[06:37] schestowitz[06:37] schestowitzThe history of the telephone industry is a bit of an odd one. For the greatest part of the 20th century, telephony in the United States was largely a monopoly of AT&T and its many affiliates. This wasn't always the case, though. AT&T held patents on their telephone implementation, but Bell's invention was not the only way to construct a practical telephone. During the late 19th century, telephone compa [06:37] schestowitz nies proliferated, most using variations on the design they felt would fall outside of Ma Bell's patent portfolio. AT&T was aggressive in challenging these operations but not always successful. During this period, it was not at all unusual for a city to have multiple competing telephone companies that were not interconnected.
[06:37] schestowitz
[07:10] schestowitz[07:10] schestowitzLong-time reader Simon sent me a link to this great new site: Create, Dont Scrape: [...]
[07:10] schestowitz