AT&T Archives: What is the Bell System?

[@brig.4398]

I worked under the old Bell System, MaBell took care of us and we took a lot of pride in our work. I remember one office that employees would polish the brass railing outside the door. You took pride in your work and when someone asked me where do you work I was proud to say I work for MaBell.

[@phukew2]

One might say that Ma Bell got fucked by Uncle Sam giving birth to the baby bells. She should have never been broken up, in my opinion. A regulated monopoly is not a bad thing.

[@J-1410]

@jason9022 At&t is only in part of the US and is a cellphone carrier anymore...It was expensive as they used the long distance to subsidize everything else, the free repairs, the research, the beginning of fiber optic, etc.

[@SteveJones172pilot]

@@phukew2 I agree to a point, but when they were intentioanlly stopping innovation and competition to maintain that monopoly, thats when things go bad. Remember, it used to be ILLEGAL to connect your own phone, and they were all hardwired.. Competition is great..

[@calbob750]

You’ll remember this “No job is so important and no service so urgent that we cannot take time to do our work safely” Bell System

[@rybaluc]

@@phukew2 In my country regulated monopoly did also lot of bad things. From very expensive phone calls to non-existent flat rate for internet connection. It basically stopped internet evolution. You can still feel issues caused by it after liberalization. You want service from someone else? No dice guy. We are monopoly.

[@classicgarage9548]

The music for lightwave and long lines is by Brian Bennett. Kpm music library 1161 Industry (1975)

[@mikelevenson7271]

I am one of the last of the old bell system employees. Now i work for verizon... started in 77 and have seen alot in the last 46 yrs...

[@americanspirit8932]

I started working for Western Electric in February of 1963, I was forced to retire early due to an injury I had while working, already experienced several surgeries, but my second to last surgery, but I could no longer work. I went on disability, and I can tell you? AT&T that's what I retired when I called AT&T, took care of me 100% above and beyond the Call of Duty, I needed an electric bed they purchased that, I eventually needed an electric wheelchair they purchased that, they paid all my medical expenses, I was forced to leave New York and move to Florida for a warmer climate, to help me with my back problems, my body was twisted and I was researching and seeing other specialists. I lived in the Tampa Bay area, at the time and one neurosurgeon that I consulted with said to me what you require, most doctors that you already visited including myself are not even qualified. He suggested a visit Shands Hospital in Gainesville Florida, they told me what you required to take anywhere from 15 to 25 hours, it took 18 and a half hours, and after the longest spine surgery ever in the United States at that time, I had a real bad Staffing infection required an additional five and a half hours of surgery approximately 13 14 days later. Needless to say my medical expenses were through the roof, AT&T picked up every single penny, I could not even be moved from my home to the hospital for checkups they provided me with a private, c35 Learjet, had to paramedics on board aside from the crew. I required private duty nursing while in the hospital, even if there was discharge I had private duty nurse at home for approximately 1 year, started rehab and physical therapy, for approximately 7 years. They covered all my expenses 100%. I don't believe any other company would have taken care of their employees as much as they took care of me. They credit me with a total of approximately 35 36 years service. With full benefits, today is September 20th 2022. I still require High dosages of pain medication every single day, and I've been on that since that surgery that was in , January 1991. Today I still struggle with severe back pain. I had a total of five spine surgeries. In my opinion breaking up the Bell System in 1984 was a major mistake. Even though it was considered a monopoly, it employed millions of people, throughout the country. And yes we will all proud to say that we work for, m a bell.

[@johnjaco5544]

Worked there 40 years,great company,great people.

[@bretthibbs6083]

I remember back when I was a little kid I think around 5 or 6 maybe a telephone guy was working on a phone line in my neighborhood and it was of course bell telephone company I think it was northwestern or northern bell back in the late 70's maybe 1980 and the guy I was talking to was super nice and patient with me cause I was asking so many questions lol anyways that's the way it used to be back in the day and I always thought I would work for the bell system but life got in the way and I moved so many times when I was growing up that I never really thought about it again until the last few years when I started watching these videos and I want to say that for me to remember that interaction with a bell employee from over 43 years ago is amazing and in fact just seeing the van again in the video brought back that memory and I remember asking him about telephone line that was strung up on the pole and he had a section that he showed me.

[@TheFoodieCutie]

I'm almost 40 and I had never until recently learned about Ma Bell. It truly is awe inspiring how massive this company was before it was broken up. The history of Ma Bell probably should have been taught in school in some way considering since it was the biggest company on planet earth.

[@Janotes]

I was 16 when they broke up Bell back on Jan 1 1984.. it was an obsession, hobby and I wished to get into the business. It never happened for me but the interest And memories are still with me almost 39 years later.

