Was passing by this telephone exchange building, which is run down and its door covered in graffiti. Note the sign. Gives an indication of the last time Telstra had any real interest in that place.

A few of those numbers are out of date now. Faults is now 13 2200. 1100 is only for cable locations now. The site enquiries number is probably also done for, considering that NBNCo owns the properties now.

There's a few exchanges and post offices around that still have the late Queen's cypher on them too, probably for heritage reasons.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

A few of those numbers are out of date now.

Not as out of date as MobileNet (Telecom Australia's first generation analogue system)!

NBN has presence in the exchanges but those that have not been sold off as real estate still belong to a division of Telstra. The latest plan is repurpose some buildings as 'edge' data centres:

QUOTE: November 23, 2020 It’s probably been a while since you last thought about your local Telstra exchange, if you ever did, but inside hundreds of the unassuming buildings dotted around the country, a hi-tech overhaul is underway to make the internet faster for you.

The telco has around 10,000 exchanges and fixed network sites, mostly red brick boxes more likely to end up on an “ugliest building” list than to win a design award.

The purpose of the buildings – connecting landline telephone calls – is becoming less and less relevant every year as the NBN completes its rollout.

Telstra has been decommissioning and even selling some exchanges, but the company has a new plan for them.

Telstra has identified 650 “strategic sites” around the country that it now plans to repurpose for edge computing.

But as is already the case in a lot of the exchanges, it won’t just be Telstra using the sites.

“There are other players who want to be in there,” Mr Seneviratne said.

“Amazon, Microsoft, Google: They’ve got big data centres and they would also love to have edge compute capability. We are talking to all of them and looking to strike partnerships with them.”

https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/internet/telstra-plan-to-convert-ugly-old-exchange-buildings-to-make-internet-faster/news-story/7877785fb862f99e52c2067e75dcdc3c

I have met a Telstra staff member whose job it is to manage the progressive retrieval of salvageable redundant metal from exchanges, including pulling out copper from ducts as far out from each exchange as is practicable. He said the project will take years at the current rate.

Interesting - I always thought that the $11bn, or so, paid by NBNCo for the Telstra and Optus network infrastructure included the exchanges, though in hindsight it does sound a bit inexpensive, given that some exchanges are huge and sit on potentially prime commercial real estate.

Quite right about the mobile service number - it was the only 018 number that didn't lead to a mobile phone.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

I recently was inside a rural exchange, the infrastructure was an absolute blast from various pasts.
The oldest section was probably 60's where the phone lines come in and connect. There was also some supporting test rack equipment from the same era along side.
Most of the space was empty but a row of NBN cabinets and some older gear still running.

The last exchange to go automatic, I think, was in 1991, and from memory, it was in Ivanhoe, NSW. Yep, everyone had a three digit phone number and all calls still operator-assisted. So the real old fashioned way wasn't that far back. When I was a young lad, I'd be somewhat fascinated by the short phone numbers on property signage when we'd go camping in the Central West, usually Windeyer or Hill End.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Most of the space was empty but a row of NBN cabinets and some older gear still running.

I gather that the inside of city and suburban exchanges these days is best described as a rat's nest of cat 6 patch cabling all over the racks. Contrary to Telstra exchange techs of yesteryear, the cabling contractors of the various ISPs don't care about tidy.

NBN technicians are pretty much useless for anything relating to the previous established order. They just come onto the site I manage, punch in a new pair on the MDF, test the connection at the customer's end and then leave. No mess is cleaned up, no update is done in the big logbook, nothing. Many of them can barely utter a word of English and when I ask for their NBNCo ID some of them just give me a blank stare. It's not that they don't want to co-operate, it's just that they don't understand my question. I would hate to see what is going on at the exchanges.

When the NBN was finally commissioned in Nth Sydney, the original Nth Sydney exchange was bulldozed to make way for the building that now houses Coca Cola's headquarters. As a link to the past they put a wiring loom from the exchange in the front window of the new building. The more modern part of the exchange is still there, behind the Coke building, opposite Mary Mackillop Place in Mount Street.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

One point of amusement in the exchange was a telecom sticker on one of the doors that simply read:
"We will build the best enterprise in Australia before the year 2000"

Also a microfiche viewer that was labelled for ewaste pickup in 2017...

Yes it is sad to see what finally happened to what was once a mighty government department in 125 years. While the PMG/Telecom had some short-comings and could be very rule orientated at times, overall it was fairly efficient while it was government run. Now with the wonders of 'private ownership' and the blissful state of 'JLA' you have a 50/50 chance that your call might get through; no wonder that SMSing is the main way that people communicate now.

RIP

The import that originally set up the NBN gear that got replaced today, was incredible. Hardly a bit of tooling to do the job, typical tool box with wire cutting gear and an adjustable wrench. All the other gear was for wood & blunt.

Fantastic as the wiring had to go through a steel wall, a layer of foam& the fire proof sheet the wireless box was going on. It was fortunate for him that the farm & radio workshop has the gear that got him out of trouble, & it set up.

The RAX is still in use. We went from a worn out decadic system, where, on ringing someone up, the rattle shook & disconnected others. It then went to tone dialing.

Building maintenance is joke. The roof barge boards are stuffed as they have never been painted since it was put there, they removed the asbestos cladding and never fixed the roof, the dunny blew over in a strong wind have photo archived. And the grass in the guttering has never been mowed, & the weight of dirt in them, from the gravel road, is tearing them off the building.

To top that off they used that much "Arzeen" which is toxic to gum trees & killed every one and those trying to grow last about 5years & they die. In a strip 15m Wide & 200m long

NBN roll-out used a multitude of 457 Visa (temporary migration) people. The clowns that connected my place tried to put the box on the wall that had the kitchen sink on the other side. Luckily I was home at the time and got that attempt changed to a more suitable wall. Only the 'supervisor' spoke English and I had to find him down the road at another address. He told me that his group were all from Pakistan.

I have to wonder how many overstayed those 457s.

Some will recall the late, great John Blackman's ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLAqM4xeAtA

Now these installers can be being very amusing".
Mathatma Coat was being very troubled wiring lights in parallel. was allegedly watching him, under the guise of helping. Noting which lights were going to need rewiring, The ultimate was a light with a hall type arrangement and an overhead pull switch. For reasons of only being known to himself. He unwired the light & switch.

Then confronted with seven wires, he is being totally bamboozled, as he is not knowing, how the hell it all was going to be put back.

There was the incoming Neutral, Active, Strapper (white) and Green. They went to a terminal strip. from which the Neutral carried to the light; Ground to frame; Then their was being the switch (oh dear) from that switch, there was coming three wires and he was not having a clue how that was going to wire up. Stuffed completely. That got wired properly later on.

Then with the first wireless NBN Mahatma's cousin turned up. Toolkit an adjustable wrench and a whole lot of inappropriate blunt wood tools to go through a metal wall. Did not contemplate to any extent was was going to happen with a brick one? Had it not been a Farm with a wide range of basic tooling he would have been stuffed.

I may have to start buying "Wheaties" to get some more qualifications.

I have to wonder how many overstayed those 457s.

Easy way to find out - approach a telephone exchange and yell out "Border Force!".

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...