AT&T Communications, Inc. is a CLEC/long distance telephone company owned by AT&T.

History

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AT&T Long Lines

The AT&T Long Lines microwave relay network provided long-distance transport services to AT&T and its customers from the late 1940s to the early 1980s. A sophisticated achievement, Long Lines provided computerized reconfiguration of microwave circuits coast-to-coast via AT&T's network control center in New York City, NY. By the 1970s, Long Lines carried 95 percent of all long-haul television traffic, and 70 percent of all telephone calls in the United States. Before utilizing microwave relay, AT&T experimented with long-distance coaxial (coax) cable. The first long-distance link in 1936 was done between Philadelphia and New York. It was quickly determined that microwave relay networks were less expensive and easier to build, especially over mountainous regions and rough terrain, and Long Lines evolved into a hybrid microwave network consisting of coaxial, waveguide and microwave air links.

A presidential address from Harry Truman inaugurated the Long Lines network, demonstrating coast-to-coast service. The Long Lines network allowed events such as ABC’s Monday Night Football to be nationally broadcast live and Long Lines also permitted distribution of regional sports events, such as Saturday football games prior to the adaptation of satellite communications in the 1970s.

By the 1980s, alternatives (including fiber optics and satellites) eventually replaced Long Lines as the preferred network transport, but the remnants of Long Lines can still be seen across the country-side today, in the form of abandoned relay towers.

AT&T Communications

Long Lines was later renamed AT&T Communications in 1984, since it no longer consisted of the majority of the "lines", or the Bell Operating Companies. AT&T Communications became one of the three core sales units of AT&T, after reorganization of remaining assets of the former Bell System.

AT&T did, however, divide AT&T Communications up into 22 operating companies, serving the regions of each Bell Operating Company, resulting in:

• AT&T Communications of California, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of Delaware, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of Illinois, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of Indiana, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of Maryland, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of Michigan, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of Nevada, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of New England, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of New Jersey, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of New York, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of Ohio, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of Pennsylvania, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of the Midwest, Inc. - serves Northwestern Bell territory
• AT&T Communications of the Mountain States, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of the Pacific Northwest, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of the South Central States, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of the Southern States, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of the Southwest, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of Virginia, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of Washington D.C., Inc.
• AT&T Communications of West Virginia, Inc.
• AT&T Communications of Wisconsin, Inc.

Following the Communications Act of 1996, AT&T Communications began reselling Bell Operating Company-provided telephone service at a lower price, to compete with the Baby Bells. Such services were done through AT&T Consumer, a new sales unit created to incorporate local/long distance services provided by AT&T Communications.

In 2004, AT&T stopped trying to seek new traditional landline customers, following a court ruling which reversed a previous decision that allowed CLECs to have access to the telephone lines owned by the Baby Bells. As a result, AT&T CallVantage was created, as a VoIP alternative to companies like Vonage. AT&T Communications would still provide services to new customers, although they would not be advertised heavily.

AT&T/SBC Communications Merger

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In 2005, SBC Communications purchased AT&T Corp., the parent company of AT&T Communications. SBC had already been offering its own long distance services through SBC Long Distance LLC in its own territory in competition with other long distance companies. As a result, AT&T Communications was refocused to seek new customers outside of the AT&T 13-state region served by its Bell Operating Companies. Telephone listings for AT&T Communications services were then removed from AT&T local telephone directories.

Headquarters

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AT&T Communications is headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey at the AT&T Network Operations Center.

Data transmission | AT&T