Deployment vs. Development Costs

Do most subscriber loops in the US still support pulse dialing? I haven't tried pulse dialing (using the switchhook) lately since I don't have a land line any more -- but, the last time I tried (probably 10 years ago), the switch I was connected to still handled pulse dialing just fine. Actually I've still got a couple phones with mechanical dials and ringers around somewhere...

Grin.. So I've got an old black bakilite Ma bell from (maybe) 60's? I bought it for $10 in 1979 (Moving into my first off campus apartment.) It's unmodified except for a module connecter rather than the spade lugs. That phone was totally abused during several years of off campus living. I just called my brother, (maybe we'll watch the Sabres loose again tomorrow.) phone still works. I've got another 'newer' model in the shop. (need I say we don't make things like we use to.)

George H.

Most "real" POTS lines still do, although there are more-and-more "land lines" that are done with VOIP-like technologies, with a traditional two-wire phone interface to support "real" phones. Most of those do not support pulse dialing. Even some telco's are installing such devices for customers. And there are certain restrictions - if you have DSL on the same line, pulse dialing is not possible, for example.

And it's been less than a decade since I've seen a "touch tone" surcharge on POTS line, although I'm not sure it was actually possible to order the line without at that time. But that's how the tariff was written...

Many phone services these days that support "real" phones no longer support pulse dialing - most VOIP-ish stuff, for example (so if you're getting you "land line" through your cable company, there is value in this approach.

I meant to mention that a number of years ago I encountered a faux-candlestick phone in a shop, with ten digit buttons arranged in a circle (to visually resemble a dial). What amused me is that there was a pulse/tone switch on the bottom of the phone.

No idea. Nowadays, the last mile (or "last few blocks" :> ) are often implemented with a mix of technology. SLIC96's, etc. Neighbor's new "land line" is just "a cell phone that isn't portable" (i.e., wireless device with tip and ring connections).

I (passively) "collect" old WE phones but not for their value

I think if you've got copper to the CO, you're pretty "safe" (funny choice of words). But, more and more of TPC's infrastructure is becoming hybridized so that "pair" you see may not actually correspond to another "pair" in the CO!

Yes, it always "made sense" to have a tone/pulse switch on a PUSHBUTTON phone -- as not all lines were DTMF-enabled (it used to be an "extra charge").

In school, a buddy recounts getting a phone call from TPC early one morning (perhaps timed to catch him half asleep? You know how early college students like to roll out of bed... :> )

She simply asked one question (which immediately tipped him off that there was an ulterior motive, here): "Could you please PRESS one on your phone?" At which point, he reached over to *another* phone and DIALED one (as the phone he was using to answer the call was a touchtone phone -- and he wasn't paying for touchtone service!).

I'm wwaiting for TPC to take the same attitude regarding CID (i.e., provide it universally and just only charge those folks who actually claim to want it!)

Actually, given that you said "vehicle" there's a segment of the vehicle market where they are an excellent example of development/depoloyment/operational cost tradeoffs, and had been deployed so successfully ~100 years ago that automobile companies bought up tram lines just to take them out of service (so as to sell more cars).

Trains.

Developing a diesel-electric locomotive costs considerably more than developing an all electric locomotive. Deploying the all-electric one costs more. Running it costs a bit less.

And trains .vs. trucks - trains cost more to develop and deploy, but much, much less to run in cost per ton of freight moved.

To throw more tradeoffs and options to this, add canals to the consideration.

(snip)

For a long time, they charged extra for tone dialing, maybe $2 or so a month. But internally they have to convert pulse to tone, so most often tone works anyway.

As far as I know, pulse still works. I don't have many actual dial phones, though. I do still have one I bought from Radio Shack (I think birthday present, actually) around 1974. That is, before the legality was completely worked out.

-- glen

In software, if you build an application in an interpreted language, you have to deal with making sure that all your users have a working copy of the interpreter. Depending on the language and user base, this may range from incredibly painful to only mildly painful.

It is getting better over time as disks get bigger, networks speed up, and installers get smarter; it is more likely that the user already has some version of the interpreter around, or that downloading the intepreter doesn't take too long, or that installing a new version of the intepreter won't break everything else.

In modem days, people used to groan when they got their first application that required .Net, because that meant a long download of the .Net runtime from Microsoft. Eventually Microsoft started bundling the runtime with Windows.

If you spend more development time on using C or C++, and pick your calls very carefully from the Win32 API, you end up with an .exe that works on anything from Windows 95 to Windows 7. It won't *look* as pretty as a .Net application on Win7, but it will *work*. The problem with this (besides time) is that you probably have to have started developing when Win95 was new to even know where to begin doing this. :)

Similar considerations apply to Java, Flash, etc. Some things like Perl and Python have Windows interpreters available, but their functionality can be different enough from the Unix version to cause problems.

Matt Roberds

Government subsidized? How can it be that cheap? I'm paying around $30/month for 8 Mbps!

$50 for 6Mbps (really 3Mbps on a good day).

$63 for 6Mbps here.

No subsidies.

Steve

How about mechanical seals vs packed glands on pump rotary shafts?

The cost to design and develop mechanical seals originally was astronomical but for the cold war submarines and space race might not have happened. Now they are everywhere and modern vehicles no longer dribble their vital fluids onto the road. The difficulty was in persuading the new markets to accept the unfamiliar devices as OK.

Or maybe the plastic hose clips designed to be backwards compatible with the old metal jubilee ones. Designing kit for mass production almost invariably costs a lot more up front.

Mine went from $20 to $50 over the last two years. I guess I see where it's heading next year.

the

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target

Oh my; so many places to begin. Vaccines; other (fancy) drugs; orthodontia; computer networks; catalytic converters; any major software package; Torx bolt heads; modern refrigeration in the home; PDA's; any disruptive technology.

Too easy to get buried in selecting examples that are reasonably relevant to your main topic.

?-)