this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2026
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You didn't own the phone. You had to rent it from Ma Bell, you had no choice.
People are downvoting you, but it's true. At least in some places the telephone was property of the phone company (kind of like cable-tv boxes are now) and you were just renting it. Source: https://www.britannica.com/one-good-fact/what-household-item-was-primarily-rented-rather-than-sold-until-the-80s edit with more info: https://historyfacts.com/science-industry/fact/people-rented-their-phones/
Why?
Capitalism.
As opposed to renting the service, and paying for the cost of the phone as well?
So you agree that humans were not free then, contrary to what the podium in the image claims? Congratulations, we agree.
As opposed to being able to use any phone, in any style or color, you wanted. More importantly though, in practice it also meant that the phone company could control who could make phones.
When my grandma died, she still had the phone that Southwestern Bell had to let her keep when that became not a thing anymore (Shortly after the breakup IIRC). It was beige and looked a lot like the one photo except it had touch tone buttons.