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Proudly Presents
The History of Telecommunications
Taken from
The MCI School of Telecommunications Management Reference Guide
Typed and edited by Knight Lightning
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This file is to help clear up how the phone companies began and what has
transpired to create our current fucked up phone system.
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Telephone History:
- 2/14/1876 BELL AND GRAY FILE PATENTS 3 HOURS APART
- 1877 FIRST PUBLIC USE - NEWS DISPATCH SENT TO BOSTON GLOBE
FOUR YEARS LATER - 132,500 PHONES IN USE
- 1878 FIRST COMMERCIAL SWITCHBOARD INSTALLED AT NEW HAVEN, CT.
- 1878 WESTERN UNION PURCHASES GRAY'S PATENT - PATENT SUIT FILED BY BELL
- 1879 BELL AND W.U. AGREE:
1. BELL PURCHASES W.U. TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT
2. BELL PAYS W.U. SMALL ROYALTY
3. BELL AGRES NT TO ENTR TLGRAPH BUSINESS DURING LIFE OF DISPUTED PATENTS
4. W.U. AGREES: TO STAY OUT OF TLPHNY FR SME PRIOD - TO DROP PATENT SUITS
- ESTABLISHED MONOPOLY GROUNDWORK OF TODAY
- 1881 BELL PURCHASES W.E. CO.
- 1888 SUPRME COURT FINDS BELL'S PATENTS VALID-PATENT MONOPOLY UNTIL 1893
- 1888 BELL DEVELOPS LUCRATIVE URBAN REGIONS
- 1893 NEW COMPANIES STARTED IN SMALL COMMUNITIES AND RUAL AREAS, BELL
DOES NOT ALLOW INTERCONNECTION
- 1907 BELL CENTRALIZES R & D EFFORTS
BELL LABS FORMALLY INCORPORATED IN 1925
TRIES TO BUY STROMBERG-CARLSON
- 1904-1919 MOST STATES REQUIRE INTERCONNECTION OF ALL PHONE COMPANIES
34 STATES PASS LAWS REGULATING TELEPHONY
- 1913 BELL CONTROLS 50% OF U.S. MARKET
- KINGSBURY COMMITTEMENT - BELL AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AGREE:
1. ALLOW INDEPENDENT PHONE COMPANIES TO INTERCONNECT
2. NOT ACQUIRE OTHER INDEPENDENTS WITHOUT GOVERNMENT APPROVAL
3. RELINQUISH CONTROL OVER W.U. (IN 1909, BELL HAD PURCHASED CONTROLLING
STOCK IN W.U.)
- 1921 AT&T FREED OF ACQUISITION RESTRAINTS WITH WILLIS-GRAHAM ACT
- 1922 9000 PHONE COMPANIES IN EXISTANCE - TODAY 1500
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Regulatory:
1876 BELL AND GRAY PATENTS
1877 BELL OFFERS PATENT TO WESTERN UNION
1878 FIRST COMMERCIAL SWITCHBOARD
1879 AGREEMENT BETWEEN BELL AND WESTERN UNION
1881 BELL PURCHASE WESTERN ELECTRIC
1883 SUPREME COURT PATENT MONOPOLY
1888 BELL DEVELOPS URBAN REGIONS
1893 RURAL TELEPHONE COMPANIES
1907 BELL R & D
1904-19 - INTERCONNECTION OF RURAL AND URBAN REQUIRED
- STATE REGULATORY COMMISSION
- KINGSBURY AGREEMENT - ACQUISITION RESTRAINTS
1921 WILLIS-GRAHAM ACT FREES BELL OF ACQUISITION RESTRAINTS
1934 COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (FCC) FORMED
PRINCIPLES:
1. Service must be just and resonable; must be profitable
2. No cross-subsidization
3. No dicrimination between groups of customers
4. Public notic of rate change
1968 CARTERFONE
1969 MCI DECISION
1971 SPECIALIZED CARRIER PROCEEDING - PRIVATE LINES
1978 EXECUNET DECISION
ENFIA AGREEMENT
1978 1934 COMMUNICATIONS ACT REWRITE
1956 CONSENT DECREE, BELL TO OFFER REGULAR COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES
ONLY
1966 FCC COMPUTER INQUIRY I
1971 FCC DISTINCTION BETWEEN DP AND MEASURED SWITCHING
1976 FCC COMPUTER INQUIRY II
1978 AT&T REORGANIZATION BUSINESS/RESIDENTIAL
1982 DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CONSENT DECREE
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1986 ?
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Shop right now and get them, it has definitions for every MCI term there is,
plus a full list of all MCI acronyms and what they stand for. YOU WON'T BE
DISAPPOINTED!
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Dedicated to The 2600 Club
Thanx to Taran King