40 BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL 



the messages over about 100 kilometers. For the purpose of this 

 paper this service will be referred to as long distance service. The 

 messages handled by this method total about 300 million messages a 

 year. The amount of long distance business at New York City, for 

 example, requires the use of 1,275 operators' switchboard positions. 



During the past three years an important change has been generally 

 applied in the methods of handling long distance service. Formerly 

 the toll operator first receiving the call recorded the necessary infor- 

 mation on a ticket and forwarded this ticket to another operator 

 provided with facilities for completing calls to the particular part of 

 the country involved in each case. An increase in speed has been 

 brought about by providing the operators with arrangements both 

 for recording calls and for completing calls to all points so as to avoid, 

 in a large proportion of the cases, the necessity for transmitting the 

 information to a second operator. 



By means of this change in method and other improvements, the 

 average speed of service for all long distance messages has been de- 

 creased from 6.9 minutes in 1925 to 2.6 minutes in 1928. Also in 

 1928, 90.7 per cent of the calls made by the customers resulted in 

 completed messages. 



In placing a long distance call, the telephone subscriber in the 

 United States may give simply the telephone number and city desired. 

 This has some advantages in speed of service. At present, 50 per 

 cent of the long distance messages are handled in this way and this 

 per cent is increasing. About 15 per cent of the messages are handled 

 in this same way, the called telephone number, however, being sup- 

 plied by the operator. In addition, the telephone system offers, for 

 a somewhat greater charge, what is called a " particular person " serv- 

 ice. This means that the subscriber may, if he wishes, ask to talk 

 with a specified person at a distant point, giving such information 

 as he can regarding how that person may be located. The telephone 

 operator then undertakes to complete this message by locating the 

 desired party, following him up to points other than that designated, 

 if necessary, and if the calling subscriber wishes. The percentage 

 of messages handled on this basis increases with the length of haul. 



When a subscriber wishes he may transmit to the telephone com- 

 pany in advance information regarding a number of calls which he 

 wishes to have completed in sequence, beginning immediately or at 

 a specified time. These sequence calls, as they are termed, are used 

 particularly in connection with selling by long distance telephone. 

 At the present time at the New York long distance office, for example. 



