Show Notes Episode 404: Cheap Nightly Rates
This week Host Dave Bledsoe tries to remember his friend’s phone numbers when he NEEDS to make a call, but the jailor won’t give his cell phone and he can’t remember their numbers. (Gavin had to come bail him out, again) On the show this week we report on yet another of the long and bloody wars we fought in the 80’s and 90’s, this time, the brutal Long Distance Wars!
Along the way we learn why Dave never liked to talk on the telephone. (Bitter memories of never having a girlfriend to talk to!) Then we dive right into the creation of the long distance calling plan. Meaning we spend half the show explaining the history of long distance telephone service in the United States. Eventually we get around to telling you about that time in the 90’s when Americans were pitted against one another as they were forced to take sides in the brutal Long Distance Wars. (MCI families versus AT&T families did not speak to each other for nearly a decade!) This was the way of things until finally the 10-10 321 Treaty was signed and peace was restored. (Until cell phones came along and all the sudden we were even MORE divided than before!)
Our Sponsor this week is Phast Eddie’s Phone Cards, when you need to call long distance but don’t want the Feds listening on your number, think Phast Eddies. We open the show with Gieco’s perfect parody of phone plan commercials and close with Djangofire covering Muddy Waters’ long distance choices.
Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense
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Closing Music:https://youtu.be/hAD8qRaStwk
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Citations Needed:
The Science Behind It: Telephones
https://ext.vt.edu/content/dam/ext_vt_edu/topics/4h-youth/makers/files/ww1-science-behind-it-telephones.pdf
1870s – 1940s: Telephone
https://www.elon.edu/u/imagining/time-capsule/150-years/back-1870-1940/
How does a long-distance call work?
https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question354.htm#:~:text=Your%20long%2Ddistance%20carrier%27s%20switches,a%20blink%20of%20an%20eye.
1910 – Long Distance Telephone Rates From New York
https://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2017/06/12/1910-long-distance/
AntiTrust III :: The Break-up of AT&T and the Story of MCI
https://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/att_antitrust.htm
1998 Long Distance Phone Rates Pricing Survey
https://www.consumer-action.org/news/articles/1998_long_distance_phone_rates_pricing_survey
Long-Distance Price War Heats Up With AT&T; Cuts : Telecom: Phone company drops residential rate to 7 cents a minute, 24 hours a day, in bid to secure its dominant position.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-aug-31-fi-5244-story.html
Wikipedia 10-10-321
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-10-321
WAS LONG-DISTANCE CALLING A SCAM?
https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/was-long-distance-calling-a-scam
Uncited Additional Reading:
https://eightiesbaby.net/2020/01/24/landline-week-the-long-distance-and-collect-call-wars/
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/attmci-long-distance-phone-wars-mci-introduces-friends-family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-distance_calling
https://money.cnn.com/1999/09/12/expert/moneytalk/index.htm
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/05/business/all-about-phone-cards-the-latest-front-in-a-long-distance-telephone-war.html
https://www.consumer-action.org/news/articles/1998_long_distance_phone_rates_pricing_survey
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2004/08/05/so-long-to-long-distance/5cd227fb-0235-4900-9d6a-63acf2c25745/
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