an opportunity as it is a problem, as there are many benefits to the alternative technologies, such as resilience, cost reduction, better collaboration and remote working options, all of which are highly beneficial in today’s pandemic environment.

What is replacing ISDN and PSTN?

Many vendors will offer network-based IP services which only requires an active internet connection. There are two options using this technology, both are cloud based and are readily available: -

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) which is a hosted IP Telephony that allows renting a cloud-based highly resilient phone system, using your internet connection as your “phone lines”. This is beneficial for those who need the performance and versatility of a phone system, without incurring maintenance charges
SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is an on-premise or hosted solution for a telephone system that uses data circuits to provide virtual phone lines and can connect to your existing PBX system, prolonging the use of this investment

For analogue devices such as alarm systems, lift emergency phones etc there will be adaptors to allow continued use, although you should consider now purchasing new compatible devices for new customers and replacement of broken devices.

What are the next steps and how to prepare?

Don’t panic! There is still enough time to assess and prepare, however leaving it till the last minute could impact your business performance whilst you find an alternative solution.

There are already comparisons to the Year 2000 bug and there is the risk of the same scaremongering and increasing costs experienced then. There may also be a shortage of engineers, due to demand and you could also already be missing out on some of the added benefits that come with switching over to IP technology, but budget planning and an enlightened purchasing policy can spread the impact over the next few years.

What are you waiting for?

It is time to acknowledge that the way we communicate is changing and that IP is the way forward. You should focus on adopting a technology that will meet the demands of your business needs going forward and acknowledge that the ISDN and PSTN Switch Off demonstrates the evolutionary nature of telecommunications.

Waiting and doing nothing is not an option, especially for organisations with a larger and more complex telecoms estate. This will need more intense planning to fully understand the whole environment, which could be problematic and challenging to unravel, as it may have grown uncontrollably over many years.

If you require an assessment of your current situation to determine your requirements, please get in touch

It’s time to make technology the most important weapon in the fight against Covid-19

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 14:27:29 GMT

The impacts of Covid-19 have been devastating but have also enabled us to think differently in order to counterbalance its effects, with many businesses urgently reviewing their technology infrastructures to ensure they continue to function efficiently.

Technology, now more than ever before, is playing a major role in helping us adapt to a world that will never be the same again and the pandemic is serving as a catalyst for this change, as technology needs to multiply at a faster rate than the virus, to keep us ahead of the curve.

The World Trade Organisation estimates that the pandemic will cause global trade to decline between 13 and 32 percent, which would have major negative impacts on the economy, so it is time to turn these negatives into positives. Covid-19 has irreversibly accelerated the digitalisation of society. It has allowed employees to work from home and led to a surge in innovation, as businesses change and adapt to new ways of operating.

Are you maximising the full potential of your technology in the fight against Covid-19?

Call us on 03300 240480 or fill out the form for one of our consultants to contact you.

Motoring organisation predicts a permanent reduction in the demand for travel.

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 10:46:59 GMT

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52137968

Is the infrastructure we need for the future better motorways or broadband super-highways?
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BBC environment analyst

Zoom Calls Aren't as Private as You May Think. Here's What You Should Know ...

Sun, 29 Mar 2020 20:34:46 GMT

https://www.consumerreports.org/video-conferencing-services/zoom-teleconferencing-privacy-concerns/

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By Allen St. John

March 24, 2020

Does this sound like your Telecommunications situation?

Tue, 24 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Over the years most businesses have grown their telecoms systems, purchasing new lines, systems and services in an ad hoc fashion.

This has been coupled with the exponential growth of technologies over the last thirty years, from the introduction of mobiles allowing us to do business on the move, to the speed of data communications allowing information to be transferred faster and faster and a whole myriad of emerging technologies which question the way in which any business operates.

As such, many organisations have grown their telecommunications on an “as needed” basis, without questioning the way in which telecoms technologies are researched, procured, ordered, used or even billed for.

Many companies feel that they do not have their telecoms expenditure under control due to their telecoms invoices being in different media formats, covering different payment periods and often being incorrectly applied. In addition to this, we regularly find that telecoms costs are not allocated to the correct cost centres.

Does this sound like your business and do you need assistance to gain back control of your Telecommunications? If so get in touch for more information.

Call 03300 240 480 and ask to speak to one of our specialist advisers.