Technical challenges to a decentralized phone system

Changes that followed in the wake of the divestiture of AT&T are examined. One of these is the growth of new services, particularly ISDN and Switching System No.7 (SS7) services. Another is that setting standards has become a public and global, rather than strictly AT&T-determined, process. Waiting for standards is slowing innovations in the networks, because major equipment vendors to not want to take risks in developing new features, functions, and capabilities before standards are decided on. Service gains and lags in the new environment are discussed.<>