|
|
|
|
Carterphone DecisionA 1968 ruling by the Federal Communications Commission that established the right of telephone company customers to connect their own equipment to the public phone network, if the customer-provided equipment did no harm to the network. The Carterphone itself was a two-way radio transceiver equipped with an acoustic coupler for a standard telephone handset. The earpiece in the handset played into the microphone of the radio and the radio speaker played into the handset's mouthpiece. The Bell System attempted to prohibit use of this device, prompting a complaint that led the FCC to issue the Carterphone decision. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hands down The Caterphone Decision, which opens up the Bell Telephone network to equipment manufactured and approved from other groups besides Bell Telephone. This decision allows devices such as modems to be connected to the telephone network in the 1970's.On June 26th a landmark decision in telecom history as the Carterphone Decision is rendered by the FCC. Under this decision, the FCC struck down existing interstate telephone tariffs prohibiting attachment of connection to the public telephone system of any equipment or device that was not supplied by the telephone companies (Bell System). The suit, which began October 28, 1966 centered on the desire of Carter Electronics of Dallas to interconnect private mobile radio systems with the nationwide exchange and message toll telephone network. The Carterphone Decision created the interconnect industry and allowed manufacturers other than Western Electric to sell their telephone devices to business nationwide. The telephone companies still managed a minor victory by convincing the FCC that Bell System manufactured "interface devices" had to be placed between any non-telephone company equipment and the public telephone system. These interface devices were struck down in 1978 when the FCC determined that any equipment manufactured to FCC regulations could connect to the public network via industry standard network termination devices (RJ11C, RJ21X, etc.) In the mid-1980's the former Bell System companies were successfully sued for the fees paid by customers for these interface devices (which were determined to be unnecessary) during the ten year period from 1968 to 1978.
|
|
Click below for more developments and tutorial articles:
Send mail to
webmaster@infomatek.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