[@MrNurserob]

My mom and aunt worked for New England Telephone in the Bell System for years. So many people now think IBM or Google were the first big innovators… no way. The Bell System and Western Electric were literally a lifetime ahead of them.

[@martyjackson4166]

Bell and RCA were two of the big innovators for much of the 20th century

[@pembrokejones3969]

They invented the transistor and UNIX, the underlying OS of Mac, Linux and Windows !

[@RandomNonsense1985]

🎶We’re the one for you New England, New England Telephone🎶

[@SeymourButts-yg3gy]

@@pembrokejones3969Not Windows. Modern Windows is based on Windows NT, which took inspiration from another operating system called OpenVMS.

[@dennismartin4659]

All of the wires and switching/power equipment a single call passes through still amazes me. We have a 60 year old Western Electric rotary phone hooked to our VOIP Spectrum modem and my teenage daughters love hearing the ring and enjoy making calls from that phone more than their iPhones. Who would have guessed?!

[@friesareyummy]

I mean it's fancy. I would love to have one of those myself tbh

[@imark7777777]

I hate to break it to you..... I think your daughter might be a geek? It's either that or the old Timey nostalgia thing that's going on right now with records / cassettes. Says the person with a rotary dial car phone.

[@hariranormal5584]

man, people have linked modern phone systems to old af 1960 exchanges and made it work. It's just so amazing how you can unite Voice communication even if they are decades apart. It seriously is a art on it's own

[@AnthonyGoodley]

I have an old Rotary dial phone from about the 70's I found in a dumpster and kept. If I had a phone line ran into my house would that old Rotary dial phone still work over the Modern telephone system?

[@hariranormal5584]

@@AnthonyGoodley Pretty sure no, usually the "older ones", the carrier would have to pulse AC voltage whenever the call is coming, etc. Much of this is changed now as even if the cable is still the same "telephone wire" it doesn't carry all this voltage nowadays. It just won't be enough to actually ring any old equipment or etc.

[@tech860]

I'm 17 years with Illinois Bell (yes, my paycheck still says that!) If you listen closely, you can hear even in 1976, how this video is trying to speak to the issues of threatened Justice Department de-regulation of the Ma Bell.

[@josephgeis6641]

My Dad hated the split, He went with ATT got screwed.

[@charlestravis9798]

I worked 35 years for Bell, from near 1968 the breakup from AT&T to reconciliation back to AT&T in 2005.

[@badcompany-w6s]

I remember those trucks and vans looking like this. I miss the look.

[@HistoryInHighDefinition]

I was born in the late 80s in the UK, but I have a strong sense of nostalgia for the America of this time. The nation was really on the up!

[@seana806]

I was born in the late 90’s but seem to have the same nostalgia for this time period (mid 1950’s to the 1980’s) as well. Probably something to do with the craftsmanship, engineering etc. since a lot of stuff was beginning to be outsourced in the 1990’s and hasn’t been the same since then.

[@TacoCrisma]

Man listening to him talk about fiber in 2023 is wild. It’s the backbone of US telco, international telco, and the internet itself. I worked for a major ISP, it was the best job I’ve ever had. My career has been in telco since my 20s - unfortunately it’s not as glamorous anymore and very dog eat dog since the 95 telco act, but it’s still something I am very proud to call a career.

[@motelchanel]

Right?! Sprint has a similar documentary and it’s really cool to hear them explain it.

[@kirbyyasha]

Wow, reading the comments, people taking pride in their job, people happy to work at MaBell, I wish I had that experience when I worked at Comcast for 10 years in the field as an installer and inside as a support tech behind the scenes. Nobody took pride in anything. Ended up quitting since I went somewhere else because the work environment was toxic.

[@digitalrailroader]

unfortunately, just about every industry has been infected with corporate greed; they want to squeeze every dime they can out of their customer base with as little effort on their part as possible, and Comcast is a Grade A PRIME example of that since it has had the worst customer service for well over half a decade.

[@nintendo9231889]

dirty secret of silicon valley, hiring cheap foreign labor. New era slavery.

[@GeorgeLiquor]

People had pride in their work then. People today don't want to do shit and expect their asses kissed for showing up. Work ethic sucks today. Helicopter moms kinda fucked it up for everyone

[@supernova1969a]

They worked hard to advance the technology...amazing actually. Voice recognition...etc...

[@williamcavolt203]

When Bell system came apart so did all of it !

[@bretwashere]

I work in the telephony industry and find these videos fascinating!

[@EricCox4848]

I had a grandmother who was a telephone operator before she took a job with the Dallas Times-Herald. And I have a brother who works for AT&T working on the mainlines, but mostly relating to TV and internet. Back in Texas after the bell system broke up, Southwestern Bell was all we had. And we had AT&T ads all through the '90s, ads for MCI, and let's not forget 1-800-COLLECT.

