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Telex and TWX rates 1970s [Telecom]

Some of my past employers have had Telex machines in the office (a 3- row model 32 TTY), but they were very rarely used.

I was wondering if anyone knew the domestic and overseas rates for Telex and TWX services, such as the monthly fee, time charge, character charge, distance charge.

I get the impression that by the 1970s Telex was more used for overseas messages than domestically. By the mid 1970s domestic long distance charges had dropped quite a bit, making it practical to use the telephone for business more than before. However, at that point in time overseas toll rates were still very high (I think $12 for three minutes), so for international messaging Telex was better.

As an aside, would anyone remember when overseas rates started to drop significantly? I think in the 1980s they became around a $1/minute, depending on country, which was a huge drop from $12.

(Did MCI or Sprint ever lay any of their own overseas cables or put their own satellite into orbit?)

Reply to
hancock4
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Both companies laid there own cables many years ago, or at least had them done for them.

Reply to
Steven Lichter

A bit off topic, but this thread reminded me of one of my favorite published papers (because of its sheer readability) and I could not resist bringing it to the attention of others, old and dated though it may be. Scrounge through the stacks of your local engineering library:

Test yourself: how much do you know about internationalcommunications? [International numbering systems] Robrock, A. Italtel, Milan; This paper appears in: Communications Magazine, IEEE Publication Date: Dec 1989 Volume: 27, Issue: 12 On page(s): 38-40 ISSN: 0163-6804 References Cited: 0 CODEN: ICOMD9 INSPEC Accession Number: 3582708 Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/35.41420 Current Version Published: 2002-08-06

Abstract

We like to think of international telephone communications as `transparent', the successful outcome of 100 years of technical progress and standards setting, but the author shows us that it is not. The user still has to be something of an expert to understand how to make international calls, and there are chaotically differing numbering systems for telephony, telex, and electronic mail. We should be reminded that usability of services, not just their usefulness, is a critical component of communications. Simplicity, consistency, and rationality of service features and the `human interface' that allows users to invoke them should be a high priority for communications engineers as they work toward the integrated services networks of the future

Reply to
r.e.d.

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