What (Was) The Bell System?

On the 1st of the year I wrote about it being the 40th anniversary of the breakup of the Bell System. In that article I gave a broad explanation on what the Bell System actually was, in practice (more than “just phones” which, ironically I barely touched on) and how, vaguely, things went south after over a century of doing business and research, and how I and others feel this event was generally a bad decision in the long run.

I must reiterate here that the Bell System itself, and its breakup, are incredibly deep subjects that I find tricky to properly convey in a concise way. I guess one could say the company strong-armed its way to become a regulated monopoly between the late 19th and early 20th centuries but, following that early phase, coinciding with the advent of automatic telephone exchanges, the Bell System focused on improving the quality and quantity of its service, and not only established global standards but, through Bell Labs, conducted research which revolutionized the world, with many of their technological developments having applications far beyond simple telecommunications.

It’s weird because, yes, their main business was the Telephone, but in a quest to perfect the concept of telecommunications it became something entirely unique and, to many of us, very special.

Let’s take a slight step back, though, to 1976, when the Bell System was still around. While they had regularly produced informational content regarding telephone technology, this particular film focuses on just a broad look at what the Bell System actually was. This being 1976 it comes just a couple of years after the filing of United States v. AT&T, the court case which would eventually result in the Breakup of the Bell System, so I feel it may well have been a piece planned to help sway the opinions of the American people, for what value that may have had in the case, than just a typical updated for the time period kind of film it would otherwise be — the Bell System made more films like this in the past, but they would regularly make new versions to replace old, dated films.

So, if you really wanted to know, in a casual sense, just what the Bell System really was, here’s one hell of a start.

Enjoy.