4 ms·

The phone itself was hardwired into the wall? TIL

dsr_ 5y ago
Before 1973, the phone company owned the wires right up to the phone on the wall, and often owned the phone as well. Then the FCC mandated that customer-provided equipment be supported, assuming it met standards. The RJ11 jack (and siblings, right up to the RJ45 for ethernet) came into widespread use after that.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
jandrese 5y ago
Ma Bell kept and iron grip on the entire system until the Carterphone decision created a crack in their stranglehold. This is why when you see modems in old movies they have this crazy setup where you put the handset into a pair of rubber cones (acoustic couplers) because you weren't allowed to plug anything directly into the phone lines. You didn't even own the phone, you leased it from the phone company.
- abawany 5y ago
  Old habits die hard: getting internet from AT&T ime still requires leasing their 'modem' for a monthly cost while cable providers let you bring your own device to avoid the monthly fee.
  - jandrese 5y ago
    Oh yeah, those hardware leasing fees are a goldmine for companies. Every so often you see a story about some old timer that is still paying for the hardware lease on their landline phone and someone does the math to discover that they've paid tens of thousands of dollars over the years to lease hardware that costs $25 new.
    - bluGill 5y ago
      The hardware they are leasing costs more than $25 new, more like $100. Sure you can buy a phone for $10 at the store, but the phones people leased where a lot higher quality (drop one off the desk and your floor is harmed not the phone) with a resulting higher price.
  - astura 5y ago
    This is not true - I had AT&T DSL from 2009-2014 and when I signed up they didn't offer a modem rental of any sorts, they required everyone to bring their own modem, but they did offer them for sale. I was really short on money at the time and didn't have a DSL modem, I would have preferred to rent the modem but they said that wasn't an option - they could only sell me one.
    - abawany 5y ago
      I've checked them out for the last 4 years while contemplating a move from Spectrum and every time, on checkout, there was the $10/month non-removable fee for renting the modem with no opt-out. This is in central Texas.
slacktide 5y ago
When I was a kid, some of our phones were hard wired, some used a giant 4-pin modular plug. RJ11 wasn't invented yet. Pepperidge Farm remembers... http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3365.0 http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=336...
dredmorbius 5y ago
You couldn't sell a cover intended for phone books, a shoulder-rest intended for AT&T (well, Bell Electric / Western Bell) handsets, or an answering machine that would be connected to phone-system wiring. It was a pretty brutal monopoly.

dsr_ 5y ago

Before 1973, the phone company owned the wires right up to the phone on the wall, and often owned the phone as well. Then the FCC mandated that customer-provided equipment be supported, assuming it met standards. The RJ11 jack (and siblings, right up to the RJ45 for ethernet) came into widespread use after that.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

jandrese 5y ago

Ma Bell kept and iron grip on the entire system until the Carterphone decision created a crack in their stranglehold. This is why when you see modems in old movies they have this crazy setup where you put the handset into a pair of rubber cones (acoustic couplers) because you weren't allowed to plug anything directly into the phone lines. You didn't even own the phone, you leased it from the phone company.

abawany 5y ago
Old habits die hard: getting internet from AT&T ime still requires leasing their 'modem' for a monthly cost while cable providers let you bring your own device to avoid the monthly fee.
- jandrese 5y ago
  Oh yeah, those hardware leasing fees are a goldmine for companies. Every so often you see a story about some old timer that is still paying for the hardware lease on their landline phone and someone does the math to discover that they've paid tens of thousands of dollars over the years to lease hardware that costs $25 new.
  - bluGill 5y ago
    The hardware they are leasing costs more than $25 new, more like $100. Sure you can buy a phone for $10 at the store, but the phones people leased where a lot higher quality (drop one off the desk and your floor is harmed not the phone) with a resulting higher price.
- astura 5y ago
  This is not true - I had AT&T DSL from 2009-2014 and when I signed up they didn't offer a modem rental of any sorts, they required everyone to bring their own modem, but they did offer them for sale. I was really short on money at the time and didn't have a DSL modem, I would have preferred to rent the modem but they said that wasn't an option - they could only sell me one.
  - abawany 5y ago
    I've checked them out for the last 4 years while contemplating a move from Spectrum and every time, on checkout, there was the $10/month non-removable fee for renting the modem with no opt-out. This is in central Texas.

slacktide 5y ago

When I was a kid, some of our phones were hard wired, some used a giant 4-pin modular plug. RJ11 wasn't invented yet. Pepperidge Farm remembers... http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3365.0 http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=336...

dredmorbius 5y ago

You couldn't sell a cover intended for phone books, a shoulder-rest intended for AT&T (well, Bell Electric / Western Bell) handsets, or an answering machine that would be connected to phone-system wiring. It was a pretty brutal monopoly.