Western Union City Codes
John Ruckstuhl
comp.dcom.telecom:
> From: Larry Lippman (kitty!la...@uunet.uu.net)
> Subject: Western Union City Codes
> Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
> Date: 1989-09-22 16:42:45 PST
> In article <telecom-v...@vector.dallas.tx.us>
> ma...@gvlf1-c.gvl.unisys.com (Mark H. Weber) writes:
>> The instructions for registering in the UUCP ".US" domain indicate that
>> city codes assigned are Western Unions' "City Codes". Is there a reference
>> available for these codes, or a number to call to find out what the city
>> code is for a particular city? I called my local Western Union office, but
>> the operator had no idea what a "city code" was.
> Well, one would think that someone in a Western Union office would
> have a listing of Western Union city codes, huh?
> I guess this must be a symptom of WU's "poor health".
> In any event, if one really cares, they can find a complete listing
> of all WU city codes in any WU Telex Directory. There are over TEN THOUSAND
> WU city codes for the U.S. and Canada, which range from "AAAI" (Auburn, IN)
> tp "ZUMB" (Zumbrota, MN). There is one code which begins with a number,
> "150M" (150 Mile House, BC). I bet y'all wanted to know that one! :-)
> Personally, I think the WU city codes are an anachronism since
> Zip Code seems to be universally used for localization for any physical
> delivery system.
> <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp.
> <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry
> <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry
> <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?"
Well if you call WU at (800) 325-6000, their call center operators
have never heard of a Telex, much less have access to a directory.
Anybody have a WU Telex Directory? I'd like to know the city codes
for:
Palo Alto, CA
Mountain View, CA
Cupertino, CA
Thanks!
John Ruckstuhl
Alan Burkitt-Gray
325-6000, their call center operators have never heard of a Telex,
much less have access to a directory."
Anybody here recall when they last sent or received a telex? Does the
network still operate? Who, if anyone, uses it, and why? Here in the
UK, BT's telex information online seems to mainly date back to the
mid-1990s. I can't remember when I last saw a telex number on a
letterhead (I removed our telex number from Global Telecoms Business
magazine's masthead when I took over editorship in Dec 2001, when no
one in the company could tell me where the telex machine was).
Alan Burkitt-Gray
Editor, Global Telecoms Business
Euromoney Institutional Investor plc, Nestor House, Playhouse Yard, London
EC4V 5EX, UK
tel +44 20 7779 8518 fax +44 20 7779 8248
e-mail abur...@euromoneyplc.com
www.globaltelecomsbusiness.com
Global Telecoms Business is the official publication for the TeleManagement
Forum's TM World conference and exhibition in Nice, France, May 19-22 2003
Mark J Cuccia
reposted an article from thirteen years ago in comp.dcom.telecom
(TELECOM Digest):
[Larry Lippman (kitty!la...@uunet.uu.net) wrote on 1989-09-22 16:42:45
PST, that ma...@gvlf1-c.gvl.unisys.com (Mark H. Weber) writes]:
>>> The instructions for registering in the UUCP ".US" domain indicate
>>> that city codes assigned are Western Unions' "City Codes". Is there a
>>> reference available for these codes, or a number to call to find out
>>> what the city code is for a particular city? I called my local Western
>>> Union office, but the operator had no idea what a "city code" was.
>> Well, one would think that someone in a Western Union office would
>> have a listing of Western Union city codes, huh? I guess this must be
>> a symptom of WU's "poor health".
>> In any event, if one really cares, they can find a complete listing
>> of all WU city codes in any WU Telex Directory. There are over TEN
>> THOUSAND WU city codes for the U.S. and Canada, which range from
>> "AAAI" (Auburn, IN) tp "ZUMB" (Zumbrota, MN). There is one code which
>> begins with a number, "150M" (150 Mile House, BC). I bet y'all wanted
>> to know that one! :-)
>> Personally, I think the WU city codes are an anachronism since Zip Code
>> seems to be universally used for localization for any physical delivery
>> system.
