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WELCOME TO THE HOME PAGE OF THE BLOOMINGDALE HOME
TELEPHONE COMPANY
 Welcome
to BHTC's home page. Please feel free to browse the site and make sure to check out
the links on the Launch Page! In addition to
offering residential and cellular
telephone service, BHTC is now a premier Internet Service Provider. Check out the Internet Services page to see how BHTC can become your
ISP.
If you have any questions about BHTC or the services that it
offers please feel free to contact us. We would be happy
to answer any questions you might have. Please check back often and enjoy your
visit!
COMPANY HISTORY
Ethan and Allen Morrison started the Bloomingdale Home
Telephone Company with five lines on March 1, 1898. During the early days of the company,
it was each subscriber's responsibility to take care of his own line.
Roy Nelson became the company's first service man and
worked intermittently at the job until 1917. Charges for service started at $12.00 a year
and later were raised to $15.00.
The Bloomingdale Company incorporated in 1922 and in the
years which followed purchased the Annapolis Telephone Company, West Union Telephone
Company and Citizens Telephone Company of Tangier.
In 1958 the company changed to a new Kellog 7-2x Bar
switch, allowing Bloomingdales to provide dial service to its customers.
Mobile telephone communications, a 2 channel base station,
was placed into service in 1966. It allowed two mobile phone customers to use their phone
at the same time. In 1978 several miles of PIC filled cables were installed underground,
providing the opportunity for customers to have private lines.
The company entered the digital age in 1983 with the
installation of a Northern Telecom DMS
10 switch. This new technology enabled the company to offer new telephone services such as touch-tone,, call
waiting and other features. Equal Access was added in 1990, giving customers the
opportunity to chose their long distance carrier.
In 1990 Bloomingdale Telephone Company, with CCI of
Roachdale, became a partner of U.S. Cellular in Rural Service Area 5. As an agent and
partner, Bloomingdale is a full service cellular
company.
In 1996 the company entered the age of fiber
communications. Fourteen miles of fiber cable and 12 miles of copper cable were installed.
Much of it was used to replace existing cable that had been in service since 1961.
However, the installation of the fiber cable allowed the company to install a new Nortel
DMS switch and a Remote switch. This switch offers a wide variety of options to the
customer and to Bloomingdale Telephone Company. It has the capability to have ISDN and
several future options. It also can be expanded or upgraded to incorporate future needs by
using state of the art equipment and software.
On November 17, 1997, Bloomingdale Telephone offered Internet service to its customers, and
Bloomingdaletel.com was offered to the public.
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B l o o m i n g d a l e - H o
m e - T e l e p h o n e - C o m
p a n y
Box 206 - · - Bloomingdale, IN - · - 47832
OFFICE: 765· 498·
2000
FAX: 765· 498·
8000
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