the timboucher experience

Found these links via user:Gregott on Wikipedia:

The first telephones had no network but were in private use, wired together in pairs. Users who wanted to talk to different people had as many telephones as necessary for the purpose. A user who wished to speak, whistled into the transmitter until the other party heard. Soon, however, a bell was added for signalling, and then a switchhook, and telephones took advantage of the exchange principle already employed in telegraph networks. Each telephone was wired to a local telephone exchange, and the exchanges were wired together with trunks. Networks were connected together in a hierarchical manner until they spanned cities, countries, continents and oceans. This was the beginning of the PSTN, though the term was unknown for many decades.

Automation introduced pulse dialing between the phone and the exchange, and then among exchanges, followed by more sophisticated address signaling including multi-frequency, culminating in the SS7 network that connected most exchanges by the end of the 20th century.

And also:

The Carterfone is a device invented by Thomas Carter. It connects a two-way mobile radio system to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

The device was acoustically, but not electrically, connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network. It was electrically connected to the base station of the mobile radio system, and got its power from the base station. All the electrical parts were encased in bakelite. When someone on the radio wished to speak to someone on phone, or “landline” (eg, “Central dispatch, patch me through to McGarrett”), the station operator at the base would dial the number. When callers on the radio and on the telephone are both in contact with the base station operator, the handset of the operator’s telephone is placed on a cradle in the Carterfone device. A voice control circuit in the Carterfone automatically switches on the radio transmitter when the telephone caller is speaking; when he stops speaking, the radio returns to a receiving condition. A separate speaker is attached to the Carterfone to allow the base station operator to monitor the conversation, adjust the voice volume, and hang up his telephone when the conversation has ended.

I’m curious as to how microlocalities can apply these types of concepts to things like neighborhood BBS’s and mesh networks, private local telecomm technology built, owned and operated exclusively by neighbors, friends and informal networks of families and business contacts. Thoughts on this subject welcome!

• “allowing several transmitters to send information simultaneously over a single communication channel”
• Is Your Cell Phone Company Spying On You?
• Amateur Radio In Emergency Situations
• Cell Phone Mobile Payment Systems
• Experimental Frequencies & Universal Unified Communication Paradigm Overview