Pick Your Phone - an important choice!
Sep 23, 2022 14:12:38 #
A magazine ad from a bygone era! Not sure what year it is...but WOW! My how times have changed!
Sep 23, 2022 14:14:30 #
Sep 23, 2022 14:15:23 #
Sep 23, 2022 14:28:21 #
When I started with Ohio Bell many years ago, only Directors and above could have card-dial phones. It was a perk of their exalted status.
Sep 23, 2022 20:01:48 #
That was a while ago. Touch tone feature dredges up one of the great "MA Bell" scams. When first popularly introduced (35+ years ago?) the touch tone feature put an additional feature surcharge on your phone bill -- so... turned out that touch tone service was actually cheaper to offer as a service than the analog/dial system it was replacing. One of those times when making additional profit while the customer is unaware (and there is no real competition) reigned supreme.
Sep 24, 2022 09:27:44 #
BArthur3 wrote:
That was a while ago. Touch tone feature dredges up one of the great "MA Bell" scams. When first popularly introduced (35+ years ago?) the touch tone feature put an additional feature surcharge on your phone bill -- so... turned out that touch tone service was actually cheaper to offer as a service than the analog/dial system it was replacing. One of those times when making additional profit while the customer is unaware (and there is no real competition) reigned supreme.
No surprise there. One of the best things the government ever did, was to break up Bell's monopoly back in the early '70's. Once that happened, we saw more communications advancements in 10 years, than Bell provided in the previous 50. Too bad the government seems unwilling to enforce anti-trust laws, now-a-days.
Sep 24, 2022 09:34:03 #
bobbyjohn wrote:
A magazine ad from a bygone era! Not sure what year it is...but WOW! My how times have changed!
Brings back memories. Late 60's or early 70's .
Sep 24, 2022 09:49:59 #
Sep 24, 2022 09:58:24 #
bobbyjohn wrote:
A magazine ad from a bygone era! Not sure what year it is...but WOW! My how times have changed!
How quaint.
We've come a long way from a string and two tin cans to 5G connected super computers!
Sep 24, 2022 10:20:04 #
bamfordr
Loc: Campbell CA
bobbyjohn wrote:
A magazine ad from a bygone era! Not sure what year it is...but WOW! My how times have changed!
But in those days a phone didn’t cost as much as a chair or sofa.
Sep 24, 2022 10:40:55 #
badapple
Loc: Twin Lake, Michigan
I have #4 and #8 plus one not pictured in a drawer in the basement. Yes I’m a pack rat.
Sep 24, 2022 11:29:09 #
BArthur3 wrote:
That was a while ago. Touch tone feature dredges up one of the great "MA Bell" scams. When first popularly introduced (35+ years ago?) the touch tone feature put an additional feature surcharge on your phone bill -- so... turned out that touch tone service was actually cheaper to offer as a service than the analog/dial system it was replacing. One of those times when making additional profit while the customer is unaware (and there is no real competition) reigned supreme.
TEXT MESSAGING SERVICE is another example of customer rip-offs. It uses the LEAST data traffic of any Internet service, yet the telcos charged a premium for it for years (and some still do).
Sep 24, 2022 11:37:49 #
clint f.
Loc: Priest Lake Idaho, Spokane Wa
bamfordr wrote:
But in those days a phone didn’t cost as much as a chair or sofa.
Monthly phone service wasn’t $100.00 per month either.
Sep 25, 2022 22:58:07 #
fourlocks wrote:
One of the best things the government ever did, was to break up Bell's monopoly back in the early '70's.
1983
Sep 25, 2022 23:18:21 #
bamfordr wrote:
But in those days a phone didn’t cost as much as a chair or sofa.
You didn't get a still/video camera, audio recorder, GPS unit, compass, Internet communicator, super computer, and two million applications available to run on it, either. Western Electric Bell System phones were great. But they were ONE TRICK PONIES that sat in one place.
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