[@whiskeyify]

The guy standing on the ladder is working on the main frame connecting some wires, and then there's the switch room and outside people.Lucky me I got to do all those jobs, i worked in 7 different dept. with MaBell. It was a very strict work place but MaBell took good care of it's employees and I liked working there.

[@danielmaher9512]

Back in the days when there was responsibility for the workers, via the Unions.

[@UWU-ol4ob]

I just recently look at my home phone, it has the name attached to the wired cable box and also it was made back in 1986. I am still impressed from this modern day. that phone did a great job, I appreciate you all doing such a hard work. proud to support you. great job!

[@thomaschristopher8593]

phones were built with a 40-year life expectancy.

[@DJJunkfoodJay]

Moral of the story? Appreciate your goddamn phone man and the service he provides!

[@flipperbear9]

That phone man ripped me off charging me for wireless service I never use even though I cancelled.

[@davesaunders3334]

Our phone man interfered with children. How can you defend that?

[@smorris281]

I can still remember seeing the Bell Atlantic trucks when I was a kid in the 90's. Its a shame Verizon is a shell of what was a great company like that. I know a woman who is 85, she worked for Bell Labs in the early 70's, then in 78, became one of the first ever telephone repair women at New York Telephone. She said she got her fair share of looks from the other installers. They never saw a woman installing equipment and climbing poles before.

[@geraldgeorge3924]

Spent 30 years there in Michigan, started out in pre wire then residential and then pbx installer. Best place I ever worked.

[@lukeonuke]

im hooked on theese videos, one after a days work is amazing

[@Aranimda]

In Dutch, the word for making a phone call is still "Bellen" ("To Bell"), which is a reference to the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell. (Founder of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company)

[@Kowabrass]

Several people from different countries were involved in the invention of the telephone. Bell was then the first one able to elevate it from the laboratory stage, finally giving it a practical use. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_telephone . The name giver for the device itself was Philipp Reis, for instance.

[@TheLordOfNothing]

T-Mobile is the odd one out of the big three. Verizon is descended from Atlantic Bell which was an AT&T baby bell. AT&T went through several different incarnations after the break up.

[@chickenvasquez78]

My great grandma worked for Pacific Bell before. Such interesting and amazing story from the past. :)

[@whiskeyify]

That's the way the outside guys were, I worked in construction dept. for awhile helping splicing techs. They all had a strong work spirit and I miss those old days at MaBell.

[@TheOldnic]

Love the beginning of this film and the music score with it (out of date by ten years for the year the film was made and similar to Klaus the Forklift driver) ...and... Off to work goes Hugh Morse...

[@williamjones4483]

The title is misleading. It should say the "who is the Bell System", not the "what". The "who is the Bell System" is the millions of people that we will never hear about, the countless engineers, designers, draftsmen and people that worked on the assembly lines putting the equipment together and testing it. At its peak, Western Electric's Hawthorne Works near Chicago employed upwards of 45,000 people!

[@micmac99]

We need to make things in this country again, and do it with OUR workers. Paying living wages. If the tax rates for corporations were raised to what they were in the 50s and 60s, there would be more incentive to shift profits to worker wages rather than CEO salaries. Our economy would be great again.

[@luisreyes1963]

It's nice to dream, isn't it? 😟

[@martyjoseph9507]

Raising taxes forced the companies to go overseas

[@68lincoln]

Yes I agree. I've studied the Bell System for many years and it was the best and most dependable telephone system in the world. Ole Judge Green would not compromise with Bell and broke them up. And for what? Many people in the industry feel that he did it to gain fame as the judge that broke up Ma Bell. I could curse that son of a ***** but he's dead now anyway and the damage he did to Bell in 1984 cannot be turned around.

[@ryanfraley7113]

The Bell System would have faced increased competition from mobile like they would have in long distance. Ironically Verizon’s HQ is the old AT&T HQ in Basking Ridge. Also Charlie Brown (AT&T Chairman) wanted out of the consent decree so he could compete in the computer space. Sadly AT&T parted ways with Western Electric and Bell Labs when it was spun off to become Lucent. That’s when AT&T Corp really screwed up.

[@ikonix360]

Had ma bell not been broken up they might have been at the forefront of cellphones and other innovations.

[@HoustonHistoricRetail]

Holy Moley that building at 6:38 still stands today literally less than 50 yards from my house. I had no idea it was that old!

[@visionist7]

I don't see a building at 6:38 lmao

[@adamjhuber]

Did you mean 8:36?

[@HoustonHistoricRetail]

@@adamjhuber Correct, good ole' Dyscalculia at it again! Interestingly since that comment was left, the bell logo has been removed from the building, and the microwave tower on the top was removed too. Most of the operator parking is now apartments!

