THE TELEPHONE REVOLUTION
Americans are now dealing with a new and mostly unfamiliar communication environment. Some users will gain and others will lose, and you can best guard your bankroll by understanding the new system
March/April 1984
by Copthorne Macdonald
The dissolution of American Telepone and Telegraph is bringing changes to our phone services
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The liberation of the telephone began back in 1968, when the Federal Communications Commission's landmark "Carterfone Decision" first allowed user-owned equipment to be connected to Ma Bell's system. During the 70's, tying into those formerly sacrosanct lines became a sort of "interconnection movement", and new telephone hardware proliferated. Then early this year, evolution turned to revolution when AT&T (the world's largest and richest corporate monopoly) was legally dismembered.
Americans are now dealing with a new and mostly unfamiliar communication environment. Some users will gain and others will lose, and you can best guard your bankroll by understanding the new system. One way to do that is to learn how to connect your own phones (as shown in the article on page 144). Another is to be up-to-date on the possibilities that the new arrangement offers.
The best overview of the situation I've found is a new 190-page book by Larry Kahaner and Alan Green, entitled Phone Book: The Most Complete Guide to the Changing World of Telephones. (This $7.95 Penguin paperback is available at most bookstores.) Larry and Alan offer a brief historical review of the legal battles against AT&T, take a quick peek at the dismantled Bell System of today, provide details on the opportunities for cut-rate long-distance service, and suggest innovative uses for the new system.
One of the major effects of the new law concerns long-distance calling. Your area phone company is continuing to handle your local calls, and some are still billing you for longdistance service. But you are no longer forced—automatically—to buy your longdistance calls from AT&T. Over 200 firms now offer some form of extended-range phone service, in direct competition with AT&T. Your local phone company is required to provide a connection for these upstarts, and if the area firm does billing for AT&T, it must also provide that service for competitors.
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