> Well if you call WU at (800) 325-6000, their call center operators have
> never heard of a Telex, much less have access to a directory.
> Anybody have a WU Telex Directory? I'd like to know the city codes for:
> Palo Alto, CA
> Mountain View, CA
> Cupertino, CA
> Thanks!
> John Ruckstuhl
I will get to the reqested city codes at the end of this "rambling"!
:) But for now, a great deal of background on something that hasn't
been discussed for a while in the Digest, Telex (and TWX), or when it
is mentioned by some others, the facts are 180 degrees OUT OF WHACK!
So let me ramble some factual background for a while! :)
In 1989, Western Union was in the process of selling/transferring its
Telex network and services over to AT&T. They also returned TWX "back"
to AT&T at that time as well.
AT&T started *manual* operator cord-board connected 3-Row 5-level
Baudot TWX service in 1931, and automated it in 1962, by "integrating"
it into the DDD Telephone Network in the US, by assigning each 3-Row
TWX machine a 10-digit "POTS" telephone number, based on the telephone
area code of the location of the TWX customer and a centrally located
NNX c.o.code, served off a #5XB switch; AT&T also began 4-Row 8-level
ASCII TWX in the early 1960's, also using parts of the telephone
network in both the US and Canada, and identifying 4-Row TWX machines
with special N10 "area" codes, 510 for smaller towns thru-out the
continental US, 610 for Canada, 710 for TWX Switching Plan in the
northeast and mid-Atlantic, 810 for TWX Switching Plan in the
Southeast and Louisiana and IN/OH/MI parts of the Midwest, and 910 for
TWX Switching Plan for WI/IL/nw-IN parts of the Midwest and virtually
everything else west of the Mississippi River (except Louisiana).
There was *NEVER* a 410 code used for TWX; Also TWX *NEVER* existed in
Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, nor the Caribbean!!! There was a reserved 310
"area" code for TWX, maybe it was originally intended to identify
50-KB wideband Data traffic??? It was still reserved for TWX as late
as 1979.
In 1970 or so, the FCC and the US Supreme Court finally required AT&T
to sell off the TWX network and services to Western Union. This only
applied to the US. 610 Canadian TWX remained the function of the
Telephone companies of Canada.
Over the next ten years, until 1981, US TWX was still switched and
routed over the Bell System DDD Telephone Network, although Western
Union began to integrate parts of the TWX network into its own Telex
Network, and remove US TWX off of the Bell System (US) Telephone
Network. By May 1981, this was completed. As far as the *TELEPHONE*
company was concerned, 510, 710, 810, 910 were no longer "area" codes
in use on the US part of the DDD Telephone Network, and reverted to
SPARE. Yes, WUTCO continued to maintain the TWX numbers beginning with
510, 710, 810, or 910, but they had no further previous geographic
meaning, nor was the traditional N10-NNX-xxxx format retained.
Instead, WUTCO TWX of the 1980's could have numbers of the form
N10-XXX-xxxx. The middle triplet of digits could begin 0XX or 1XX as
well as NNX or even N0X or N1X. But TWX was now completely
DIS-associated from the US Telephone Network starting May 1981.
WUTCO Telex began in 1958, initially in the northeast US, as an
extention of CNCP's Telex Network in Canada (Canadian National and
Canadian Pacific Railways and Telegraph). WUTCO Telex in the US, CNCP
Telex in Canada, RCA Telex in Alaska, Hawaiian Telex, etc. all had a
*TELEX* numbering plan which was *NOT* related to the Telephone DDD
nor TWX numbering plan of the Bell System. In the 1980's, there was a
non-telco TWX attempt to use 310 for reaching domestic telex customers
of competitive telex networks of ITT, MCI-WUI, RCA, Graphnet, FTCC,
TRT, etc. I don't know how long this lasted. It seems to be an
*abstract artifact* of what was originally reserved in the telephone
network for TWX or Data services in the 1960's/70's.