[@7133763133]

I know where to visit you now haha is the regal movie theater in that area still open?

[@joeman80128]

Man I wish it was back to this day.

[@watershed44]

Same here, and not just AT&T and the Bell System. But lots of things.... professionalism, pride in workmanship, and customer service are little more than "buzz words" today in the USA.

[@TenderTums]

When it cost 25 cents a minute to call someone from another state?

[@J-1410]

@@TenderTums At least it worked though, and was on the cutting edge instead of broke and barely working. The long distance kept the prices down for everything else

[@luisreyes1963]

I fear they would have a stranglehold on the Internet just like Comcast these days.

[@J-1410]

Kinda wonder where we would be today if they weren't broken up(going by how they were touting fiber optic cable in 1976)

[@visionist7]

They would have introduced 5G before South Korea

[@TheyRiseBand]

They had DSL in the 80s and sat on it.

[@SteveJones172pilot]

We'd still be using princess phones with cords, which are hardwired to the kitchen wall.. :-)

[@J-1410]

@@SteveJones172pilot but they would work though, unlike today's garbage networks, probably fiber to every home too. Also our phones in North Western had the modular jack or a very long cord from the wall

[@SteveJones172pilot]

@@J-1410 Agreed - They would work, and yes, eventually modular jacks became a thing, and dont get me wrong, I'm saying this as a former Bell Atlantic (post divestiture) employee, but I remember it was "revolutionary" to have a phone center store with a mickey mouse phone, and I remember my dad telling me not to tell anyone that he had hooked up our 300 baud modem without calling a tech to the house because it was against the law! There's no reason, other than complacency with the monopoly for advancement to be stifled like that. What the bell system accomplished was nothing short of amazing, and I'm sentimental for those days, but I'm glad we have more choices today! One thing you say does hit home though - We likely would have a requirement to provide broadband to all homes, regardless of cost..

[@trishajackson9678]

Those old long lines towers are cool we drive around now and you dont see too much of them anymore

[@nyxcin1]

Stephen Colbert did a funny bit about AT&T in 2009 on Comedy Central. Very funny and accurate.

[@2livelikeyou]

Lol "you can call us tinkerbell so as long as we do our job". I was born too late.

[@timothyrosman6371]

Love being a part of the telecom industry. MetroPCS, T-Mobile, Verizon and Crown Castle. Always have a lot of respect for the Cowboys of the 70s and 80s when I first got my start.

[@Aranimda]

I like the new Bell logo on the vans. It's so...Contemporary. Crisp. Coordinated. Unified. Consistent. Up-to-date.

[@luisreyes1963]

It's AT&T, actually.

[@68lincoln]

Well said! I agree with you. I was born in 1959 and was always interested in the Bell System and Western Electric. There is a great 1984 book, now out of print, that you might be able to find titled The Rape of Ma Bell The Criminal Wrecking of The Best Telephone System in The World. It explains how Bell System worked and how the US Justice Department broke it up. It was a sad day in 1984 when Bell was broken in pieces.

[@danfarley1317]

Check Ebay or Amazon for books about the Bell System especially The Rape Of Ma Bell. A great book that is called Manufacturing The Future The History Of the Bell System and Western Electric

[@AaronSmith-kr5yf]

6:30ish, they are talking about fiber optic lines. That is NUTS that the concept for that technology is that old and it took them another 40 years before they implemented it into my house. I'm thinking it was around 2016, maybe 2018 or 2019 when AT&T retired their copper lines in my neighborhood. They had to run a new line from the pole to the house, then drill a new hole thru the wall and install a new modem.

[@MikesSoftLemonade]

If I’m not mistaken, decades ago they misappropriated a bunch of government funding to roll fiber out to more places.

[@voipportland6911]

This was back when the 'phone company' was actually about providing people with service. The norm nowadays is just marketing hype and smokescreens from the local telco. No real service - just huge advertising that convinces people they care (they don't). Getting a real, qualified technician to come out to your home or office takes hours of complaining, waiting on hold, threatening, and then calling another 10x times. Gone are the days of real service and innovation from the local telcos. There are exceptions of course. There is a small town here in Oregon - Canby - that has one of the finest local telcos in the nation. STILL operates like service matters and 1Gb internet fiber to your home or office installed for $99.00. Take that Century Link or insert another conglomerate name here _______________

[@chipethecat]

AT&T does't care about wireline anymore a lot of the US will be stuck on DSL for forever. Like at my House they will only offer me 6mpbs forever.

[@RovingRoy]

VOIP Portland People had to pay an arm and a leg for long distance service back then. Now, we can call anywhere in the USA for one flat rate per month on our cell/landline phones. We can pay for our Starbucks coffee using our phones and look up directions on our phones and can text each other, send photos and emails via phone. It just depends on what company you get served by as to whether it's bad phone service or not. Things are much better communication wise now than then.

