What I enjoy about this film was the accuracy and careful attention to detail that Pollack gave to this picture! Granted- the cast was great and had me on the edge of my seat but being a retired telephone technician really hooked me!
I am glad that Pacific North West Bell gave Sidney permission to film inside its central offices and that he spent extra time in filming the actual trace sequences in both types of switching equipment (I trained and operated the Western Electric crossbar switch depicted in the film) and lost myself in years ago when I worked for Bell!
I spent a lot of time tracing 911 calls through the crossbar switches and also wondered about the final results. But modern technology caught up and computers did the trace in a fraction of the time it took to call a tech out to the CO, trace the call and give the information to the operator supervisor or the 911 call-centre!
I hope this movie makes a comeback soon
Thomas P. Mathensik.
I am glad that Pacific North West Bell gave Sidney permission to film inside its central offices and that he spent extra time in filming the actual trace sequences in both types of switching equipment (I trained and operated the Western Electric crossbar switch depicted in the film) and lost myself in years ago when I worked for Bell!
I spent a lot of time tracing 911 calls through the crossbar switches and also wondered about the final results. But modern technology caught up and computers did the trace in a fraction of the time it took to call a tech out to the CO, trace the call and give the information to the operator supervisor or the 911 call-centre!
I hope this movie makes a comeback soon
Thomas P. Mathensik.