About this episode
This episode discusses the history and impact of the Western Electric 500 phone and AT&T's monopoly over the US phone system.
For years, even decades, virtually everyone in the United States had the same telephone. You didn't even think about it — it was just The Phone. Well, The Phone was called the Western Electric 500, and it was the result of nearly a century of AT&T's monopoly over the US phone system. It was also a really great phone. In this episode of Version History, David Pierce, Nilay Patel, and author and professor Tim Wu explain how AT&T's monopoly grew, how the phone system worked, and how it happened that there was really only one phone in the country. Until the whole system started to fall apart. We’re also on video! Check us out on YouTube. Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
People in this episode
Hosts: David Pierce, Nilay Patel
Guest: Tim Wu
Topics covered
- monopoly
- telephone history
- AT&T
- Western Electric 500
- US phone system
- technology
Keywords
- Western Electric 500
- AT&T
- monopoly
- telephone
- US phone system
- technology history
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: AT&T
Products: Western Electric 500
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