SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND TELEPHONE

The 'Southern New England Telephone Company' (commonly referred to as 'SNET' by its customers) started operations on January 27, 1878 as the District Telephone Company of New Haven. It was the founder of the first telephone exchange, as well as the world's first telephone book. Since its inception, SNET has held a monopoly on most of the telephone services in the state of Connecticut; the only exception is the Greenwich and Byram exchanges where Verizon New York provides telephone service.^[1]
Prior to February 1984, AT&T held 16.8% of SNET. Since SNET was only a minority holding of AT&T and not considered a Bell Operating Company, AT&T was not legally required to divest ownership of SNET. It opted to do so after January 1, 1984.
In 1998, SBC Communications, now AT&T, purchased Southern New England Telecommunications, its parent company. SNET and Cincinnati Bell were the only two companies in the old Bell System that AT&T only had a minority stake in; therefore, neither is considered a Bell Operating Company (RBOC). The Southern New England Telephone Company was held by 'Southern New England Telecommunications Corporation', which SBC had purchased in 1998. Cincinnati Bell is still independent of any RBOC, isolated within AT&T territory.
The Southern New England Telephone Company currently does business as 'AT&T Connecticut'.
On June 1, 2007, AT&T absorbed the operations of Woodbury Telephone into Southern New England Telephone. Woodbury Telephone is now defunct.

Contents

Brand history

See also

External links

References

Brand history

snet old.gif	'The Southern New England Telephone Co.' In 1921, SNET is a minority holding, but it still used the Bell branding and was recognized as a part of AT&T. This version of the logo was used up to 1939.
	In 1969 AT&T revamped its corporate look. This version was used until 1983.
snet84.gif	'SNET' In 1984, AT&T divests ownership of its local operating companies. AT&T sells its SNET shares in February, and SNET becomes a company wholly owned by Southern New England Telecommunications Corp. SNET, on January 1, 1983, forms Sonecor Systems Division (in response to American Bell) to sell telephone equipment from different manufacturers. [1]
Snetlogo.gif	'SNET' The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is signed. SBC Communications purchases SNET in 1998.
	'SNET SBC' logo, used from 1998 till 2001
SNET2002.PNG	'SBC SNET' In 2001, SBC begins to rebrand all of its Bells to reflect their being a part of a national telecommunications provider. SBC eventually drops the names of all of its Bells in late 2002, and adds the title "d/b/a SBC (name of state or region)" to the official names of its companies. Connecticut regulators request SNET be retained, and SBC SNET remains the official d/b/a name of SNET until 2006.
AT&T logo	'AT&T East' In 2005, 'SBC' completed its acquisition of AT&T Corp., forming AT&T, Inc. AT&T changes the d/b/a names of its Bell Operating Companies on January 1, 2006, resulting in "AT&T East" replacing "SBC SNET".

See also

★ ConnNet

External links

★ History - University of Connecticut Libraries

References

1. AT&T SNET Fairfield County White Pages, Customer Service Guide page 14, "Local Toll-free Calling Areas", August 2006 edition