{
  "standard": "FactUnion Standard v1",
  "checkedAt": "2026-10-25T06:45:31.856Z",
  "title": "After Nine, Keep It Short: Who Paid for the Call Home",
  "date": "2026-10-25",
  "facts": [
    {
      "n": 1,
      "claim": "On a station-to-station call the caller agreed to talk to whoever answered, and billing began when the call was answered.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_assistance",
          "title": "Operator assistance"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collect_call",
          "title": "Operator assistance"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory_assistance",
          "title": "Operator assistance"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "note": "Kept on a lower-weight source (Wikipedia); nothing we found says otherwise.",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 2,
      "claim": "A person-to-person call was a higher-priced operator-assisted call to a named party, charged only once that party was reached and free if they could not be reached.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_assistance",
          "title": "Operator assistance"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collect_call",
          "title": "Operator assistance"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory_assistance",
          "title": "Operator assistance"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 3,
      "claim": "On a person-to-person call the operator would announce \"(Called Party), please. Long Distance is calling.\"",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_assistance",
          "title": "Operator assistance"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collect_call",
          "title": "Operator assistance"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory_assistance",
          "title": "Operator assistance"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "note": "Kept on a lower-weight source (Wikipedia); nothing we found says otherwise.",
      "quote": true,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 4,
      "claim": "Long-distance calls often carried a minimum charge, typically for three minutes, and once direct dialing was possible, an operator-assisted call in the US Bell System carried a 50% premium for the first three minutes.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_assistance",
          "title": "Operator assistance"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collect_call",
          "title": "Operator assistance"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory_assistance",
          "title": "Operator assistance"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "note": "Kept on a lower-weight source (Wikipedia); nothing we found says otherwise.",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 5,
      "claim": "A forum commenter citing a 1995 FCC 'Statistics of Communications Common Carriers' report says a five-minute weekday New York, Los Angeles AT&T call cost $2.17 in 1980, against $0.87 at nights and weekends (secondhand).",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://ask.metafilter.com/211826/Long-Distance-Rates-For-the-Late-Seventies-and-Early-Eighties",
          "title": "Long Distance Rates For the Late Seventies and Early Eighties? - Telephone Telephony Communication | Ask MetaFilter"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "note": "Kept on a lower-weight source (Ask MetaFilter); nothing we found says otherwise.",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 6,
      "claim": "Census Bureau: \"In 1960, about 1-in-5 households had no telephone available.\"",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/dec/coh-phone.html",
          "title": "Historical Census of Housing Tables: Telephones"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": true,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 7,
      "claim": "In 1960, over 40 percent of homes in several southern states had no telephone available, and Mississippi recorded a rate of 55 percent.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/dec/coh-phone.html",
          "title": "Historical Census of Housing Tables: Telephones"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/tables/time-series/coh-phone/phone-tab.txt",
          "title": "https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/tables/time-series/coh-phone/phone-tab.txt"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "corrected",
      "note": "The 1960 southern-state and Mississippi figures are supported. The claim about the national 7 percent rate in 1980 is not in the evidence, so it was dropped.",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 8,
      "claim": "The 1960 and 1970 Census counted a telephone as 'available' even if it was not in the unit itself, a looser definition than 1980 and 1990 used, so the series is not strictly comparable.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/dec/coh-phone.html",
          "title": "Historical Census of Housing Tables: Telephones"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 9,
      "claim": "In Smith v. Illinois Bell Telephone Co. (1930) the Supreme Court held that a phone company's rate base and expenses must be allocated between interstate and intrastate use when rates are set.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/631/1059/86728/",
          "title": "New York Telephone Company, Petitioner,new York State Public Service Commission and Rochestertelephone Corporation, Intervenors, v. Federal Communications Commission and the United States Ofamerica, R"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/282/133",
          "title": "SMITH et al. v. ILLINOIS BELL TELEPHONE Co."
