Damn! My dad would have beat my ass back then I'm sure if I racked that bill up! Well that's not true entirely. I stopped getting my ass beat when I got to high school. Probably a stern talking to and a grounding lol.
None of it was a scam. Original analog telephone system used massive amounts of electricity. Once we went digital and fiber, it was a race to the bottom. Cheaper radios and advances in codecs/compression brought the cost of minutes and text down. Once all of the RF spectrum was reallocated to data only, it replaced the entire communication system including landlines. New satellite LEO architecture (starlink for example) will drop costs even further, eliminating costly fiber buildouts and expensive switching systems everywhere.