[@sillygoose635]

Oh dear, get over it.

[@J-1410]

@@RovingRoy you're paying an arm and leg now for basically the same service and no customer service

[@ikonix360]

Most nowadays when your POTS line fails will make up some excuse about why they won't fix it and force you to get wireless or VOIP. VOIP is a joke. Have it where I work and it sounds worse than a POTS phone.

[@tomsayen9295]

Yes, they were a regulated monopoly but they had high standards and incredible innovation. In the 1920s they invented the loudspeaker which made radio for the masses possible. In 1926 they used their extensive long distance network to connect hundreds of radio stations for the first radio 'network'. In 1954 AT&T constructed a nationwide microwave network to make possible coast to coast live color television. They had a version of cellular telephones in the early 1950s. The entire country then the world was connected by long distance telephone by the 1960s. AT&T tested and delivered Direct Distance Dialing in pilot markets in 1951 then rolled out DDD nationwide in 1962. Bell Labs developed and launched Telstar, the first communications satellite, in 1962 which paved the way for communications to now travel by satellite which includes Sirius, XM, DirecTV, Dish, the nationwide TV networks. Western Electric built home and business phones that would last a lifetime. But in 1984 the time had come to end regulated monopolies. The competitors took advantage of all the innovations AT&T and its members brought forward. The good thing is that the consumer has many choices but the prices for communications packages like wireless, satellite TV, cable TV, Internet, remain high.

[@westelaudio943]

Nope the loudspeaker was invented by Siemens in 1878.

[@williamjones4483]

@@westelaudio943 Alexander Graham Bell patented his first electric loudspeaker in 1876. Ernst Siemens made improvements to that device the following year.

[@westelaudio943]

@@williamjones4483 True, electromagnetic transducers as part of telephones were already made earlier. But Siemens designed the cone loudspeaker driver as we now know it.

[@privatedeletebuttongooglei5221]

My high school boyfriend and his father worked for tulsa MA bell.

[@MrJacMac1968]

I think i remember seeing this on PBS instructional daytime TV back in 1976 when I was 8.Think I was home sick one day or maybe it was a day off because of a teacher planning day

[@26TptCoy]

I worked for Telecom Australia in the 1980's and it was great work. Cables jointed from 2 wire to 6000 pair. Install, faults and breakdowns. Did everything from pit and pipe, cable haul and cable joint, even supervisor. It was a fantastic time which sadly saw demise in the 1990's.

[@johneastmond9092]

In infrastructure you mostly don't want people to think about you. Only if there's a problem or the customer reaches the limit of your system should they think of you. And when they do, you want them to see and appreciate a whole other system ready to act to solve the problem deftly and completely. A problem only serves to instill confidence in your organisation!

[@l2p]

great soundtrack

[@headley62]

Thanks to NFL Films.

[@NickintheATL]

@@headley62 No, thanks to the KPM Production Music Library... which NFL FIlms used in addition to their own compositions.

[@RJSchex]

Does anyone know what make/model of computer terminal is shown at 10:29 ? It has a distinctive 7x9 character matrix.

[@jrocco36]

From the side it looks like a IBM 3270 terminal.. those things weighed a ton. See: www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/zosbasics/com.ibm.zos.znetwork/znetwork_261.htm

[@Matt-bg6kf]

“Hold on a moment and I’ll get your records” ... but for real

[@aquatrax123]

If the designers of the bell system only knew that in the future the fiber would be used by scammers to deliver over 240,000 extended car warranty call per fiber cable they might rethink their life choices.

[@nlpnt]

Look at all those Ford and Chevy vans. I can only remember the white-and-corpse-green ones being Dodges.

[@robertcuminale1212]

In 1969 I was driving a 1965 Ford Econoline Van with a three speed manual transmission in OD Green. Even the inside of the work centers had two tone green walls. All of our equipment was OD green too. That all changed in 1969. New colors and they retired the old logo. I once used a razor blade to make the logos on the truck doors say, " Southern Bell A fart of the nationwide Bell System.

[@nznsi]

4:17 - 3 Bell scientists got the noBELL prize for it. Boom, still got it.

[@XBKLYN]

I'm from a MaBell family and my 2 dogs are nicknamed Tip and Ring. It's in the blood.

[@gavinbarrett-hayes]

Where’s sleeve? Lmao

[@Janotes]

How about " Battery and Ground "

[@MrJacMac1968]

I remember network TV had a muffled audio when it used to be tranmittted by BELL lines to local affliates

[@jaworskij]

But most of the programming on those few channels was so much better. I used to watch LIVE sporting events on the weekend via ABC Wide World of Sports and CBC Sportsweekend in the 70s. At some point I stopped watching, not because they were transmitted by satellite instead of microwave, but that there was an increased commercialism present in the broadcast. When it came to broadcasting cop dramas on 16mm film and stuff like that on the network, it didnt matter, beause 16mm film back then was not comparable to digital sound we have now.

