Cleaning out my dad's place and found a pretty solid stash of old telecom equipment. A few Western Electric handsets, what looks like some distribution frame hardware, and a couple of things I genuinely cannot identify. One piece has a tag that says it was property of the phone company at some point.

The handsets are in decent shape. A couple have yellowed pretty bad but the cords are intact. The mystery hardware is a rackmounted metal box with connectors I don't recognize, no obvious model number visible anywhere.

My instinct was to scrap the metal, but then I started secondguessing that because some of this stuff looks like it's from the 70s or earlier, and the WE stuff specifically seems to have collector interest based on a few things I've read.

Is there a reliable way to date Western Electric equipment without documentation? And is there actually a collector market for distribution frame hardware, or is that stuff too niche even for the people who collect this stuff? The handsets I get, those are easy to appreciate, but the rack hardware feels like it would appeal to maybe three people on earth.

Anyone gone through something similar and figured out what was actually worth holding onto versus what's just taking up space?

An interesting discussion was had in our company today, and I wanted to see if there were any cellular voice engineers here that could chime in.

Wireless users in certain industries, and in certain government agencies can get access to prioritized telecommunication service. Things like Verizon, Frontline and ATT Firstnet and Tpriority. They can then also layer on top WPS service where they pay extra to the carrier for priority, but only when they dial a special *code prefix before dialing a phone number.

It’s my understanding that 911 calls always get priority, no matter what. It’s my understanding that the network will disconnect an active normal call to free up a line so 911 Call can go through.

But our question was about GETS calling. It’s largely a relic from the landline days. It’s a special phone number in the government area code of 710 that has an auto attendant that asks for a PIN number, and then presents a dial tone for the user to access the PSTN from a high volume Bank of dedicated trunks somewhere in Washington DC.

However, it requires the user to dial that 710 number from their cell phone, and if their cell phone doesn’t have priority, or if the network is just simply congested, will that call go through? Are those 710 area code phone numbers treated with the highest priority the same as a 911 call?

Hii!! Any thoughts po working as an AP ASSOC in Global One under Megaworld? Thank u!

Hey all,

I currently have Ziply fiber whom provides a landline. It’s over the internet connection but has the hardware needed to have a physical phone line.

I am switching to Starlink so will no longer have the landline which I would like to keep (aging parents, fax machine, etc). Can anyone suggest how I may port my current number over to an internet-based setup that still acts like a traditional phone line? Specific hardware recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Thoughts on Lumen’s voice strategy and suitable replacements? How does that impact the last resort provider?

If Im paying for an unlimited 5G plan why should it matter whether I use the data on my phone or share it with my own laptop.

My laptop doesnt have a SIM slot so hotspot is the only way to connect it

Calling a plan unlimited while restricting hotspot usage feels misleading.

Im not asking for extra data Im asking to use the data Im already paying for across my own devices

Do you think telecom companies should clearly advertise these restrictions or should unlimited data also include hotspot usage.

Hey everyone,I’m looking for some insights from network planning engineers or people familiar with telecom infrastructure deployment (specifically in India).

The Situation:I own a vacant ground plot and I'm looking to lease it out for a mobile tower.

Currently, there is an existing Airtel 2G/4G tower cluster located just 700 meters away on a neighboring plot.

Normally, I know providers prefer co-location/infrastructure sharing (like using Indus Towers) rather than building a brand new structure so close by. However, there is a specific catch here.The Network Gap:Exactly 400 m past my plot (making it roughly 1.1 km away from the existing Airtel tower), there is a settlement/village of about 400 people.

Right now, the signal from the existing 700m Airtel tower does not reach this 400-person cluster properly due to terrain/line-of-sight obstructions.My plot has a completely clear, direct line of sight to this 400-person blind spot. If a competitor like Jio or BSNL builds on my land, they would bridge that data gap entirely and capture that unserved user base.

My Questions for the Experts Here:

1. In modern network planning, will a company like Jio or BSNL bypass an existing competitor cluster 700m away if it means solving a localized 1.7km blind spot for 400 potential users?

2. Does a 400-person dead zone provide a strong enough business case for a brand-new ground-based tower deployment, or will they just ignore it?

3. How should I frame this specific geographical advantage when submitting my coordinates on the official Jio Partner and Indus Towers landlord portals so the automated systems don't instantly reject it based on proximity?

Thanks in advance for the technical insights!

I just got back home from a trip through Istria, Croatia. While I was out there, I managed to track down this physical Hrvatski Telekom phone card at a local kiosk, but finding a working payphone or even an empty wall hood to go with it turned into a total ghost hunt. The local subreddits completely ignored me when I was in my home country, so now that I'm back, I'm hoping the folks here appreciate obscure infrastructure. Has anyone physically spotted a surviving terminal, a newer digital smart pillar, or even just the old unbolted brackets left behind on a stone wall in Pula, Rovinj, or Poreč? I'm still super curious about where they went. Any history, coordinates, or leads would be awesome!

