subject: Brief History of the Telephone [print this page] Eventually switching technology came about which enabled callers to dial a particular number, first with a rotary dial and later a keypad. This was a major advancement because it didn't require operators to connect calls and greater facilitated long distance calls. Over time there was a push to break up the monopoly Bell had set up and in 1984 what had become the AT&T monopoly was broken up because of a federal mandate. What resulted was a number of smaller companies who then, theoretically, would compete in the marketplace and drive down the price of service for consumers. In the past two decades, however, traditional telephone service providers have had to compete with new cellular phone service providers and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) service providers
