[mjcl]

And it was an antitrust action that unlocked a lot of that value. The consent decree required Bell Labs to license its patents (e.g. transistors) for reasonable royalties. The same consent decree also forbid AT&T from entering new industries like computing. So after they built UNIX, they sold the source code 'as-is' to universities for $200 ($20k for businesses).

[Aerroon]

You could also say, though, that this is what caused AT&T to be what it is today - disliked by their customers.

[throwaway173738]

Ask anyone who was alive back then and they will tell you stories of how legendarily awful AT&T was to deal with. My father has told me several. The antitrust action made things better for regular people by allowing them to do things like buy their own handsets or haggle over price.

[kjkjadksj]

What telecom today will actually haggle

[nradov]

They won't haggle with consumers, but for large business customers the prices and other terms are absolutely negotiable.

[smcin]

All of them, in regions where they don't have a vertical monopoly. You can negotiate away installation fees and monthly package pricing on DSL, TV, internet phone... also sometimes get a no-contract deal instead of locking in for 24/28 mths with the dreaded ETF which is a large part of Comcast's profitability.

[pixl97]

As the other person said, you must be young.

They are disliked now as much as they were disliked then. Except back then they charged you a hell of a lot for long distance.