5 ms·

Yep. Mashing up the baby bells again started with SW Bell after it became SBC. Then SBC bought up AT&T Corp. Which is now the AT&T we know.

filmgirlcw 4y ago
Yes, but most of the backhaul and network stuff was BellSouth, which became Cingular, which acquired AT&T (which had been bought by SBC) and then the head of Cingular (who had been at AT&T before it was split up) purposefully changed the name to AT&T, even tho Cingular was the acquirer. But all the baby bells were just operating separately in name only in many regards. My mother—in-law worked for AT&T or one of the baby bells her entire career, across multiple states and systems. It was a lot more similar than a lot of people realize. Once wireless became a thing and being regional became much more arbitrary (because a local telephone provider doesn’t matter in the age of nationwide wireless), the re-unification made sense. And aside from MCI and Sprint, neither of which had good histories, or the German-government propped up T-Mobile (American T-Mobile was largely subsidized by Deutsche Telekom in its early years, first launching nationwide as VoiceStream), no one was able to make a go at competing against the bells anyway. The fact that AT&T and Verizon still dominate the industry and that both used to be the same 40 years ago really isn’t much of a surprise. I’m generally a fan of deregulation, but the phone situation shows that breaking up the monopolies really didn’t cause any changes, especially when the real change on the horizon was only something very rich companies could invest in.
- Aloha 4y ago
  Cingular was Joint Venture between BellSouth and Southwestern Bell (SBC). SBC also bought, Pacific Bell, Ameritech and AT&T, when it did, it changes its name to AT&T. Later they bought out BellSouth, and changed its name as well. Cingular grew in phases as they acquired former RBOC's, but once SBC bought out BellSouth, Cingular became AT&T Wireless. The current corporate entity that calls itself AT&T is formerly SBC.

filmgirlcw 4y ago

Yes, but most of the backhaul and network stuff was BellSouth, which became Cingular, which acquired AT&T (which had been bought by SBC) and then the head of Cingular (who had been at AT&T before it was split up) purposefully changed the name to AT&T, even tho Cingular was the acquirer. But all the baby bells were just operating separately in name only in many regards. My mother—in-law worked for AT&T or one of the baby bells her entire career, across multiple states and systems. It was a lot more similar than a lot of people realize. Once wireless became a thing and being regional became much more arbitrary (because a local telephone provider doesn’t matter in the age of nationwide wireless), the re-unification made sense. And aside from MCI and Sprint, neither of which had good histories, or the German-government propped up T-Mobile (American T-Mobile was largely subsidized by Deutsche Telekom in its early years, first launching nationwide as VoiceStream), no one was able to make a go at competing against the bells anyway. The fact that AT&T and Verizon still dominate the industry and that both used to be the same 40 years ago really isn’t much of a surprise. I’m generally a fan of deregulation, but the phone situation shows that breaking up the monopolies really didn’t cause any changes, especially when the real change on the horizon was only something very rich companies could invest in.

Aloha 4y ago
Cingular was Joint Venture between BellSouth and Southwestern Bell (SBC). SBC also bought, Pacific Bell, Ameritech and AT&T, when it did, it changes its name to AT&T. Later they bought out BellSouth, and changed its name as well. Cingular grew in phases as they acquired former RBOC's, but once SBC bought out BellSouth, Cingular became AT&T Wireless. The current corporate entity that calls itself AT&T is formerly SBC.