SBC, AT&T say Bell breakup doesn't work

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You couldn't be further from the truth.

Ask anybody who dealt with the old Ma Bell a lot and they?ll tell you that the breakup worked great, if in customer service quality alone, they could screw you because they knew you had no other choice. The Baby bells still sucked, but not as much as before. It was the breakup of Ma Bell that allowed the much of the technological innovations that followed to be possible.

First of there is the fact that people were no longer restricted to a standard Bell company telephone. You could get any telephone you wanted after the breakup, a whole industry was created making phones that were smaller, looked different, and had more features.

A lot of the innovation that has changed communications in the last decade was set in motion after the bell breakup, many people would argue that the current internet would never have been possible with the restrictions of the stuffy bureaucratic Bell company. Innovation during the Ma Bell years was slow, the technology was there but nobody saw a reason to try to improve without another company passing them up. Then as soon as Bell broke up in '82 all of the technologies that existed before suddenly exploded.

Competition spurs innovation and a more adaptable market, the recombining of the bells isn?t going to create more innovation it?s going to create the same bloat and waste that made people hate Ma Bell in the first place. A prime example is VoIP; people aren?t flocking to it because of better sound quality, they?re doing it because they want to getaway from an oppressive bell to a cheaper competitor with better service.

Where I live we only have access to Qwest, and believe me if there was a competitor I could go to I would jump at it (and I am with some of the local Cable companies). The last thing I want is for a monstrosity like Qwest to larger, it seems with every company the gain the customer service and price goes downhill.

Posted by: Kerensky97   Posted on: 02/22/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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