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In the US, wired phones were often leased from the phone company! If you shop for vintage phones from the 1960s, they will often have a decal to that effect. Ex
by lacewing 5mo ago
In the US, wired phones were often leased from the phone company! If you shop for vintage phones from the 1960s, they will often have a decal to that effect. Examples:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/71gAAeSw1URp8QPF/s-l1600.webp https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/71gAAeSw1URp8QPF/s-l1600.webp
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/tPAAAeSw~RxqBiLR/s-l1600.webp https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/tPAAAeSw~RxqBiLR/s-l1600.webp
I think this started to change only in the 1980s and 1990s, thanks to cheaper electronics imported from overseas?
- oceansweep 5mo agoIt was because of anti-monopoly legislation, https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/09/att-breakup-spinoff.asp https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/09/att-breakup-spin... ; i.e. breaking up 'Ma Bell' into the baby bells, and the current oligopoly we have instead in the modern day. An older picture showing how they were broken up and then re-merged: https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurelings/comments/r24ed0/diagram_of_how_the_baby_bell_breakup_and/#lightbox https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurelings/comments/r24ed0/diagram... or https://legalclarity.org/what-happened-to-the-baby-bells-after-atts-breakup/ https://legalclarity.org/what-happened-to-the-baby-bells-aft...
- han1 5mo agoI had no idea people paid by the minute
- tomwheeler 5mo agoYeah, when I was a kid you had to go to the AT&T store to get a phone.