University of Virginia Library

Telephone Official
Promises Change,
Calls For Patience

By Jim Doilney

Telephone service in the University area this semester
has been the subject of many complaints. The usually
effortless acts of getting a dial tone or placing a long
distance call have been turned into major undertakings.

In an interview with The Cavalier Daily yesterday,
E. L. McGrady, commercial manager of the Virginia
Telephone and Telegraph Company in Charlottesville,
spoke in defense of his company, claiming "We are
fighting very hard. We are making every effort possible
to get the service back to normal."

Questioned about the service on fraternity and University
housing pay phones, Mr. McGrady denied charges
that any phones were ever cut off between 7 and 11 p.m.

He stated that a dial tone could
be gotten with patience, asserting
that absence of one is only temporary
on a working machine.
When informed that waits of an
hour or more were the norm
rather than the exception, the
company official said that this
should not be true if equipment
is functioning properly.

Recently, four University students
tested pay phones in the
hospital, corner, and fraternity
areas during the mid-evening
rush period. They found every
phone tested to be dead.

Mr. McGrady claimed that
only when all the lines on a
certain switchboard are busy will
a dial tone not be heard.

Opinion among the fraternities
held that all area phones were
placed on the same switchboard
and that these particular switchboards
were rationed only a limited
number of circuits.

Mr. McGrady said that no
area is discriminated against and
that phones from any section, including
those on Rugby Road and
Madison Lane, were divided and
placed on switchboards with
others throughout the city.

He exonerated the local company
of blame for the current
problems, noting that the crisis is
only two years old.

"Our company projections had
taken into account the growth of
the University and the city,"
stated Mr. McGrady, "but we
have had difficulties in obtaining
needed equipment."

He explained that these difficulties
were a direct result of the
government's acquisition of necessary
materials for the Vietnam
conflict. The steel strike caused
additional delays, according to
the official.