[@WillPhoneman]

Agreed! I was born a year after they killed "Ma Bell", and I wish I could have seen this marvelous system in it's glory days.

[@jonwizard3989]

Good documentary...!

[@xxmlhedxx]

wish i coulda been a part of the old school phone days.. being 27 and a phone man now days its a tough business and no where close to what it used to be.. as all the old timers tell me about.. :(

[@jangho9]

I feel you. Im in the same boat :=/

[@Nilsog]

Imagine where we would be today with Bell Labs still at full strength. I think the Justice Department did the American Public a grave disservice by breaking up the Bell System.

[@danfarley1317]

Nilsog The Bell System was a very highly organized company! The Justice Department Lawyers we’re clueless about how mechanical systems operated. Bell System was very quick at restoring phone service in a short period of time do to the fact that all the equipment was made by Western Electric and designed by Bell Labs and Bell System Central Offices were all the same and made Service restoration happen quickly. Hurricane Sandy in 2012 took local phone service in many areas out of service and service restoration happened very slowly. In the days of old local phone service was restored by Bell System workers from all over the USA do to the fact that all of the equipment was made by Western Electric. The Department of Justice never caught on to the fact that radar came from the British and Bell Labs made many enhancements which helped the US win World War 2.

[@brycmtthw]

No on single company should EVER control an industry. If the Bell System was still in place, you’d only have landlines and astronomical long distance rates.

[@richardhz-oi8px]

@@brycmtthw Wrong, they invented cellular service, digital switching, and almost the entire backbone of what we have today, everything is just small incremental improvements on Bell inventions.

[@brycmtthw]

richard3700hz ok, so we’d still have AMPS and pay astronomical rates for service. AT&T became highly complacent. Did you ever watch the story of WHY they broke them up? It may enlighten you, but I highly doubt that. Monopolies are bad for the consumer, no ifs ands or buts.

[@tonytins]

@@brycmtthw Actually, there are cases that warrant a monopoly if the high infrastructural costs outweigh the size of the market. This usually leads to them becoming public utility.

[@marcfield1234]

"Ma Bell " right along with land lines in general are dead and gone and I am still impressed. All we can do now is to look back with fond memories.

[@wysoft]

Land lines may not be all that common any longer, but a staggering amount of our communications infrastructure still depends on technologies developed and implemented by AT&T/Bell and their subsidiaries. Fiberoptic, cellular, the Unix operating system and its later derivatives, even the first fully 32-bit microprocessor - all developed or significantly improved at Bell Labs. Most of the North American communications backbone still carries through former Bell System long lines installations, many of which were built to withstand a nuclear blast and are therefore still very useful.

[@RandomNonsense1985]

I never realized fiber optic lines dated back to the 70s. I just assumed they were a late 80s/early 90s invention.

[@TheLordOfNothing]

Does anybody know who the person is featured in here as the narrator?

[@AdamFrugoli]

Hey, we’re a monopoly! But, we’re a good one!!😂

[@tomaxxamot2016]

Love those days I am a repairmannow we do fiber work I hardly ever go to a C.O. anymore

[@mck974]

3 times a day!... to use the head lol

[@PilotVBall]

When they were regulated, we were all customers of our local Bell company. Post deregulation, we have all become customers of the parent company, AT&T. The local Bell company has disappeared. Now, we are all customers of an unregulated monopoly.

[@ikonix360]

Yup AT&T has been slowly becoming a monopoly again and unregulated at that.

[@edwardpate6128]

The Bell System was pretty awesome and provided a level of service undreamed of today.

[@ryanfraley7113]

Our current landline data providers suck, sadly.

[@Comptekhs]

If you unhappy about service now you talk to an automated computer you will never reach a real person. How have things changed over the years has gone backwards instead of forwards in help support.

[@Genrebenders]

Comptekhs everything is amount money and not advancing technology or communication. Everyone is just a number. Back then it was so much better :(

[@JamesHalfHorse]

I wonder if anyone developing fiber back then knew how it would change... well everything? This was made a few years before I was born but remember before the breakup. I must admit I am impressed by the quality of the old Bell systems even if Ma Bell was a bad word sometimes. The old Wester Electric phones were near impossible to destroy bricks. These days the local telco.. I shouldn't say local they are one of the bigger guys is losing customers in droves around here and at this point I am more than happy to move them to another provider now that I can pull in internet from other sources and replace the co lines with voip but that in it self can bring problems.. When I moved here I could call the local CO talk to someone I knew and get things fixed in a few minutes. Now there are no local CO guys and the remaining techs have to call in to make changes instead of having the access or liberty to fix things they once did. It's a mess that takes hours or days to sort out simple problems and thats with the local guys cell numbers most people don't have.

