87.9 in Nashua NH

[John Francini]

In New Hampshire, you can still dial 7-digits within the 603 area code.

In towns and cities like Taunton (with 5-digit dialing pre-AT&T breakup) it meant they were still using Strowger switch trains to do the actual call switching. It turned out that arrangements like that were both cheaper for Ma Bell and much easier for the customers.  A rare example of a win-win in the pre-transistorized-electronics age.  Strowger switches were fascinating to watch: the make-and-break impulses from the user's dial directly drove the switch train as the call connection was built up.

john




On 9 Feb 2011, at 21:41, Sean Smyth wrote:

> On Wed, 2/9/11, Paul Hopfgarten <paul@derrynh.net> wrote:
>> I don't think the 20 somethings have the area code/location
>> mindset of us Baby Boomers (I'm still getting use to 774,
>> 339, 859 overlays in gtr Boston...heck I still think of the
>> eastern 2/3s of MA as all 617....I had the 617 AC my entire
>> life until I moved to the 603 in 1990...)
> 
> Absolutely not, especially since the idea of long distance is pretty much a thing of the past. Ten-digit dialing seems pretty mandatory in the U.S. 
> 
> As an aside, I'm 32, and I can't remember making more than a handful of calls on a traditional land line in the past year -- never mind using a pay phone ...
> 
> 
>