The History of Telecommunications Should be Proof Enough why your Company Needs to Stay Up-To-Date with the Latest Technological Advances.

The main reason I am writing about this subject is because it is VERY relevant for today’s fast paced business environment which requires businesses of all sizes and industries to move even faster and “be better” than the competition AND… because it is an easy subject for me to write about without needing Ibuprofen for my head from researching. 

Why should you read this article and what makes me the expert about the History of Telecommunications and the changes that have taken place? The main reason is the old adage: “Been there… done that!” I started my telecom career in 1984, selling long distance services for GTE Sprint at $.40 cent per minute before “Equal Access” (more on that subject.) I was an inexperienced and immature Sales Representative with no experience in the Industry but, VERY hungry… I went from the College Fraternity House to the Business Sales Cubicle in a matter of a few months. 

A typical day at the beginning of my Telecommunications career: I would jump in my Toyota Celica, set my Franklin Day Timer in the passenger seat, pop-in my Duran Duran cassette, and away I went, to my assigned territory (a few Zip Codes in Tempe, Mesa and Chandler Arizona). My business attire was very professional at the time: I was styling in my two-tone Cole Haan shoes, Corduroy Pants, button-down dress shirt, knit tie and of course a blazer with elbow patches. This was also before my glasses and grey hair so; my baby-faced appearance didn’t bode well for the “Bell-Head” decision makers looking for the experienced AT&T executive… Instead, I looked more like a high school sophomore, on my way to pick up my Homecoming date! What business in their right mind wouldn’t let me talk them into switching their long-distance service from AT&T to GTE Sprint… right? 

What was I selling in my "Telecom bag-of-tricks" in 1984? I had these little booklets that would fit into customer’s wallets allowing them to save 50-60% on the Long-Distance bill and it was so easy to place a call (cough cough)… All they had to do to save money is:

* open a multi-page, 1" x 2” inch booklet to match their city/area to an LD access number and after locating the 11-digit access number (1-800 NPA-NXXX) assigned in the city they were calling from...

* Dial the access number then, wait for “the tone”

* Then, after hearing the tone. dial the 10-digit number of who they were calling. 

* THEN, dial their assigned secret 16-digit GTE Sprint Long Distance access code (hand written for extra security)

* After about a 20-30 second wait (insert Jeopardy theme music here), the call would begin to ring and Voila’… If both parties could hear through the static caused by a mesh of copper wire and microwave networks, then they could start their business call.

I also had to walk barefoot through the snow, uphill (both ways) when going to sell telecommunications’ “stuff”.

In 1984, there were no mobile phones, no public Internet and even though I worked in a “high-tech” industry, there were only (2) computers in our office of (75) employees and sales people were not allowed to touch them! We used a typewriter to complete our multi-page orders. Everyone was livid because gas prices had now jumped to over a dollar per gallon. Keith Richards had just celebrated his 83rd birthday and of course any talk of the “Cloud” in our industry, in 1984, meant that you would probably be going through a car wash in the next few days. 

The seasoned sales representatives at GTE Sprint would be responsible for the complicated solutions which might involve WATS lines (Wide Area Telephone Service), an Auto-Dialer or if we really hit the telecom jackpot… we would fly in the Brass from HQ and after buying the prospect a $400 lunch which included Martini(s), our engineering team would discuss DALs (Digit Access Lines) or Data Lines (totally separate from the voice world.) I was celebrating with my roommates one weekend in early 1985 because after weeks of training and finally passing a series of written test, using a #2 pencil instead of on-line, to become certified… I had now hit the big-time and was allowed to sell a T-1 circuit which was the digital transmission of (24) multiplexed lines using a channel bank (Wow… I still feel smart when I say that!) I remember the first T-1 I sold was to a senior living home in South Phoenix and it was discounted down to $3,400 per month which, placed me at 150% of quota for that month, BOOM!

Queue the fog machine and begin mysterious dream sequence music… Fast forward 35 years to present day (2019) where we are talking about the Cloud, SD-WANs (Soft Ware Defined Wide Area Networks), Business Class VoIP (voice over Internet protocol), The IoT (Internet of Things), UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) or XaaS (anything as a service), network security to avoid, Hackers, Phishers and Worms. What used to be a “Band 5” call, placed from Phoenix to New York during business day hours (Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm), on AT&T’s copper-wire network for $.63 cent per minute is now virtually free, traveling through Optical Fiber networks! Oh… and Keith Richards just turned 118.

The purpose of this article is not just to reminisce and uncover how old I am (please don’t send me your guesses unless in private message) But, to also stress that business decision makers have had to constantly become adapters of new telecom technology or literally perish. When was the last time you heard the names, Cingular, MCI, Nortel, Vodavi, RIM, AboveNet, Centel, NYNEX, Pacific Bell, Pacific Telisis, Shoretel, Winstar, Allnet and the list goes on and on. e.g. T-Mobile received approval from the FCC to purchase Sprint, Ring Central is purchasing the assets (customers) from Avaya. It’s hard to keep up with the casualties. The Sunday paper should have the Obituary section as well as a section titled “Telecom Company Obituaries” (It might have more names.) – short list of Telecom companies no longer in service. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Defunct_telecommunications_companies_of_the_United_States

There are several different types of Telecom companies: Network Providers, Resellers, VARs, Equipment Vendor, Service Providers to name a few. In the past, if a network provider or Reseller went out of business… A business customer might lose service all-together which, will cripple a business. If an equipment vendor goes away, the CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) will still work; until something went/goes wrong and there is no one to service or RMA (Replace) the obsolete CPE. AND if any of the aforementioned type of telecom providers merge, get acquired or sell their assets to the competition… you can expect a nightmare of billing issues, change of personnel, escalation lists, rates, SLA (Service Level Agreements), contract terms and much much MUCH more. This is another reason why you should use a Telecom Broker such as Triple Digit Communications #tripledigitcommunications who's employees know the industry, the industry’s future and can research the best fit for your company’s custom needs.

