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Cincinnati Bell The breakup of the Bell System was mandated on January 8, 1982, by an agreed consent decree providing that AT&T Corporation would, as had been initially proposed by AT&T, relinquish control of the Bell Operating Companies that had provided local telephone service in the United States and Canada up until that point.

The Bell System, a.k.a. “ Ma Bell ” or simply “THE telephone company”, was not a "company" but rather an aggregate term for AT&T encompassing 24 Bell operating companies providing local exchange phone service, the AT&T Long Lines Division providing long distance connections, an equipment manufacturing arm known as Western Electric, and a research and development arm known as Bell Laboratories.

The Bell System provided what was by all accounts the best telephone service in the world. Could the year 2004 mark the beginning of a NEW BELL SYSTEM? Charlie Stanley, an AT&T employee who was born in the year the Bell System died, created a hoax web page of what he envisions as a new Bell System. To see his creation, click HERE.