By 1989/90, as mentioned earlier, WUTCO was getting out of the Telex
and TWX business and sold everything over to AT&T. Even though AT&T
had TWX back as well as the original WUTCO Telex network, there was
*NO* "re-integration" of the numbering plans. And by 1990, the N10
codes were now being assigned for TELEPHONE (and Fax and Modem) use
within the NANP.
Anyhow, it's no surprise that Western Union had NO idea what Telex or
a Telex Directory was circa 1989 and especially not today. WUTCO is
not at all what it was in the 1970's or even early 1980's.
And I have absoltuely *NO* idea what still exists of TWX or Telex in
the US. Similarly, I don't know if CNCP/Unitel/AT&T-Canada/whatever
their next name will be when AT&T-US and AT&T-Canada soon officially
part company ... has for Canadian Telex. I do know that telco TWX in
Canada "died" in Fall 1994. The ITU still maintains an F.69
recommendation for worldwide Telex service including a list of F.69
Telex COUNTRY codes, which are *NOT* part of the E.164 TELEPHONE
Country code format.
As for the WUTCO City Codes for Telex ...
I dug out my 1978 WUTCO Telex/TWX directory. It took some time of
going up and down columns, but I confirmed that Auburn IN did use
AAAI, and Zumbrota MN did use ZUMB. It seems that all Telex
"answerbacks" were made up by an abbreviation of the company name,
then a space, then the three or four character "city code". I would
assume that CNCP would be responsible for these on Canadian Telex, but
that they co-ordinated with WUTCO in the US so that there wouldn't be
any duplication.
TWX customers didn't always have the format of "answerback" described
above. Some TWX answerbacks (probably customers who had TWX service
from Telco, since prior to 1970?) were ONLY an abbreviation of the
customer's company name. But other TWX answerbacks (maybe 1970's era
new customers of WUTCO's TWX?) had an answerback that was like that of
a Telex customer, i.e., an abbreviation of the company name, then a
space, then the 3 or 4 character "city code".
I did look up in the CNCP Canada TWX section and could NOT find any
entry for 150 Mile House BC. But I did find 100 Mile House BC, some
listed with 'OML', others listed with 'EXTR'.
And I looked under California, and did eventually find the listings
requested. It took some time -- I did find a company that started off
"Palo Alto", and it had a Telex machine. But for Mountain View, I only
found ONE customer whose name started off as "Mountain View" but they
were a TWX customer whose answerback was only the abbreviation of
their company name. And I couldn't find any customer in Cupertino
whose name started off as "Cupertino". So it took an "exhautive"
finger-down search of all entries under California until I could find
a Telex customer (or TWX customer with city-code in their answerback)
who was located in these other two communities.
So, here are the city codes for the three locations in question:
PLA Palo Alto, CA
MNTV Mountain View, CA
CPTU Cupertino, CA
Hope this helps! :)
Mark J. Cuccia
mcu...@tulane.edu
New Orleans LA
George Mitchell
> TWX customers didn't always have the format of "answerback" described
> above. Some TWX answerbacks (probably customers who had TWX service
> from Telco, since prior to 1970?) were ONLY an abbreviation of the
> customer's company name. But other TWX answerbacks (maybe 1970's era
> new customers of WUTCO's TWX?) had an answerback that was like that of
> a Telex customer, i.e., an abbreviation of the company name, then a
> space, then the 3 or 4 character "city code".
The M.I.T. Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (as it was known as at the
time) obtained a TWX machine around 1969. It was listed in the TWX
directory right next to a TWX machine in the M.I.T. Purchasing Depart-
ment, and we got a number of misdirected messages intended for them.
(Perhaps even more than messages intended for us!) So we set the ans-
werback on the machine to "WRONG NUMBER!"
-- George Mitchell (obfuscated email address)