POPULARITY OF TELEPHONE

Wairarapa Daily Times, 25 February 1935, Page 4

POPULARITY OF TELEPHONE

What are the most talkative periods of the day? In graphs compiled by the Post and Telegraph Department a very human story is told in that prosaic way. Here is scheduled a national view of the total of talk which has to be paid for at every period of the day over the toll telephone system. These plain lines demonstrate the ebb and flow of the traffic, and throw into high relief many of the activities of a large section of the community.

The popular “half-rate” perioeffior toll communications now commencjppin the evening at 6. Formerly it vdid not start until 8, when there was a tremendous rush and an overloading of the toll lines for quite an hour. The bringing forward of what might be called the concession period has already had marked effects in spreading the traffic, and appreciably reducing the delay on calls. Distance calls were maintained at maximum between 8 and 10 p.m., but the toll business now commences at 7 in full volume, and, as the new arrangement becomes better known, it is obvious that the 6 till 7 period, now' somewhat slack, will fill up, for that is actually the best time of getting the quickest service. The recent extension of the half-rate period involved a definite sacrifice of toll revenue, but the service is so much appreciated and so vfidely used that it is only a matter of time when the financial gap will be filled up.