Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Bell Upgrading Gurdon Party Lines

Southwestern Bell Telephone Company is now contacting Gurdon party line customers to arrange upgrades to single-party service.

The upgrades are scheduled for completion by the end of this year. Customers will be contacted as facilities become available in their area. Southwestern Bell technicians are currently installing new facilities to accommodate the service upgrades.

With the change to single-party service, additional mileage charges paid by some customers will be eliminated and constrution charges for extending telephone service to new customers in these areas will be reduced.

"These upgrades will give customers improved telephone service, and actually reduce monthly charges for many people," Dennis Mills, area manager for Southwestern Bell in Arkadelphia, said.

"There are quite a few advantages to single-party service," he said. "Besides privacy and general convenience, the most important advantage is probably safety. Enhanced 911 emergency service is only available on a single-party line. On a multiparty line, 911 equipment cannot match the caller with an address."

Single-party service also eliminates the need for operator assistance on one-plus long distance calls and gives customers access to several optional services like Call Waiting and Call Forwarding.

All two- and four-party telephone lines in Arkansas will be upgraded by the end of the year as part of Southwestern Bell's three-year, $231 million network investment program.