![]() Polarity reversal is used to signal the phone that a call has been completed. These phones operate on a normal phone line with the extra polarity reversal option. The nonpayment recording sounds like this:ĮRROR: Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio If the resistance is around 1000Ω or less, the call is considered paid and it is put through. If the resistance is infinite, the call is conisdered unpaid and routed to a recording telling the caller to hang up and pay before dialing again. After a phone number is dialed, the central office conducts the coin ground test, which consists of sending an electrical current to the pay phone and measuring the resistance to ground. When a sufficient deposit is made, the pay phone completes a path to ground so that the phone will pass the coin ground test. For local calls, the phone counts up the money until the local rate has been deposited. Fortresses require a special coin line to operate properly. Although the phones look quite different, they all operate the same way. Please see the pictures page for pictures of these models of “fortress” pay phones. There are 3 main variations of the “fortress” pay phone, the original Western Electric model, used only by Bell System companies, the Automatic Electric (GTE) model, used by GTE (Verizon) and many independent companies, and the Northern Electric (Nortel) Centurion model, used by Canadian companies and by some USA independent companies as well. ![]() The name now applies to any style of single-slot, coin line controlled pay phone. “ Fortress” is actually a nickname for the single-slot pay phone developed by the Bell System in the late 1960’s. The following are descriptions of the most common phones used by LECs. Lately, many LECs have started using “smart” phones like COCOT companies have always used to try and provide better phone service with better rates than AT&T charges on regular coin lines. LECs mostly use “dumb” pay phones since they can also easily provide a special coin line to control the pay phone with. LEC stands for Local Exchange Company and it means the local phone company in a given area.
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