> In the before times there were phones owned by AT&T attached to landlines in every home and business. Attaching your own phone and repairing the phone company

> In the before times there were phones owned by AT&T attached to landlines in every home and business. Attaching your own phone and repairing the phone company's were not allowed. The difference is, culturally that didn't go too well with people so hating in MaBell was a thing. Enough so that it forced politicians to enforce anti-trust laws and break it up, eliminating all these restrictions. I fear there is no political backbone today to do anything to the monopolists that own the hardware we "buy" from them.