It was running at Dartmouth College -- the pioneer -- in 1963.
It quickly became a commercial service.
Let's remember too that dataphones were coming into use. In 1964 my bank installed an on-line teller system. The work was developing in the 1950s and coming into actual service in the early 1960s
Let's also remember that on-line or "real-time" computer processing was developed and used in the 1950s and gradually rolled out to wide service in the early 1960s. IBM lagged behind on this for commercial service.
By 1968 even public schools had dial up time sharing terminals. Soon mini computers were providing widespread time sharing use in the early 1970s. Big LIFE magazine article about it in 1969.
IBM was a late-comer on this and time sharing was a lesser priority. Other computers, such as GE, had it out.
Repeat: A non-profit is still considered a business. Who paid for it wasn't the issue. Bell was correct to charge business rates for this service.
That is irrelevent. We're talking about the pre-divesture Bell System. Once divesture was decided (even before it happened), it was a whole different ball game.
NO! Once divesture was decided upon everything the Bell System once stood for turned on its head. The old priorities and ways of doing business no longer mattered a bit. The "Planning" style under the Bell System was completely obsolete by divesture because all the _rules_ AND _players_ had changed. There was no longer a seamless tie with all those involved in providing service to a customer.
As mentioned, large organizations had to change, too, and spend a lot of money hiring telecom people to do what previously was done automatically. The process became far more complex and expensive.
As others pointed out, in the new model there was more _specific_ cost/profit control, so each tech unit had to know what it was getting into and what it would get out of it.
Sorry, but faster speed makes for a more efficient system. Faster speed allows a more sophisticated route selection and alternative paths. Control and connection need not even be in the same physical place. Connection facilities could be shared among a wider audience because the fast connection gear can make use of many more choices.
Others confirmed that statement.
The Bell System was a common carrier. Railroads had "monopolies" in their service territories; they were hurt because those service territories were very narrowly defined in a very different age (the distance a farm wagon could travel).
Go read the Bell Labs Eng & Sci history book and you'll see what they were doing. Go read Ball Labs Records for the 1960s and you'll see what they were doing.
Right. That contradicts your claim that Touch Tone actually saved the company money.