At the time of Bell System Divesture in 1983 a huge wave of automation was hitting the country. Systems described above are very common now (ABC Nightline did a whole feature on it) and fancy automation and greedy companies makes it possible.
The old Bell System was dedicated to service. They constantly put out literature to both residence and business subscribers on proper telephone technique and manners. They didn't want 'the telephone' to be seen negatively as described above but rather a positive useful tool. They had consultants go out to businesses just to teach proper usage of business sytems and teachers who went to schools to show kids how to use the phone.
If the Bell System still existed as a monopoly provider today, I wonder how they'd deal with the above described customer frustrations. The Bell System did not like it when their product/service was made to look bad and spent money and efforts to counteract it.
I presume they would allow automated systems to exist; they do -- when used properly -- help customers and businesses. But would they allow such craziness as routings to dead lines and dead air?
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