AT&T Alascom

Systems like this (warning, PDF) are why I find systems like AT&T Alascom impressive. Hell, I remember some of the events on this timeline, especially the 1996 install of the 4ESS, which I noticed when phone calls to Alaska stopped having the CHIRP-CHIRP sound before and after connecting. This is the same sound heard during Pink’s phone call home in Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Also, before then it was possible to leave one of the phones off the hook for hours and the phone on the other end would be completely unavailable and remain connected. I remember this being a problem when I’d fall asleep while on the phone and leave my end open for a few hours… Whoops…

Man, and with the US$400 – US$500 phone bills I was racking up in 1996, that’s more than my current house payment when adjusted for increased wages and inflation.

Anyway, yeah, I find AT&T Alascom damn impressive. I mean, hell, look at all those interconnected points across the state.

Oh, in this photo one can just barely see an AT&T Alascom microwave repeater on top of the mountain. This is very likely the Tern Lake repeater, or possibly the Cooper Landing one.