The End of Landline in Hitchcock, OK
December 24, 2025 – The inevitable has started. AT&T in Oklahoma (former Southwest Bell) is slowly turning off central offices. The first appears to be a small town called Hitchcock, OK, about an hour NW of Oklahoma City. This is a VERY small town that was served by a 5ESS… Read more »
Possibly the last 4ESS is being shut down
December 11, 2025 – I heard from an industry contact that the Lansing, MI 4ESS switch (LNNGMIMN50T) is slated to be powered off tonight. Traffic through the switch has already been rerouted elsewhere. This is considered to be the last 4ESS in the lower 48 states. Only the 4ESS in… Read more »
This Is A Recording is now part of Telephone World
May 9, 2025 – Long time website This Is a Recording (originally by Jennifer Martino) is now owned and operated by Telephone World. We thank Jenn for her hard efforts in running the site for many years. We wish to continue the tradition for many more years to come. If… Read more »
Phil McCarter’s collection to be preserved at new museum in Denver
March 14, 2025 – The entire collection of long time telephone collector Phil McCarter of Salem, OR (also known as SXSPhil) will be moving to the Connections Museum. Most fans of telephony know of the awesome museum in Seattle, WA with their collection of switching equipment (Panel, #1XB, #5XB, DMS-10,… Read more »
A Visit to the Ellsworth Telephone Museum – October 2024
In October 2024, I had the opportunity to visit The Telephone Museum in Ellsworth, Maine. This museum had so much to see! It features many different kinds of telephones, manual cordboards, several Step by Step switches, several All-Relay switches – and finally an entire #3 crossbar switch and a partial… Read more »