CARRIER WAVE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 6 October 1925, Page 2

CARRIER WAVE.

NEW TELEPHONE SYSTEM. EIGHT SPEAK AT ONCE. The new “carrier-wave” system of telephony instituted between Sydney and Melbourne has proved an outstanding success. In brief, the new line is constructed in such a manner that eight persons can use the same line at the same time, four from each end. It has required considerable expense and much mechanical skill to bring the system to perfection, but on its working it has already proved itself a boon to long-distance telephone users. Under the old system it was the usual thing to book a call to Melbourne and find that there were already 20 subscribers hooked through beforehand. As each subscriber is entitled to a first period of three minutes, with the option of one extension of three minutes, it was often an hour and a half or two hours before the Melbourne and Sydney parties were connected. Under the new system, which is almost mechanical perfection, calls are put through at never more than tenminute waits, and the public is rapidly availing itself of the new service. So much so that whereas the revenue the last week before the innovation was between £35 and £4O a day. it has risen already to more than £SO daily, though the rates are the same. The service, too, is better than under the old system, as th© conversation is as clear as though the persons conversing wer© in the same room. At the inception of the carrier-wave system the presidents of the Chambers of Commerce and Manufacture, the two Lord Mayors, and the foremen of the operating rooms in both cities exchanged greetings to give the new line an official send-off.

Up to date, tlie increase in business has- been 14 per cent. It is proposed by the telephone department to place the Sydney-Brisbnne service on the same system as soon as funds and material permit, and it is claimed by the establishment of carrierwave communication between Melbourne and Sydney that our system reaches the level of the world’s best.