Push-button telephones not popular in Chch

Press, 21 December 1978, Page 4

Push-button telephones not popular in Chch

Push-button telephones are available in Christchurch but few people seem to want them.

The Post Office’s regional engineer (Mr E. L. McKechie) said that pushbutton telephones had been available to subscribers since the Christchurch central “crossbar” exchange had been opened in November, 1976.

The advantage of the push-button telephone was that it was much quicker to use.

The push-button model looked and sounded much the same as an ordinary telephone: the only visible difference was that the dial had been replaced with a push-button pad. The Christchurch central exchange had provision for 2000 such telephones. A small number could also be used through the Baisweil and Harewood exchanges.

As more “crossbar” exchanges were installed in the suburbs, more push-but-ton telephones would be able to be used.

For a person w'hose business revolved around the telephone the push-button model would seem to be the answer.

But so far the demand had been much smaller than expected. This had been to throughout New Zealand. A problem was that many businesses had their own private exchanges, Mr

McKechie said. Push-button telephones could be connected only to the main exchange. It also cost $3 a month in addition to the ordinary rental of $lO a month for the convenience of a push-

i button telephone and $2O for installing the new telephone. In the meantime, because of a shortage of ordinary lines, one of the main user* 1 of push-button telephones in ■ Christchurch is the Post Office.