The Bell System was a system of companies led by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) that provided telephone services in the United States from 1877 to 1984. The Bell System began as a network of local telephone exchanges connected by long-distance lines owned and operated by AT&T. Over time; it grew into an integrated telecommunications monopoly providing both local and long-distance service in most parts of the country.
At its peak, the Bell System included 22 regional operating companies known as “Baby Bells,” which were divested from AT&T following antitrust action taken against it in 1982. Before its divestiture, AT&T held a virtual monopoly on all telephone communications within the United States through its ownership or control over virtually all components necessary for such communication: equipment manufacturing; engineering; construction; maintenance; operation of switching centers that routed calls between customers’ phones to each other’s phone number anywhere across America with no extra charge beyond basic monthly fees paid for access to their respective networks; billing systems at every level (local exchange carriers [LECs], interexchange carriers [IXCs], etc.).
The breakup resulted not only in competition but also technological innovation among many new entrants into what had been an exclusive market dominated mainly by one player—the previous incarnation of MaBell—and this has helped lead us today towards more advanced technologies such as Voice over IP (VoIP) telephony services like Skype or Google Voice which allow users around the world communicate without any additional cost beyond those associated with Internet access itself. This is just one example of how breaking up monopolies can benefit consumers – something worth considering when looking at current issues surrounding net neutrality laws being debated today!