May & June 2008
Digital phone service comes to McCarthy
by Rick Kenyon
The digital telephone age has come to McCarthy. But not without birth pains.
All of the new equipment was installed last fall, after extensive testing in Valdez, and after the successful installation of a similar system at Cordova. It should have been a simple matter of putting the new equipment online
A number of technicians have made the trip to McCarthy this past winter, a number of times, but each time some unforeseen gremlin reared its ugly head and they had to leave without switching the service over to the new equipment.
Finally, in early April, the new digital “switch” was put into service. As we go to press there are still a number of problems with the system. Although it seems that digital equipment would mean much better Internet, FAX and data service, at this point data equipment will not work with the new system, at least not satisfactorily. One area that CVTC has made a priority is to get the credit card machines to work with the new system. (See update on page 25)
Copper Valley technicians installed a number of new “Tellular” units at local residents’ homes. These are the boxes that are mounted to the wall which differentiate fixed from mobile service. Those still using the old analog Tellular units will not be able to make long-distance calls until they get the new units.
The digital telephone age has come to McCarthy. But not without birth pains.
All of the new equipment was installed last fall, after extensive testing in Valdez, and after the successful installation of a similar system at Cordova. It should have been a simple matter of putting the new equipment online
A number of technicians have made the trip to McCarthy this past winter, a number of times, but each time some unforeseen gremlin reared its ugly head and they had to leave without switching the service over to the new equipment.
Finally, in early April, the new digital “switch” was put into service. As we go to press there are still a number of problems with the system. Although it seems that digital equipment would mean much better Internet, FAX and data service, at this point data equipment will not work with the new system, at least not satisfactorily. One area that CVTC has made a priority is to get the credit card machines to work with the new system. (See update on page 25)
Copper Valley technicians installed a number of new “Tellular” units at local residents’ homes. These are the boxes that are mounted to the wall which differentiate fixed from mobile service. Those still using the old analog Tellular units will not be able to make long-
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