Talk:Operator assistance

This page discusses operator assisted calls, rather than the broader topic of operator assistance. It should mention other forms of assistance traditionally provided by telephone operators. For example, operators would give callers credit when notified that the caller had dialed a wrong number (long distance or local.) Operators also assisted when there were problems placing calls, such as figuring out why a direct dialed call did not go through. Operators also connected calls when the numbers were unknown or direct local dialing (or any dialing) did not exist, for any long distance calls that needed to go through several operators, or for emergency numbers before 911 was a standard.

The article says that sources are needed. Aside from hundreds of millions of people who still remember this being part of daily life, it was also mentioned at the beginning of every phone book. Hagrinas (talk) 15:28, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Is this article accurate? I found a number of articles from 1996 to 2013 talking about operator centers being closed. They discuss the last operator center in the state, or the last in the region, and one from the New Your Times in 1996 has an interview with the last operator in the regional call center that shut down, and she mentioned that her job included taking calls from all over the country. I found another website that went over what different companies provide, and AT&T will give a recorded service if 0 is dialed. It will offer collect calls in an automated way and there's no actual operator. Other articles I read discussed the discontinuation of services such as person to person, break in service and third party calls. I can't find a source that says the job has disappeared nationwide in the US, but it's questionable whether there would be demand in some regions and none for vast parts of the country. The whole point of person to person calls was that a caller wouldn't have to pay for the first three minutes but would have to pay several dollars for the service. There doesn't seem to be anywhere in the world where it would cost more for the first minute (now that calls are billed by the minute) and if it will be more expensive, the service is pointless. I can't find any evidence that operator assistance still exists anywhere in the US. Unless there was a 1/150 chance of the person being there when a person called, it would be cheaper to call directly than to make 150 phone calls to a person who might not be there for a US number. That assumes the caller even pays for long distance. Those charges are a thing of the past for US calls with many phone companies, depending on the service. Hagrinas (talk) 03:29, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

I suspect this article needs to be rewritten. In many countries operator services no longer exist. The days of a single access network operated by some Bell or PTT are long gone. Competitive markets, mobile phones and technological changes have made calling an operator as quaint as teletype/telex! Even the classical PSTN itself (writing in 2021) is being phased out in favour of VoIP and much less centralised technologies. I would suspect by 2023-2025 it won't even be possible to connect to a classical PSTN line in many countries, as the tech will be retired --84.203.121.217 (talk) 04:42, 30 December 2021 (UTC)