said by n2jtx 
:Actually you had to rent it from Ma Bell, no purchasing. ...
Things finally started to lighten up around 1977-1978 when we were finally allowed to provide our own wiring (COPW - Customer Owned Premises Wiring) and connect additional phones. The only requirement then was that you had to tell them you were connecting additional phones and what the RI (Ringer Equivalence) number was.
The same thing is needed with wireless today. Wireless Telcos provided the service, we the customer, decided on the equipment of OUR Choice. I sure hope this comes to pass on 700 Mhz and spreads like wildfire across all the wireless spectrum in the US... Hopefully the FCC won't cave to Verizon... Again. 
