Ode to the Twisted Copper Pair
Yesterday, my landline died. No dial tone. I tested the line at the interface box and confirmed that it wasn’t on my side of the demarc. I called customer support and while they could send someone out to fix the copper line, the alternative is a cell service connection for less than one-third the current price. Being out in-the-sticks as I am, cell service is often only a bar or two. I don’t like my options. Arrgh.
If I do away with the copper line, what would I be giving up?
Reliability. And it goes far beyond just the cellular signal strength issue. The POTS (plain old telephone system), built by the Bell System has probably been the most reliable public utility ever designed and built. I have been with the twisted copper pair from the days of party lines. From the days when you couldn’t own a phone, but instead you were required to lease phones made by Western Electric. Those phones were legendary devices known for their indestructibility. Black was standard. Unpublished numbers, colors, and the long, coiled cords were additional monthly charges. I have paid for making long-distance phone calls and I still have three rotary phones hooked up and working.
If the power goes out, no problem. The landline still works. Natural disasters or national emergencies? The old landline still works. 
Some emergency preparedness documents reference the “copper wire-based landline phone” as the preferred communication option in a disaster.
I’ve used overseas operators and 411. I’ve seen the utility bring us touch-tone, toll-free 800 numbers, call waiting, Caller ID, modular plugs and Trimline phones. I could dial 844 and any four numbers for the current time and 936 and any four numbers for the local weather. I remember the unparalleled rudeness of C&P Telephone’s customer service before the breakup of Ma Bell in the ‘70s. (After the breakup, I still remember the first time one of their reps said, “Thank you”. I could not believe what I had just heard.)
The twisted copper pair and balanced interface have carried me through all the years of my life. Now that I’m forced to give up my landline, I’m giving up the most reliable thing on the planet due to economics. The reduced bill comes with reduced reliability and with an added “bonus” of signal latency.
As an audio person, it carries more significance. One of my favorite books has been The Idea Factory – Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation. Through it weaves the names of Harvey Fletcher, Wilden Munson, Harry Nyquist, Walter Shewhart, Claude Shannon and more. Audio, as we know and use it today has its roots deep in the development of the telephone and the work performed by the many engineers at Bell Labs. Reading it is like of tour of our audio ancestral roots.
We owe the balanced interface, transistor, Volume Indicator, Equal Loudness Contours, the definition of the decibel as well as many other foundational audio principles to the telephone.
Long before the Internet, cell phones, text and Skype, we had thoughtful conversations. This was before communication was cheapened by wireless connections, abbreviations, acronyms and emojis. Things that become more convenient often lose their value. The Bell System somehow kept us more deeply connected with each other than any of these modern devices will ever be capable of.
It is indeed a most sad day.
Tom Kehr
CTS-D, CTS-I, Network+, LEED Green Associate, ISF-C, ATD Master Trainer
In-House System Designer and Trainer
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