Michael N. Paris wrote:
>
>>
>> I worked as an engineer with Bell Labs (the R&D arm of AT&T) right out of
>> college and can support this statement. All equiment we designed and
>> built
>> was to meet an operating life of 20 years minimum. The Bell telephones
>> used at home and in phone booths also met this standard. They were built
>> like a brick. Service was great, and call clarity was excellant.
>>
>
> And right now, I use a VOIP provider which more or less is accross the
> street from Bell Labs and its Vonage. I grew up a 20-30 min bicycle
> ride from Bell Labs Holmdel.

Isn't there a discussion and what to use the Holmdel facility for?
One nice thing about those days was when you had a phone problem you
called 611 and regardless of whether it was the phone,inside wiring or
outside they fixed it.