@ Mark Ollig
Upon entering the Winsted Telephone Company office a few weeks ago, now operated by TDS Telecom, I was greeted by an atmosphere of stillness and calm.
Established in 1917 and incorporated in 1920, the Winsted Telephone Company has been associated with my family since 1927, when my great-uncle, Loren J. Ollig, acquired its stock.
Ownership then passed to my great-grandfather, Wallace N. King, in 1929, and then to my grandparents, Mathew L. and Marie Antoinette (nee King) Ollig, in 1931.
In 1948, at the corner of Second St. S. and McLeod Ave. W., my grandparents had the company’s brick office building built, which still stands today.
My earliest memories there date back to 1965, when I attended Winsted’s first kindergarten.
Kindergarten ran from noon to about 3 p.m.
Afterwards, I walked half a block south to the telephone office, where my dad managed the company and would drive me home when he finished work.
I remember the knotty-pine paneled walls, the small glass-blocked window facing the street, and the front counter.
A payphone was on the north wall, just to the left of the entrance.
Above my dad’s desk hung a framed painting of his father, Mathew L. Ollig, who passed away Aug. 1, 1957.
I clearly recall the “dial room” with the sound of relays clicking from the Leich (pronounced “like”) electromechanical rotary-dial telephone switching system.
While at the office, I sometimes sharpened pencils, took out trash, or swept the floor in the dial room.
Some of the people who worked there during this time included my father’s brother Jim, my mother’s brother David, Frank Roufs, and Kenny Norman.
During my recent visit, I saw the main distribution frame (MDF) I helped install in early 1986 for the Nortel Digital Multiplex System-10 (DMS-10) digital voice-processing switch.
Some of the nearly 40-year-old copper wiring pairs are still neatly wire-wrapped around the 88-Series terminal block pins.
At the back of the MDF, ten vertical rows of surge protector blocks are mounted and wire-wrapped to the copper pairs of various cables.
These cables extend ten feet upward into an overhead metal racking system that is bolted to the ceiling.
The racking runs about 20 feet west and then 30 feet south along the wall.
There, the cables are spliced to the two main 900-pair copper cables used to deliver telephone service to local subscribers.
These two cables extended into underground conduits leading to above-ground pedestal enclosures on the south side of the telephone office.
There, they were spliced into smaller distribution cables throughout the Winsted exchange.
I learned that some of this copper wiring and cable is still in use today.
The DMS-10 digital switch itself, however, was removed many years ago.
Today, Winsted telephone subscribers’ calls use advanced optical technology and a fiber-optic transport cable to the TDS Telecom office in Monticello.
Telephone call processing at this location is managed by a MetaSwitch Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) softswitch platform.
During my recent visit, I walked through a large office area, which once housed an environmentally-controlled room.
This room contained rows of DMS-10 cabinet bays, ancillary systems, and other devices I remembered working with.
I recalled the whirring of the cooling fans, which prevented the components on the printed wiring cards from overheating.
My mind’s eye sees the two Cook 9-track magnetic tape units (one active and one standby), which were housed in a dedicated cabinet bay and cabled directly into the DMS-10.
They recorded long-distance billing data onto half-inch-wide tape spooled onto 10.5-inch tape reels.
When a tape was full, we would send it to a processing center to extract the data and print the subscribers’ long-distance statements.
There was also a DECwriter dot-matrix teletype terminal for printing the DMS-10 system logs and maintenance messages.
A VT-100 (video display terminal) was used for provisioning the digital DMS-10 switch.
The teletype terminal and VT-100 were connected to the DMS-10’s RS-232C ports, a standard protocol for serial data communication.
In 1988, Winsted Telephone Company installed a fiber-optic cable to the US West tandem office in Buffalo.
The tandem office served as a central switching center, routing calls between Winsted and the Public Switched Telephone Network used for voice communication.
The fiber-optic cable was connected to the NEC RC-28D digital multiplexer located in the same room as the DMS-10 switch.
The RC-28D provided the interface between the fiber and the digital signals transporting long-distance calls to and from Winsted.
It combined multiple T1 circuits (Transmission System 1), each carrying a DS1 signal, into a single higher-capacity DS3 (Digital Signal Level 3) pathway.
Each T1 carried 24 digital voice channels operating at 64 kbps each, for a total data rate of 1.544 mbps.
When 28 T1 circuits were combined, they were multiplexed into a DS3 (Digital Signal Level 3) operating at 44.736 mbps.
The simple sum of 28 T1s is 43.232 mbps (28 × 1.544), but the DS3 speed is higher because extra framing and justification bits are added to keep the digital signals synchronized.
One DS3 carried 672 voice channels.
Yes, I still remember this stuff.
DS3 was the standard transport format used across fiber routes for long-distance traffic during the 1980s.
Some fiber-optic networks still use it today, though modern systems usually rely on SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) in North America or IP (Internet Protocol)-based transport.
My brother Mike and I received training on the RC-28D digital multiplexer at the Nippon Electric Company facility in Herndon, VA.
A SensaPhone device we installed on the wall monitored the office’s environmental and equipment alarms.
If it detected high or low temperatures or a DMS-10 alarm, it would automatically call four preprogrammed numbers using its distinct electronic voice.
We could also call the SensaPhone to check the current room temperature and listen to 15 seconds of the room’s background sounds.
All of this equipment is gone now.
I noted the battery room has been upgraded with new batteries and a new rectifier (converts AC to DC) for powering the existing telecommunications equipment.
The north side of the original brick building is adjacent to what was once Herb’s Bakery.
In 1971, the telephone company purchased the bakery along with the neighboring property to the east, where a warehouse for cable, equipment, and company vehicles was built.
The old bakery building was entirely renovated with a reception area entry off of Second St. S., a supply room, a break room, my father’s office, and a hallway connecting the original telephone office.
As I stood alone in the now-closed reception area, memories of years gone by came flooding back.
It had once been alive with ringing phones, office staff helping customers, and people stopping by for coffee and bakery treats.
Each December, we set up a Christmas tree in the reception area, its glowing lights could be seen from the street after dark.
The room that was once my father’s office feels vastly different now.
The Italian mahogany wood paneling, which once filled the office with a deep warmth that evoked both professionalism and calming reassurance, is now hidden under a coat of white paint.
Among the items stored there is my father’s glass-topped wooden desk, where he spent countless hours.
After he passed away in 1982, my mother used his desk until her retirement in 1995.
I started working part-time at the Winsted Telephone Company on weekends and summers from 1973 to 1976, before beginning full-time in 1977.
During those and the ensuing years, my family was heavily involved at the telephone company, with my father, mother, two brothers, and sister all contributing to its operations.
Also, many talented and dedicated individuals from the local community worked there, providing reliable customer service to meet the community’s growing telecommunications needs.
After TDS Telecom acquired the Winsted Telephone Company Nov. 13, 1993, I continued working at the local office for another year, and later out of the TDS Telecom office in Monticello.
I began working at home for TDS Telecom in 2018 until my retirement in October 2023.
My sincere gratitude to Paul at the TDS Telecom office in Winsted for allowing me to visit and step back into yesteryear.
It brought back many nostalgic memories.
