The Past
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Communities
Community Services
~ City Hall
~ Fire
Department
~ Health Care
~ Justice of
the Peace
~ Library
~ Newspaper
~ Police
Department
~ Post office
~ Telephones
~ ~ Hinderance
or help
~ ~ History of
Telephones
~ ~ Duties of
Operators
~ ~ Operators
in Enderby
~ ~ Modernized services 1990
Entertainment
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Transportation
Upon inquiry of the
operators I discovered that we, the customers, are serviced out of operations in Kelowna
and Kamloops. The areas that are covered by these two offices are the Okanagan and
Kootenay up to 100 Mile, to the borders of Alberta, then down along the border to the
United States and including Boston Bar. This large territory will extend to the coast in a
couple of years.
Almost everything in the company is computerized. A computer tells them how many people
will be needed for how long, and when the busiest hours will be. There are approximately
60 operators at each site whose job it is to answer calls, direct services, charging,
billing, emergency, and radio. One thing that isn't computerized is the radio board. This
is used for out of the way callers who can't be hooked up to the normal dial system. This
is done manually through a switch board.
B.C. Tel has many services such as a directory, long distance calling, and something new
called 911. This came into effect recently and is intended to be a quick emergency
service. The operator has all the different police numbers, etc. and when someone calls
911, he or she will contact the caller.
Mandy Daniells
ALF School 1989