"If we drove through Vacaville, you'd be surprised to see how many fingers I could point out and say 'that's my phone system,' " Boles said proudly.

A Vacaville native, Boles, 61, set up his first telephone shop in Davis after selling a store he built himself - Vacaville Lumber Co. - to J.P. Dolan.

"I started a telephone company, only because it was new and interesting," Boles said.

Boles' business initially was a 700-square-foot retail store. It offered minor repairs and sold to students the trendy novelty phones of the era, like lips phones, Coca Cola phones and Teddy bear phones.

One day, he got a call from a business in Davis that needed to have their telephones fixed. He charged them $70, he recalled. That's when he realized he needed his contractor's license. The next thing he knew, he was installing the telephone system at a Sacramento landmark.

"In 1987, we wired the Arco Arena," he said. "And that kind of blossomed us as a company."

Boles and some 19 employees at Arco Arena did a lot of infrastructure for low voltage cabling, wired up the television sets and the in-house speaker system. They even helped coordinate the installation of the $3 million Panasonic scoreboard. During that time span, he became an authorized agent of Panasonic.

"Since then, we've sold telephone systems from two lines to 200 lines. We have a client base of now almost 4,000," Boles said. "The fact that we're still here, we're still functioning, and we're making money, means we've gone over the hump.

"We're gratefully very busy," Boles said, noting that he has work scheduled with the Vacaville Chamber of Commerce, Solano Irrigation District and more businesses around Vacaville.

California Telephone installs wireless communications, digital key telephone systems, phone

systems, voice mail systems and paging systems as well as provide cabling services - everything from wireless and fiber optics, Boles said. He's also a Toshiba dealer.

"We now provide a 7-year parts warranty on all new Tosihiba product, which is unheard of in this industry," he said.

Boles sounded off about the new Internet Protocol (IP) telephone solutions being offered. Telephone companies are merging with data network companies, partnering themselves with another product in order to make the convergence work, he said.

"I think it's premature," Boles said. "It's the proverbial calculator - it's expensive now and four or five years from now it's going to be relatively inexpensive. And you're stuck with whatever companies you merge with.

"But there are people who buy Corvettes and Hummers everyday," he quipped.

Boles' company is still selling a basic phone system with an IP address away from the hub, he said.

The firm also provides SBC services, and offers telephone bill analysis to businesses.

"We provide a unique partnership with every customer in the fact that we will bend over backward to make sure what they buy is correct for them," Boles said. "If we can't provide the right services, then we will actually tell them, yeah, you've got a better deal here."

California Telephone is located at 150 S. Orchard Ave., Vacaville. Its phone number is 447-2377 or visit its Web site at www.caltel.net.