Another reason for writing this article is to stress that Business Decision Makers have been dealing with changes in new technology for 35-40 years so, switching to the Cloud or replacing/upgrading an existing MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) network configuration to SD-WAN technology or adding a layer of network security to their network(s) or MANY other new upgrades in technology that businesses have to consider to keep up with their competition by making their communications more efficient, effective, reliable, and many times… less expensive with higher quality is not really as scary as it sounds.

Below is a partial (small) and random list of examples that I have lived-through in this industry:

* Equal Access – caused by Divestiture or the break-up of AT&T and the “Baby Bells” by the FCC. Without going into too much detail… this is what kicked-off the industry and broke apart the monopoly and allowed business in the USA to not only have choices but, competition created new technology and lower prices. Every business and consumer was asked to confirm their initial choice of Long Distance carriers. Remember all of the Sprint, MCI and AT&T commercials?! retro Sprint Commercial, MCI & AT&T Commercials from the 1980's -

Sprint - https://www.retrojunk.com/commercial/show/39139/us-sprint-commercial

MCI - https://youtu.be/FvzAobitOFs

AT&T - https://youtu.be/S-Bq2NbunpA

* Equal Access # 2 – This was round 2 when the FCC deregulated the Toll-Free or “800” services allowing carriers other that AT&T to have access to provide toll-free services

* Pagers or “Beepers” – From Doctors to Drug Dealers… it seemed like everyone needed them.

* Mobile Wireless or cellular service – Started with the “brick phone and accompanying battery and antennae pack.  After 30 years… the wireless industry has morphed into Smart Phones (or devices) which are basically mini-computers allowing Internet Access, Voice and Data Services and access to a gazillion apps for both business and consumer. - Believe it or not… although no longer working; I still have an old BlackBerry in my closet… #museumpiece

* Content – a whole sub-category which was born out of wireless… a multi-trillion dollar industry was created.

* P.O.T.S. (Plain Old Telephone Service) - Rotary Dial to PBX (Private Branch Exchange), Key System, Single Line Phone has now morphed into Hosted VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) with UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) combining voice, data, video, mms, texting, CRM etc. remember using a PBX and asking… “Do I have to dial a “9” or an “8” first?

* ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) or as we used to refer to it as: (It Still Does Not work) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the traditional circuits of the PSTN (public switched telephone network.) ISDN is a prime example of a product/service/technology that continues to morph: Star, Daisy-Chain or “Spaghetti” networks went to ISDN to Frame Relay to MPLS to NOW… SD-WAN networks

* QoS (Quality of Service) which allocates, prioritizes and chooses the best path for the transmission of bandwidth used for Voice, Data and Video. 

* Integrated T-1s – A T-1 (or E-1 in Europe) was a two-wire copper circuit used for customers with higher usage of voice and data traffic. A T-1 was/is 1.544 Mbps of bandwidth, multiplexed (MUXed) into (24) Channels of 64Kbps each. Originally, if you needed for Voice and Data, you were required to purchase and install (2) T-1s for voice (analog with a Channel Bank) and Data (Digital), The Integrated T-1 allowed you to at first, partition T-1s and assign certain channels for voice and some for data.

* The Internet – Who knew where Al Gore’s insightful and timely invention would lead us? Streaming music, TV and Movies, helpful videos, face-to-face video conferencing, ordering products on line and of course free porn... Thanks Al!

OK… STOP JEFF! My brain keeps thinking of so many more choices that customers have had to make for their telecommunications solutions throughout the years i.e. DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), VPN (Virtual Private Network), SONNET Rings, Self-Healing Fiber, IPv6, 5G Wireless and other “propeller-head” products and services and If you’d like to contact me or buy me lunch… I will fill your head! ?? I am just scratching the surface and also want to keep you awake so, I won’t dive too deep into the inner-workings of the technology. The point is that Businesses have always had to make choices and test new technology for telecommunications so if you are selling or providing any or all of these services, like myself, try your best to simplify and focus on the benefits to the business… not the “bits & bytes”

Now I can’t remember what I had for breakfast!

In closing, it is Ironic that my company, Triple Digit Communications, just upgraded an electronic manufacturing company from premise-based voice and asynchronous cable Internet to a Hosted VoIP/UCaaS voice solution and a direct synchronous fiber network. Why is that ironic… because Triple Digit Communications is a Global Provider of Business Telecommunications and this company is located in the 85283-area code (Tempe, Arizona) … where’s my knit tie?!

Happy Selling!

Jeff “Digger” Barnes

“Winning is not everything… But, wanting to win is!” – Vince Lombardi