Operator Services Today
What are operator services like today?
Dear Tom:
I'm just curious, do you know, or know how I can find out, where AT&T's (toll) operator services offices are located? Has International operating been consolidated into the "routine" OSPS offices? Are there any gateway offices anymore? When I worked for GTE, we handled AT&T traffic for our serving areas. Back then there were two GTE offices in Washington (Everett and Wenatchee (TOPS), three in Oregon (Beaverton, Coos Bay and Lagrande) and one in Idaho (Couer d' Alene). They all worked off independent TSPS complex base units, except Wenatchee. In California the complexes were San Fernando, Santa Monica, Lakewood, Long Beach, Huntington Beach and Ontario, each complex serving two units of four offices each. For example, Ontario 2 consisted of Ontario, Covina, Palm Springs and Indio. Now, GTE's west coast OSPS offices are Huntington Beach and Palm Springs. I'm sure Operator Services has progressed to the point there are very few offices anymore.
Thanks for your time, Ron Briggs
J.R. Snyder Jr. responds (internal link to operator services pages):
From what I know for all practical purposes operator services as we knew it is defunct. Most telcos now consider it a cost center pain in the rear and outsource it and bundle it with D.A. to companies such as Excell and InfoNXX, which is all just "agent services."
Making an international call that is not IDDD is a nightmare. I recently had a horrible experience trying to get an IDDD call through to Amsterdam and there was no "assistance" at all from either AT&T, Qwest or Verizon when it didn't go through. As far as I know there are no "gateway" or OSPS type offices left at all anymore. There must be some place that handles third and fourth world country calls but who knows or really cares where it is and who operates it anymore? As we've discussed I think before, Qwest does have an agent services office in Tempe (Phoenix) which is in the old TOPS/DA location. The old Nortel system has long been ripped out. They do 4-1-1, employee locator, provide "0" services for local telcos, wireless calls, answer the main telephone numbers for HR, state offices, etc. It's a big mishmash and has nothing to do with Operator Services as you and I ever thought about it using PCs and accessing different databases. Minimum wage jobs with high turnover.
People interested in history need to start thinking "railroad", "airlines" and "telephone company" with the same mindset as Western Union and the last telegram. The current models have absolutely nothing to do with anything in the past. It's all MBA marketing mentality currently. Eventually there will be a market for histories of the old phone companies, railroads and airlines (of the past not present), etc. but right now they're all in that transitional period of history that most historians should understand. The acquistion of A&T by SBC has nothing to do with "Ma Bell" anymore than Sprint Nextel has anything to do with GTE. The Lucent - Alcatel "merger of equals" is a perfect example of that.
later...
Best, J.R. Snyder Jr.