[@nccrawford]

They had to survive @ 5:32 if you remember every dealing with ma bell or AT&T in the 80's... LOL I remember renting the home phone, then I remember buying my first Motorola Classic in 1988 or 1989 for a little over $3,000 US dollars from Southwestern Bell (I think by 1991 I had an Ultra Classic). With my travel schedule back then, $1000 monthly bills weren't unusual...

[@roachtoasties]

When I was a kid I thought the Bell System is the Bell System because there are bells inside of each telephone. If I opened up a telephone and disconnected the wire to the bell, then you're no longer part of the Bell System.

[@williamschultz8470]

What a great company I wish that I started my career when I was younger with AT&t

[@takuminightcore1886]

It’s amazing how it took 40 years towards finally getting started on sending fiber to the home

[@TheBeteljuice]

Yes, three bell scientists got the nobel prize for it, but only two of them actually did the research, experimentation, and work. One guy (The guy in the middle, their boss) was just pissed off he couldn't do it alone, and insinuated himself into the accomplishment, ruining his reputation in silicon valley!

[@dickJohnsonpeter]

Sort of. They made a working Transistor first. But then he made a different kind of transistor. Then he moved to Palo Alto and started a transistor company (starting Silicon Valley ) and 8 of his employees left and made a microprocessor company.

[@misterwhipple2870]

That Chevy van does not have power steering . . . I know. I worked there 28 years.

[@Scott_From_Maine]

25 cents a minute wasn't cheap. An hour and change of long distance would have equalled the $15-20 that basic service cost.

[@williamcavolt203]

When I worked in Phoenix , Arizona back in the day the company i work for use to deliver line orders from main CO exchange office to others ...hand delivered orders ..no digital there !!

[@NorthernPhonePhan]

it the big bell still on the building?

[@Comptekhs]

None of the phones manufactured today are built this well now it is just plastic Junk. I think the last well made phones were in the 80s used to have some 80s ATT models.

[@donl1410]

Agreed. Everything went electronic so the feel of a 500 desk set was so wimpy they had to add a weight inside!

[@ryanfraley7113]

@@donl1410 The only exception in my view is the iPhone which ironically was launched by Apple in cooperation with AT&T.

[@hubzcaps]

I sure do like those longlines horns man there huge...wish i understood multiplexing and microwave systems of this age

[@rustynail6819]

A "regulated" monopoly is still a monopoly and they had to be broken up. When they broke up long distance prices dropped almost in half and you were able to buy phones from a "phone store" and not lease them from Bell. Bell was a good company and if you got a job with them you were their until you retired and that's something that almost never happens anymore.

[@ikonix360]

I would have much rather had a phone from bell. Why, quality made, nearly indestructible and if it breaks (highly unlikely it will) its on their dime to fix it.

[@VectraQS]

@@ikonix360 I recently started collecting some old phones to use. I am highly impressed by how dead simple and durable they are. One of them was first made in 1965, refurbished in 1980, and sold in 1984; who knows how long it was in active use after that before I got it?

[@CoreyThompson73]

I don't know if the AT&T Tech Channel monitors these comments, but where would this film typically been viewed in 1976? It would have been before home video, before community access television was commonly available... I imagine 16mm copies went to public libraries? Did speakers from the "Speaker's Bureau" (I remember the phone book always had mention of that) travel with these?

[@NickintheATL]

I would hazard a guess that this was transferred via a telecine onto a 3/4" U-Matic tape and that was what was transferred for this video.

[@thetreblerebel]

Today in 2021 telephone is now voice over digital communicated together by satellites broadband internet and other telecommunication wireless devices which would be science fiction in this video's time signs back in 2021 she's only maybe 30 or 40 years difference it's pretty amazing how fast we advance

[@josephgeis6641]

My dad work at the Bell System, They made the Internet.

[@calif1mc]

How things were when I started Kindergarten, the awesome year of 76!

[@steveseverin7543]

Me too lol

[@sutherlandA1]

Was it true that you couldn't use your own type of phone without sending it to Wester Electric to modify it for use then got charged to lease your own phone? In Australia we had the government owned telecommunications monopoly called Telecom/Telstra which got privatised in the 2000s but got its first competitor in 1992

[@Janotes]

Prior to 1984 you weren't supposed to connect a Non- Bell System telephone to their network. After Divestiture, Bell had to allow other Subscriber equipment to be connected. Western Electric phones Were one of the best and literally did Last a lifetime.

