While this battle was being fought, United constructed its first exchange in Ireland, switching five lines in Dublin. So few calls were handled by this office that the switchboard operator, a young boy, frequently went off to play marbles out of boredom. The following year, the office was expanded to 20 lines and an operator was hired. Shareholders grew impatient with United Telephone when their investments failed to show immediate returns. In , acting upon shareholder discomfort, the newly formed Telephone Company of Ireland negotiated a takeover of United Telephone's Irish operations.
Subsequent growth continued to be slow. By the Dublin office and three sub-exchanges handled only customers. In addition, all lines were single-wire systems that used the earth as part of its circuit. This allowed virtually anyone with even the most rudimentary equipment to eavesdrop on conversations.
Thus, the practice of "rubbernecking" became a serious impediment to sales. In the company's backers lost faith in the company and agreed to sell the operation to National Telephone, an English concern that had previously taken over United Telephone. National attacked the privacy problem decisively by ordering a massive reconstruction program to install wires in pairs. While the Post Office negotiated free passage rights along railway lines in Ireland, development of an intercity trunk system continued to proceed slowly because expenditures were opposed at every turn by the Treasury Department.
Still, by the company managed to construct 56 exchanges in the country, principally in Dublin and southern and western Ireland. Railway companies became avid users of telephone service because it was cheaper and faster than the telegraph. By virtue of its unusual arrangement with the government, National Telephone lived in continual fear of being taken over by the Post Office, whose intentions were clear.
Only the Treasury Department kept the Post Office from acting on its ambitions. But as the profitability of telephony became ever more apparent, Treasury opposition subsided. Finally, in , the Post Office won an order to assume control of National Telephone when that company's charter expired in But when the takeover was completed in , the network, which included exchanges in Ireland, was saddled with widespread equipment shortages and six years of disrepair. When World War I began in , virtually all work on the telephone network ground to a halt.
Only military telephony received any funding and materials. In addition, because they were strategic targets, many of the submarine cables came under attack and were disabled. As the war drew to a close in , an Anglo-Irish conflict and civil war for independence from Britain erupted. The domestic telephone network was frequently targeted during the hostilities, and many exchanges were destroyed and miles of cable were knocked out.
Construction of the network resumed in Part of the rebuilding plan called for the establishment of an automated Strowger-type switching system in Dublin, and the assignment of five-digit telephone numbers.
These switches, which eliminated the need for a switchboard operator, were installed in The worldwide economic depression of the s hit the fragile Irish economy with brutal force, causing demand for new telephones to dry up.
This hardship was followed by the emerging European war some years later. As during World War I, all civilian construction in the network was suspended in favor of military communications.
Despite the tremendous destruction the war caused in England, France, and Germany, Ireland emerged from the war mostly unscathed. Despite several obstacles, continued demand for telephone service enabled the company to exceed all these goals. The company began phasing out switchboards in remote areas in favor of automated switches. Most calls, it was discovered, required expensive trunk connections. In the company invited G. While this required extensive re-engineering of the network, it established wider local call zones.
Senior Firmware Engineer. Global Technical Writing Manager. Test Practice Lead. About the author Aoife is a Sync NI writer with a previous background working in print, online and broadcast media.
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