Barbed Wire Telephone Lines
A party line (multiparty line, shared service line, party wire) is a local loop telephone circuit that is shared by multiple telephone service subscribers. Party line systems were widely used to provide telephone service, starting with the first commercial switchboards in 1878. A majority of Bell System subscribers in the mid-20th century in the United States and Canada were served by party lines, which had a discount over individual service. During wartime shortages, these were often the only available lines. British users similarly benefited from the party line discount. Farmers in rural Australia and South Africa used party lines, where a single line spanned miles from the nearest town to one property and on to the next. History Telephone companies offered party lines beginning in the late 1800s, although subscribers in all but the most rural areas may have had the option to upgrade to individual line service at an additional monthly charge. The service was common in ...
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Local Loop
In telephony, the local loop (also referred to as the local tail, subscriber line, or in the aggregate as the last mile) is the physical link or circuit that connects from the demarcation point of the customer premises to the edge of the common carrier or telecommunications service provider's network. At the edge of the carrier access network in a traditional public telephone network, the local loop terminates in a circuit switch housed in an incumbent local exchange carrier or telephone exchange. Infrastructure Traditionally, the local loop was an electrical circuit in the form of a single pair of conductors from the telephone on the customer's premises to the local telephone exchange. Single-wire earth return lines had been used in some countries until the introduction of electric tramways from the 1900s made them unusable. Historically the first section was often an aerial open-wire line, with several conductors attached to porcelain insulators on cross-arms on "telegra ...
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