T II K c" r n A i{ K V I i; w 



AutDinatif Telephone, showing dial 

 and Ijase. 



THE TELEPHONE IN CUBA 



There is so much mention hitely of the 

 possibility of linkirg up Cuba with the 

 United States by direct conmiunication 

 through the telephone that it will surprise 

 a great many p?op!e to know that the exist- 

 ing telephone system throughout the Island 

 Republic is operated entirely automatically, 

 and this is one of the largest fields for the 

 automatic system. In the United States 

 the automatic telephone systems are used 

 largely as a means of communication in 

 large business offices between the various 

 departments, but in Cuba this sj'stem has b?en 

 found successful for local, public and long 

 distance service. The automatic telephone 

 has been used in the city of Havana for 

 several years with much s.itisfaction, and 

 only recently the city of Santiago abolished 

 the old switchboard manual system to install 

 the automatic. Visiting Americans to Cuba 

 who do not speak the Spanish language 

 can readily appreciate the advantage of 

 an automatic telephone .system in that 

 foreign land. 



The Cuban Automatic Public Telephone 

 system does not require any operators. It 

 needs but two wires from each instrument 

 to the central switching mechanism. This 

 is operated, and any desired connection 



is ma<Ie, by means of a dial attached to an 

 instrument which is otherwi.se indistinguish- 

 able from an onlinary telephone. The 

 girl-le.ss telephone* can be used toaii} extent, 

 and its ai)i)arent advantages over the old 

 system, where the congestion is not too great, 

 are many, anil the f )llowing are claimed 

 to t)e a few: 



1. .\ny MUtomatic call can be completed 

 and disconnected when conversation is 

 finished, in four seconds, or slightly more 

 than one-third of the average time required 

 to do the same thing manually on the most 

 highly perfected public boards. 



2. The service is secret, no one can "listen 

 in." 



o. I'ach telephone user becomes his own 

 operator when making a call, the option, 

 however, being given to have an attendant 

 make it for him if he so desires. 



4. >;o "cut-offs" can occur during conversa- 

 tion, such as frequently ocur on manual 

 switchlxiards liecause of the carelessness of 

 the operator. 



Model AutoMiatk- Telcphoii.- Dial. 



5. A series of consecutive calls can be 

 made without loss of time between con- 

 nections. The busy signal is positive and 

 is automaticallj' and instantlj' given the 

 calling party upon getting a busy line. The 

 automatic ringing of the bell of the called 

 telephone is heard in the receiver of the 

 calling party. This is a positive indication 

 that the called bell is being rung, leaving 

 nothing to chance or excuse. The service 

 is equally efficient at all hoiu-s of the day 

 and night. It avoids the retarding of your 

 service caused by congestion of traffic during 

 periods of overload, at which time it is often 

 necessary for the male operator or inspector- 

 examiner at the exchange to interfere and 

 assist in the operation. 



