Goodbye Central: Automation and the Decline of 'Personal Service' in the Bell System, 1878-1921

摘要

From the beginning, developments in telephone technology have transformed not only the telecommunications business but American industry in general. Despite its history as a pathbreaker, American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) has not always embraced new technologies hastily. AT&T remained indecisive about automatic switching for nearly thirty years after the first such system was created. Only after meticulous study followed by extensive experimentation and actual field installations did the Bell System install fully automated switching equipment ("dial") during the early 1920s. This article examines the reasons for Bell's uncertainty about automation and its initial reluctance to accept dial.