Beggs Telephone

Beggs Telephone Company, Inc. is a family owned and operated business serving 100 square miles in and around the Beggs community. Its history began in 1928 and has spanned three generations. Each generation has worked in the business, changing and enhancing it over time. Originally the exchange was an open wire and magneto system with only a handful of subscribers. In 1954, the company was incorporated; and in 1955, a new dial system was installed making the Beggs exchange the first in Okmulgee County to provide dial tone to its customers. Over the years many changes have taken place including refinancing of the company through a series of REA loans and then rebuilding of the entire system with a new XY switch, underground cable, and a new combination office building and central office. This new building was completed and ready for occupancy in November 1971. By 1972 the entire exchange had been cutover to one party service making Beggs one of the first exchanges in Oklahoma to provide private line service to all its subscribers including those in the rural area. That same year Direct Distance Dialing became available to all Beggs Telephone Company customers. In the 1980's when the computer revolution touched the telephone industry, the XY switch was replaced with central and remote office digital switches and a fiber optic toll facility. The cutover to this new system in 1987 meant that Beggs Telephone Company was one of the first rural exchanges to offer customer services normally available only in larger cities. In 1989 the Company expanded its operations to include wireless Cellular service. Over the last several years, a series of outside plant underground cable projects have been completed to improve service in the rural areas. Fiber optic cable has been placed in many areas of the exchange in anticipation of further service enhancements. In 1998 a new digital switch was installed to enable System Signaling Seven (SS7) Services. One such service is Caller Identification of name and number. Customers can now choose from a variety of calling services to improve their daily lives. Such services as Voicemail, Call Forwarding, and Call Waiting are just a few of the special calling features that are available through the new digital switch. In 2000 a new warehouse building was built and encompasses the ground where the original building for the Company once stood. The new building houses outside plant equipment, tools, and cable. It also serves as an archive of Company records and office space for outside plant personnel. Also in 2000 the Company became an Internet Service Provider and in December began offering Internet services to its customers. The Beggs Telephone Company is currently undertaking a major outside plant cabling revision project. Eventually a fiber network with individual nodes will be a reality for the entire rural exchange. This new cable/node project effectively will make distance from rural homes to central office equipment shorter thereby allowing enhanced data services. As part of the cable/node project, digital subscriber line (DSL) services began in 2001 and are now available even in the remote areas of the exchange. Send mail to [email protected] with questions or comments about this web site.