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Larry the phone guy

    I currently work by day for Dobson Fiber. Dobson provides Fiber internet services and hosted phones. Dobson is based in Oklahoma.

    Dobson acquired Pinnacle Telecommunications in 2021 to extend their reach into Arkansas. Before that, I was a part of Pinnacle.

    Many of the old telephone systems are hardly being supported any more. I have been a Toshiba phone tech for over 10 years. So, part of what I am doing on the side is keeping them running a while longer until they can be replaced.

    Once the move is made, I then offer cabling services to get businesses ready for the new Internet based phones.


What happened to Toshiba?

    They actually quit the phone business. The Surprise announcement was made early 2017 they were shutting down their business phone division. Financial reasons involving project not related to phone system was sited. Mitel bought out parts of it to continue supporting their systems for a limited time. As of October 2019, Toshiba systems officially reached EOL (End of Life).

    It is still possible to get replacement hardware through refurbishing companies to keep most systems running. Expansion is be very limited. There is no way to obtain required licenses to grow the system or use any of it's IP based features.


Don't mind the laughing

Norwegian Bungee Jumpers

    Ole and Sven are bungee-jumping one day. Ole says to Sven, "You know, we could make a lot of money running our own bungee-jumping service in Mexico. They don't have it there."

    Ole thinks this is a great idea, so they pool their money and buy everything they'll need; a tower, elastic cord, insurance, etc. They travel to Mexico and begin to set up on the square. As they are constructing the tower, a crowd begins to assemble. Slowly, more and more people gather to watch them at work. When they had finished, there was such a crowd they thought it would be a good idea to give a demonstration.

    So Sven jumps. He bounces at the end of the cord, but when he comes back up Ole notices that he has a few cuts and scratches. Unfortunately, Ole isn't able to catch him, and he falls again, bounces and comes back up again. This time, he is bruised and bleeding. Again Ole misses him. Sven falls again and bounces back up. This time he comes back pretty messed up, he's got a couple of broken bones and is almost unconscious.

    Luckily, Ole finally catches him this time and says, "What happened? Was the cord too long?" Barely able to speak, Sven gasps, "No, the Bungee cord was fine. It was the crowd. What the heck is a pinata?"