In April my wife and I are spending a night at a great B&B in an isolated small Arizona town called AJO.
I've been there twice before, but never checked out the local LEC. It is Tabletop Telephone Company. They serve four other small, isolated Arizona towns.
Ajo is in NPA 520, the other four are in NPA 928:
Seligman and Sanders on Interstate 40
Bagdad, an isolated copper mining town well west of Prescott
Aguila, a wide spot on a two-line highway well west of Wickenburg.
The drive to cover these five wire centers is gigantic. The towns must very in size from 300 to 900 people. Ajo might top 1,000...barely.
The amazing fact is each town has a 5ESS switch. I didn't think the economy of scale would make a 5ESS viable for such small towns.
Interesting, too, is that the Calling Guide doesn't list the tandem for any of these switches.
Ajo 520-387
Seligman 928-422
Bagdad 928-633
Aguila 928-685
Sanders 928-688