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I think it's even more wrong than that, and suffers badly from post hoc ergo propter hoc. How could the growth of answering machines be connected to the break-

I think it's even more wrong than that, and suffers badly from post hoc ergo propter hoc. How could the growth of answering machines be connected to the break-up of AT&T, which was about separating local from long-distance service? According to https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1299444 https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nma..., there were commercial answering machines being sold in the U.S. in 1960. The increase in the use of answering machines in the 1980s likely had a lot more to do with the emergence of cheap microchips and cassette tapes, which greatly reduced their cost. And what did the breakup of AT&T have to do with the creation of the first ISPs? Even before the breakup, anyone could create their own separate communications networks if they wanted. There were already commercial computer networks like TymNet and consumer proto-ISPs like CompuServe before the breakup and the breakup had no effect on them.

Imnimo 5y ago
>How could the growth of answering machines be connected to the break-up of AT&T AT&T enforced a rule that you could not connect "foreign attachments" to the phone network, which included answering machines not made by them. https://dcchs.org/the-era-of-ma-bell/ https://dcchs.org/the-era-of-ma-bell/
- allturtles 5y ago
  Per your linked article: "That began to change in the 1950s ... Following the D.C. Circuit’s Hush-a-Phone decision, the FCC began establishing standards that would allow the sale and use of myriad devices on the telephone network, from answering machines, to fax machines, to computer modems." The break-up didn't happen until 1982.
  - Imnimo 5y ago
    Sure, but I guess I view the breakup as a process, of which that decision is just one step.
NoGravitas 5y ago
> How could the growth of answering machines be connected to the break-up of AT&T, which was about separating local from long-distance service? I believe they are talking about AT&T's ability to impose rules over what devices could be connected to the telephone network, and how. That's one of the reasons that both early answering machines (like the one you linked to) and modems used acoustic couplers. It's true, though, that court cases had eroded how tightly AT&T could control what devices could be connected to phone jacks well before the breakup of the Bell System. Still, 1200 baud modems were only possible with a direct connection, and didn't become commercially available until the year after the Bell System breakup.
ho_schi 5y ago
Yes. Regarding technology, the US is not the only country in the world. Answer machines and wireless phones where introduced worldwide be many companies around that time. Technology evolved at that time quickly, transistor usage in consumer devices. For example at that time phone lines where controlled in Germany by the state owned "Deutsche Bundespost" (similiar to USPS) and there were a lot of heated debates between Chaos-Computer-Club (CCC) and them about what to connect to the lines or not. Finally CCC won through the privatization of Deutsche Post. Did they? A mere pyrrhic victory. The new private owner of the cable lines restrict what to connect so thightly by there marketpower that the same problem from late 80ies emerged again in 2010ies. We have now extra laws which requires free usage of modems and routers. The private companies still try to make it as hard as possible. The only company which makes it easy for the average customer to get a contract without a modem at all is "Deutsche Telekom" (a smaller successor company of Deutsche Bundespost). In other terms, it seems that well minded regulation is required in terms of peoples need. It may is a surprise but the same problem with "what can I connect" emerged with state owned companies, one big monopoly or multiple private companies.

Imnimo 5y ago

>How could the growth of answering machines be connected to the break-up of AT&T AT&T enforced a rule that you could not connect "foreign attachments" to the phone network, which included answering machines not made by them. https://dcchs.org/the-era-of-ma-bell/ https://dcchs.org/the-era-of-ma-bell/

allturtles 5y ago
Per your linked article: "That began to change in the 1950s ... Following the D.C. Circuit’s Hush-a-Phone decision, the FCC began establishing standards that would allow the sale and use of myriad devices on the telephone network, from answering machines, to fax machines, to computer modems." The break-up didn't happen until 1982.
- Imnimo 5y ago
  Sure, but I guess I view the breakup as a process, of which that decision is just one step.

NoGravitas 5y ago

> How could the growth of answering machines be connected to the break-up of AT&T, which was about separating local from long-distance service? I believe they are talking about AT&T's ability to impose rules over what devices could be connected to the telephone network, and how. That's one of the reasons that both early answering machines (like the one you linked to) and modems used acoustic couplers. It's true, though, that court cases had eroded how tightly AT&T could control what devices could be connected to phone jacks well before the breakup of the Bell System. Still, 1200 baud modems were only possible with a direct connection, and didn't become commercially available until the year after the Bell System breakup.

ho_schi 5y ago

Yes. Regarding technology, the US is not the only country in the world. Answer machines and wireless phones where introduced worldwide be many companies around that time. Technology evolved at that time quickly, transistor usage in consumer devices. For example at that time phone lines where controlled in Germany by the state owned "Deutsche Bundespost" (similiar to USPS) and there were a lot of heated debates between Chaos-Computer-Club (CCC) and them about what to connect to the lines or not. Finally CCC won through the privatization of Deutsche Post. Did they? A mere pyrrhic victory. The new private owner of the cable lines restrict what to connect so thightly by there marketpower that the same problem from late 80ies emerged again in 2010ies. We have now extra laws which requires free usage of modems and routers. The private companies still try to make it as hard as possible. The only company which makes it easy for the average customer to get a contract without a modem at all is "Deutsche Telekom" (a smaller successor company of Deutsche Bundespost). In other terms, it seems that well minded regulation is required in terms of peoples need. It may is a surprise but the same problem with "what can I connect" emerged with state owned companies, one big monopoly or multiple private companies.