Main Circuits Add 500 New Local Phones

More than 500 telephones were plugged into Cambridge main lines over the weekend after having tantalized subscribers by remaining unconnected for weeks in their rooms or apartments. B.A. Dwyer, Cambridge manager of the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company reported on Saturday that "many of the instruments" are in College Houses.

A lack of central switchboard equipment has prevented complete service although phones and wires are available, according to Dwyer. There are still 3000 unfilled requests for phones from residents and students of Cambridge, he says, including 300 pre-wired and waiting instruments which the switchboards and central dial phone machinery cannot yet accomodate.

Service by April

"The equipment is coming in bit by bit," Dwyer relates, "and we are giving service as it is available." While predicting another batch of satisfied applicants around March 1, Dwyer makes no promises for any service before April, when he expects to have received the required apparatus.

The telephone office is retaining the government priority system for the allocation of phones, although official controls have been non-existent since January. Under this set-up, single students are the last to get telephones, although some preference is given to pre-war subscribes.