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> The UK equivalent was entrusting all drivers with a box of coins This was in the 1950s and is described in Peter Hennessey's excellent book The Human Button.
by andyjohnson0 5y ago
> The UK equivalent was entrusting all drivers with a box of coins
This was in the 1950s and is described in Peter Hennessey's excellent book The Human Button.
It's been a while since I read the book, but from memory the cabinet office also purchased an AA membership so that the prime minister's driver would have a key giving them access to the private AA phone boxes that were fairly common back then. They had an arrangement with the AA call handlers to allow the PM to be connected to the appropriate part of government in an emergency.
Meanwhile the US and Russian government probably had satellite...
- gerdesj 5y ago"Meanwhile the US and Russian government probably had satellite..." Silly old Britain relying on a largely subterranean circuit switched network whilst the cool kids might use the latest cool gear to get an important message through. Even today, whilst Facebook danced the grim fandango for an eye watering six hours, boring old standard issue comms carried on functioning. It sounds a bit daft but there was a massive network of red boxes all over the country with decent connectivity back to a network of exchanges etc etc POTS n that. The AA (Automobile Association) had their own boxes too. To use this network you needed a few pence. To get the message through you use keywords and passwords ie a protocol. The failure modes for a satellite phone in those days doesn't bear thinking of. When the message is important, keep it as simple as possible but no more.
- ceejayoz 5y ago> The failure modes for a satellite phone in those days doesn't bear thinking of. Hell, the same is true today. Any significant conflict between world powers may start with knocking out the satellites.