21 lines
839 B
Markdown
21 lines
839 B
Markdown
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tags: [computer-history]
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created: Wednesday, October 30, 2024
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# Bell System
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Denotes the family of companies run by the Bell Telephone Company during its 100
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year outright monopoly on the telecommunications industry and infrastructure in
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the US. Inclusive of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), AT&T
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Long Lines (line network), the Western Electric Company (manufacturing
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telephonic equipment), and Bell Labs (the R&D section). Each major city/ region
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had a subsidiary, e.g. Michigan Bell, Northwestern Bell, the New York Telephone
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Company etc.
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Colloquially known as "Ma Bell" ("mother Bell").
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The monopoly was broken up in 1983. Today, after the breakup the remaining (now
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separate) companies are AT&T (phone network, mobile network), Verizon (mobile
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network), and Lumen (cloud computing, networking services).
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