n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY
 ·Optimum Online
| reply to idjk
Re: ATT to take Bellsouth?
said by idjk :
Things were better b4 1984,it took 1/4 the time to get your phone fixed
Yes and no. I was in college in the early 1980's and used to get phone service every school year. Before 1984, I walked over to the local AT&T PhoneCenter Store, filled out some paperwork, got a phone and phonebook. Next day I had service activated. At the end of the year I turned the phone back in, paid my final bill and all was done. After the breakup, the store closed, I had to take a car ride several miles to the nearest telco office. I had to buy my own phone and wait until I could get a new directory. Service came on at the normal 24 hours but it was a bigger PITA to get service.
OTOH, before the breakup, doing your own wiring was generally prohibited by the telcos. Connecting more phones than you were renting was a violation (my folks used to rent two phones but we had a third one in another room that we always had to hide if the phone company came around).
Still considering all the advantages that have happened since the breakup, despite the few conveniences of the old Ma Bell, I would not want to go back.
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I support the right to keep and arm bears. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| said by n2jtx  :OTOH, before the breakup, doing your own wiring was generally prohibited by the telcos. Connecting more phones than you were renting was a violation (my folks used to rent two phones but we had a third one in another room that we always had to hide if the phone company came around). They could have also found out you had multiple phones by looking at the amount of current your phone line drew from the CO. At least that's how my dad got busted when he "illegally" ran a phone extension (see post below).
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Rove / Rumsfeld 2008! |
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aelfwyne
join:2004-01-28
Beaumont, TX
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to n2jtx
Do you remember what the long distance rates were before the breakup? They were an outrage - that is something that seriously changed as a result of the breakup. Plus, AT&T had no interest in improving many outlying areas, such as the one I lived in, where we still had a PARTY LINE telephone in 1984. That means we had to share our phone with 4 other households. AT&T told us that to have a private line, we'd have to pay (personally) to lay 8 miles of new line. It took Southwestern Bell (Then SBC/Now AT&T again) a short while after to provide true private service. |
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