Before the breakup long-distance calls cost about $1-2 a minute ($3-5 today). After the breakup, they dropped to a few cents a minute. That's one effect of dece

Before the breakup long-distance calls cost about $1-2 a minute ($3-5 today). After the breakup, they dropped to a few cents a minute. That's one effect of decentralization everyone (alive then) understood. Totally revolutionized telephone-usage. Obviously some aspects can be more efficiently centralized. What matters is who controls the centralized part(s). E.g. There are still a few things to be re-learned from Usenet and Fido.