[@calbob750]

Famous historical sign in every Bell Telco garage and CO. “No job is so important and no service so urgent we cannot take time to do our work safely”. Bell System

[@mck974]

@Frank Ruiz not sure where you are...but I've never seen that before. Not in my 24 year career.

[@NoObligationToday]

@@mck974 Not sure where you worked… but Pacific Bell had that plastered in all job locations for the outside techs. I worked there from 1979 to 2015.

[@MissterX]

If they were (as the host of the film said) a "regulated government monopoly", WHY were they broken up eventually? What did the government all of the sudden not like about their practices or how did their practices change, causing the government to break them up?

[@jsteiger2228]

12:47 - The most 70s scene I've seen all year

[@visionist7]

She's calling her niece to tell her about that swell lookin' Star Wars movie coming out next summer

[@garygatling6830]

Does anyone know what the name of the music is at the beginning and end of this film is called?

[@kirbyyasha]

I wish I knew, it's great, these old Bell Systems videos had some very catchy music in it.

[@macdaddybill]

Gary it sounds like stock production music from back in the day which was specially made for film and tv. It was produced by Vibrant Film in Minneapolis, but looks like they do weddings now. You could try and contact them.

[@robert810c]

The song at the beginning is called Rock Breaker by John Scott. I am not sure about the one at the end.

[@kirbyyasha]

@@robert810c You are the best. That is one down! Now if I could just get that one at the end.

[@bendingspring]

kirbyyasha Hi, you’ve probably got it by now but if not it’s “leader of the pack” by John fiddy

[@adamshirley533]

Judge Greene set telecommunications back 25 years.

[@Kitsaper]

10:32 Francis sure did well for himself over the years... going from this home in NJ worth about 225K today to now a home in GA worth over 3 million. Guess I should have worked for the phone company.

[@rayfridley6649]

The Bell System was not the only system. The impression is given that Bell is the only phone company. But that is not true. There was also General Telephone, United Telephone, Continental Telephone and many smaller local and regional independent phone companies. Furthermore, Western Electric was not the only manufacturer of telephone gear. The rotary dial system for instance, didn't originate with Western. It was pioneered by Automatic Electric Company.

[@robertcuminale1212]

When I was in the Navy the Step By Step switches were called Strowger Switches after Almon Strowger who invented it. He was an undertaker and suspected that operators were sending his business elsewhere so he wanted the customer to control the call.

[@pcross84]

Ray Fridley Yep, and sadly one of the BEST manufacturers is now gone. RIP Northern Telecom (Nortel Networks)

[@ichthyander.]

Fascinating

[@tammieknuth6020]

Just took a peek. Tickled pink. I'm happy. Especially since raining

[@watershed44]

@Civsuccess: The modern version of AT&T is a far worse company than the old Bell System ever was. During the old Bell System years our telecommunications infrastructure was the envy of the world. It was heavily regulated by our gov't. But the innovations, quality, professionalism, and customer service really was very good. Sure you paid a bit more, but you received great service. Not so today. The AT&T today is a literally joke especially if you are a customer.

[@calif1mc]

Amen to that!

[@RovingRoy]

watershed44 When they broke up this "glorious" monopoly, the long distance rates began to get a lot cheaper.

[@calif1mc]

RovingRoy True, but customer service has been going downhill ever since. I'd take the old AT&T over the new one any day, the one I (I'm 43), my parents (they're both 80), their parents, and their parent's parents grew up with. Was it perfect? No way, but it was at least a regulated monopoly, now when AT&T is told what to do they cry and whine about how jobs will be lost and innovation will die. I'm just plain disgusted with the new, greedy AT&T. There just isn't the dedication anymore. The old AT&T Longlines had a saying, "Communication is the foundation of Democracy", where'd THAT go?

[@penryngaming5155]

watershed44 It's when the government broke up the airline route monopolies. Yea, service got a lot cheaper, but customer service went out the window.

[@watershed44]

Penryn Gaming That's the thing quality service costs money. Originally traveling by plane was a privilege, not a right.

[@staringcorgi6475]

It’s crazy how big southwest was to buy atat

[@stevewilson4553]

Michigan bell, Chicago bell, Atlanta bell And great host did court battle with A T &T toe to toe and guess who won. 7/13 /2020 .🌍🌍🌍🎆🎇

[@visionofwellboyofficial]

Illinois Bell Michigan Bell Bell of Pennsylvania

[@klfjoat]

United States v. AT&T was filed in 1974, 2 years before this video. That's why it keeps talking about "freedom" and "responsibility" at the end. 😂 It didn't work, they lost the case in 1982 and were broken up in 1984.

[@dan2kxyz]

Great video. Thanks for posting this.

[@77trashman]

Yup, that's my father at work.

[@tonytins]

"She expects that [dial tune] to be there everyday." Dial-up has entered the chat.