        },
        {
          "url": "https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/282/133/",
          "title": "Smith v. Illinois Bell Telephone Co. | 282 U.S. 133 (1930) | Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 10,
      "claim": "Telephone companies, state commissions and federal agencies agreed on a standardized 'Separations Manual', published by NARUC and approved by the FCC, which revised it in 1970 under the 'Ozark Plan' recommended by a Federal-State Joint Board (26 F.C.C.2d 247).",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/631/1059/86728/",
          "title": "New York Telephone Company, Petitioner,new York State Public Service Commission and Rochestertelephone Corporation, Intervenors, v. Federal Communications Commission and the United States Ofamerica, R"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/8923112/new-york-telephone-co-v-federal-communications-commission/",
          "title": "New York Telephone Co. v. Federal Communications Commission – CourtListener.com"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 11,
      "claim": "Part of the cost of local plant was assigned to the interstate jurisdiction and recovered through AT&T's interstate long-distance rates, with the rest recovered through state-set rates.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.justice.gov/osg/brief/national-association-state-utility-v-fcc-opposition",
          "title": "National Association of State Utility v. FCC"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "corrected",
      "note": "Source corrected: the page first cited was read and is about something else; the sources listed state this.",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 12,
      "claim": "AT&T paid all local carriers, including its wholly owned Bell Operating Companies, amounts sufficient to recover the portion of their costs allocated to the interstate jurisdiction.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.justice.gov/osg/brief/national-association-state-utility-v-fcc-opposition",
          "title": "National Association of State Utility v. FCC"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "corrected",
      "note": "Added \"before tariffed access charges\" and \"return on capital\" are unsupported; DOJ supports payments covering allocated interstate costs.",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 13,
      "claim": "Under the Ozark Plan, local companies sampled calls to find the interstate share of use, and the formula assigned about 3.3 percent of non-traffic-sensitive subscriber plant costs to interstate for every 1 percent of interstate use.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/787/1421/197770/",
          "title": "State Corporation Commission of the State of Kansas, Petitioner, v. Federal Communications Commission and United States Ofamerica, Respondents,american Telephone and Telegraph Company, General Telepho"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/468210/state-corporation-commission-of-the-state-of-kansas-v-federal/",
          "title": "State Corporation Commission Of The State Of Kansas v. Federal Communications Commission – CourtListener.com"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 14,
      "claim": "Between 1972 and 1983 interstate usage was estimated to rise from 5.5% to 8.3%, while non-traffic-sensitive costs allocated to interstate rose from about $1.9 billion to $11.2 billion; the FCC froze the formula at 1981 levels.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-dc-circuit/2190543.html",
          "title": "MCI TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (1984) | FindLaw"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/445435/mci-telecommunications-corporation-v-federal-communications-commission-and/",
          "title": "MCI Telecommunications Corporation v. Federal Communications Commission and United States of... – CourtListener.com"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7902608/mci-telecommunications-corp-v-federal-communications-commission/",
          "title": "MCI Telecommunications Corp. v. Federal Communications Commission – CourtListener.com"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 15,
      "claim": "The stated purpose of the subscriber plant factor was to compensate for the deterrent effect of toll rate schedules on interstate calling.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-dc-circuit/2190543.html",
          "title": "MCI TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (1984) | FindLaw"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/445435/mci-telecommunications-corporation-v-federal-communications-commission-and/",
          "title": "MCI Telecommunications Corporation v. Federal Communications Commission and United States of... – CourtListener.com"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7902608/mci-telecommunications-corp-v-federal-communications-commission/",
          "title": "MCI Telecommunications Corp. v. Federal Communications Commission – CourtListener.com"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 16,
      "claim": "AT&T argued that competition would disrupt its \"delicate system of rate averaging.\"",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/mci-communications-corporation",
          "title": "MCI Communications Corporation"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/mci-worldcom-inc",
          "title": "MCI WorldCom, Inc."
        },
        {
          "url": "https://companies.jrank.org/pages/2723/Mci-Worldcom-Inc.html",
          "title": "Mci Worldcom, Inc. Business Information, Profile, and History"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": true,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 17,
      "claim": "MCI founder John Goeken claimed private-line prices \"as much as 94 percent cheaper than A.T.&T.'s,\" as quoted from Fortune in April 1970.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/mci-communications-corporation",
          "title": "MCI Communications Corporation"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/mci-worldcom-inc",
          "title": "MCI WorldCom, Inc."
