 continuing to take place among RBOCs and the long distance companies. Rates for telecommunications services have dropped considerably. The face of the telecommunications marketplace changes regularly and usually not in the way that was anticipated by the regulators, the providers of equipment and services and the cus- tomers. It's often confusing and contradictory, but never dull! Telecommunications Industry History: A Personal Perspective From The Author Many founders of today's telecommunications industry came out of the Bell System and the development of the industry was shaped by their experience. The Bell System was essentially the telecommunications industry in the U.S. for many years. Here's what it was like working for the Bell System from the late 1960's through the mid 1970's. Some people worked in the craft or plant department end of the business and were members of the Communications Workers of America union (CWA). Installers, repairmen, field foremen, inside foremen, linemen; these were the workers on the front lines that were making it all happen. If you opened up a new business and ordered a telephone line and one telephone, the installer would 304 3 The Telecom Handbook CHAPTER 14 show up on the due date, hook up the line, test it and install the telephone. It seemed deceptively simple. The installer usually had the order in his hand, written mostly in cryptic codes called USOCs, still in use today. A copy of that same order document was actually received and acted upon by forty different people within the telephone company. When you order a telephone line or even make a simple change in your telephone service today, the process is much the same. Many different departments have roles in the deployment of even the most basic services. The commercial department included what was called the business office. The people in this department were members of the Union of Telephone Workers (UTW). I started out as a Ser- vice Representative at Forest Hills Commercial in Queens, a borough of New York City. T