Hi everyone! 👋

We're a group of MBA students conducting a short study on how Indian consumers choose telecom services like mobile, broadband, OTT subscriptions, and digital payments. Whether you use one provider or multiple, we'd love to hear about your experience.

The survey is anonymous, takes a couple of minutes, and your responses will greatly help our research.

🔗 Survey: https://forms.gle/zNiuAn8pJefF2JpC8

Question .. Sprint PCS at the end had a huge number of NPA/NXX ranges that were mostly depopulated from all the port outs.

When that network was shuttered, was there likely to have been a huge amount of translations work or even keeping the tandem up as the last gasp of that

Wasnt sure where to go with this question hope this is the right place. Can anyone tell me what the platform with the nest on it actually is? Ive never seen nesting platforms on any kind of communication tower but i can think of any other purpose itd have

Hey all — I'm a 3rd-year ECE undergrad from a tier-3 Indian college. Most core-communication companies don't come here for internships or placements, so I'm looking for ways to get noticed for Summer 2027 internships.

Background: I've spent the last year doing RF signal processing research at IIT Indore — built deep learning models for blind modulation/coding classification on real OTA 2x2 MIMO SDR data across 4G LTE and 5G NR-style links, deployed real-time classifiers as GNU Radio blocks on CPU-only hardware with live over-the-air demos, and worked with USRP B210s for dataset capture.

Questions:

1. How do people from non-target colleges break into RF/wireless/DL internships?

2. What else should I add to my profile to be competitive?

3. Anyone here done SDR/wireless internships — what actually got you noticed?

Is old Nortel/Norstar telecom equipment worth any money? I think that a lot of this technology is obsolete and I read that the company is out of business but I have A LOT of old equipment from the late 90s- Early 2000s and I’m trying to figure out if it’s trash or not.

Are there any companies that would buy old equipment?

Examples: Nortel Networks Trunk Cartridge
Norstar Key Telephone System
Norstar Analog Terminal Adapter
Nortel FastRAD “new” in box with instruction manual
Nortel Compact Flash Adapter and StarTalk Flash

Edit: If it’s not obvious, I know nothing about telecommunications so any information is helpful to give me some clarity as to what I am dealing with.

Senior RF Design & Field Engineer – Public Safety DAS / ERRCS (Maryland/DC Metro)

We're looking for an experienced Senior RF Design & Field Engineer to join our growing team.

Required experience:

• iBwave certification 2 or 3 and design experience 
• Public Safety DAS / ERRCS
• Cellular DAS
• Safety communications systems
• RF system design

This is a full-time, on-site position in the Maryland/DC metropolitan area (relocation required if you're outside the area).

One of the things that makes this role different is that you'll own projects from RF design through commissioning rather than being one small part of a large organization. You'll work on challenging public safety and in-building wireless projects where your expertise has a direct impact on the success of each deployment.

If this sounds like you or you know someone who would be a great fit—please send me a DM. I'd be happy to share more details.

Something strange happened a hour ago, i called my alternate jio number from my vi number. That jio sim is inserted on my other phone, i rarely use that sim to call but use data so i recharge occasionally. Today when i called that jio number from my vi number, that phone rang but someone answered my call, i was dumbstruck, that person was still asking who it is but i kept mum. I accepted the call on my other phone and that person got disconnected and i started hearing tring tring. The call who i made from my vi number is answered by me on jio number on other phone but i kept hearing tring tring. I disconnected and tried again but the call went normally without that weird occurance. I immediately called jio customer care and told them about what i had just faced. He just told me it was technical error and since i have my jio number and phone with me and sim is active, i need not worry but will raise the issue to concerned team. I have never faced this kind of weird occurance till now.

The FCC sunset stuff has been talked about for years but it feels like it is finally moving in a real way. Seeing more notices go out to customers, more pressure on CLECs to migrate, and carriers quietly accelerating the timeline in rural areas where the plant is just too expensive to maintain anymore.

What gets me is the gap between the official process and what actually happens on the ground. A carrier files the 180 day notice, nobody really objects in time, and then you have a mix of people still expecting dial tone who have no idea what is coming. Alarm panels, fax lines, elevators, medical alert devices. A lot of that stuff just gets discovered after the cutover and it turns into a mess.

The VoIP replacements work fine in most cases but the underlying assumption that every location has adequate broadband to support them is still not true everywhere. Especially in areas where the copper retirement is happening fastest because the plant is the oldest and most degraded.

Curious if anyone is seeing specific equipment or customer types that are consistently the hardest to migrate. The alarm line situation seems underappreciated compared to how loud the general POTS retirement conversation gets.