Quote:
Originally Posted by rambo1152
I seem to remember there was a procedure involving the Operator if a subscriber needed to call the other party on their line. How did this work exactly, and were they billed for the call?
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IIRC, the procedure was to call the operator and say "party" if wishing to speak with the other party on the shared line.
There was no charge for this call.
Before making any other call one had to lift the handset and ensure that no conversation was underway.
If it was, one had to replace the handset and wait, except in the case of an emergency such as fire or sudden illness. In that case interrupting the existing call was acceptable by saying "THIS AN EMERGENCY, PLEASE REPLACE THE RECEIVER" 999 could then be called in the usual way.
I recall a public information film shown to school children, on how to call the emergency services, which included what to do in case of a party line.