Rise of the Telephone
- Telephone patented 1876- Alexander Graham Bell (many
claim origin)
- Bell Telephone Co. uses exclusive patent- slow growth
1876-1894. Patent Monopoly
- Bell buys Western Electric to produce hardware 1882.
Vertical Integration
- Competition, Confusion, and Finance 1895-1920. Robber
Baron Finance.Monopoly by acquisition.
- (Strowger) Automatic Switch and direct dial with rotary-
now user does the switching. Hidden seeds for change.
- Communication Act of 1934- Defines 'Common Carrier'-
AT&T gets automatic 'rate of return' for 'universal service' and other
public interest things.
- Struggle of other competitors. Could anyone else
provide equipment or switching/carrier services?
- Packet (Digital) Switching- Early 1960s- bypass
- Satellite Service develops- Early 1960s- carriers
- Divestiture of AT&T (1984)- Bell break up
into AT&T, Regional Bell Operating Systems
- CableTV- Can't switch upstream as easily.
- New Services- Mobile phones, smart switches, bundled
transmission, etc. New manufacturing.