> 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

> 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.