        },
        {
          "url": "https://companies.jrank.org/pages/2723/Mci-Worldcom-Inc.html",
          "title": "Mci Worldcom, Inc. Business Information, Profile, and History"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 18,
      "claim": "The Universal Service Fund contribution factor was 34.4% of interstate and international end-user revenues as of 2024.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.tlp.law/2024/06/13/fcc-announces-proposed-q3-2024-usf-contribution-factor/",
          "title": "FCC Announces Proposed Q3 2024 USF Contribution Factor"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "note": "Kept on a lower-weight source (tlp.law); nothing we found says otherwise.",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 19,
      "claim": "The Bell System breakup settlement was finalized on January 8, 1982, and divestiture of the local operating companies took effect on January 1, 1984.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_the_Bell_System",
          "title": "Breakup of the Bell System"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://legalclarity.org/what-happened-to-the-baby-bells-after-atts-breakup/",
          "title": "AT&T Baby Bells: The Breakup, Mergers, and What’s Left"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_System",
          "title": "Bell System"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "corrected",
      "note": "Dates are supported. \"Consent decree\" is not stated in the evidence, so the sentence now says \"settlement,\" which the sources use.",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 20,
      "claim": "UPI reported in December 1985 that basic local service averaged $10.55 a month in December 1983, against an average $14.29 two years later, including a $1 subscriber line charge.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/12/10/Local-phone-bills-up-35-percent-since-1983/1039503038800/",
          "title": "Local phone bills up 35 percent since 1983"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 21,
      "claim": "The Cato Institute says that in real terms the price of long-distance service fell by more than 70 percent between 1984 and 2006.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.cato.org/regulation/fall-2012/what-happens-when-local-phone-service-deregulated",
          "title": "What Happens When Local Phone Service Is Deregulated? | Cato Institute"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "note": "Kept on a lower-weight source (Cato Institute); nothing we found says otherwise.",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 22,
      "claim": "The Los Angeles Times wrote in January 1992 that since the breakup \"long-distance rates have plunged and local rates have risen.\"",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-01-07-fi-1725-story.html",
          "title": "Right Call? : 10 Years Later, AT&T; Split Favors Business"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": true,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 23,
      "claim": "The University of South Florida holds an August 2004 oral history, conducted by Andrew T. Huse, with Joe Engressia, a late-1960s USF student who 'now goes by the name Joybubbles' and was known for phone-phreaking skills to make calls for free.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/usf_50_anniversary/37/",
          "title": "Joybubbles (Joe Engressia) Oral History Interview"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    },
    {
      "n": 24,
      "claim": "Ron Rosenbaum's 'Secrets of the Little Blue Box' ran in Esquire in October 1971.",
      "sources": [
        {
          "url": "https://classic.esquire.com/article/1971/10/1/secrets-of-the-blue-box",
          "title": "Secrets of the Little Blue Box | Esquire | OCTOBER 1971"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.huffpost.com/entry/steve-jobs-secrets-of-the-little-blue-box_n_1004807",
          "title": "Steve Jobs Was Inspired By Article Titled 'Secrets Of The Little Blue Box' From 1971"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/the-secrets-of-the-little-blue-box-esquire/id1253096006",
          "title": "‎The Secrets of the Little Blue Box: Esquire, October 1971 (Unabridged)"
        }
      ],
      "verdict": "verified",
      "quote": false,
      "usedInEpisode": true
    }
  ],
  "removed": [
    {
      "claim": "The New York Times reported on January 30, 1963: \"The rate between New York and Los Angeles is now $1.75, nights and Sundays. It will be $1 after 9 P.M.\"",
      "reason": "We could not find these exact words on any source we read."
    },
    {
      "claim": "The same 1963 change cut the after-9 p.m. New York, Chicago rate from $1.15 to 70 cents, while person-to-person rates rose 5 or 10 cents on calls of up to 800 miles.",
      "reason": "Couldn't be checked: a key record would not open."
    },
    {
      "claim": "In July 1968 the New York Times reported reductions of 5 to 10 cents for the first three minutes on station-to-station calls placed 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.",
      "reason": "Couldn't be checked: a key record would not open."
    },
    {
      "claim": "AT&T said it used long-distance revenue \"to subsidize the price of local service, making the cost of basic phone service affordable to the average customer.\"",
      "reason": "We could not find these exact words on any source we read."
    },
    {
      "claim": "Wikipedia's Universal Service Fund entry says 'universal service' began as an AT&T marketing slogan about interconnection and notes \"some dispute about whether the charges paid from long-distance service to local carriers were a subsidy or not.\"",
      "reason": "We could not find these exact words on any source we read."
    }
  ],
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      "questionable": [
        {
          "k": 3,
          "claim": "Long-distance calls across the country are billed by the minute, usually with a three-minute minimum charge.",
          "reasonText": "Sources only partly back this: Federal Communications Commission."
        },
        {
          "k": 7,
          "claim": "Person-to-person long-distance calls cost more than station-to-station calls.",
          "reasonText": "Sources only partly back this: Stack Exchange."
        },
        {
          "k": 9,
          "claim": "Once customers could dial long distance themselves, an operator-placed call cost about 50 percent more for the first three minutes, according to Bell System billing records.",
          "reasonText": "Only one source states this: Wikipedia."
        },
        {
          "k": 20,
          "claim": "An online forum commenter cited a 1995 FCC report called Statistics of Communications Common Carriers as the source of 1980 long-distance rate data.",
          "reasonText": "Only one source states this: Ask MetaFilter."
        },
        {
          "k": 21,
          "claim": "In 1980, a five-minute AT&T weekday call from New York to Los Angeles cost two dollars and seventeen cents.",
          "reasonText": "Only one source states this: Ask MetaFilter."
        },
        {
          "k": 22,
          "claim": "In 1980, a five-minute AT&T New York to Los Angeles call at night or on a weekend cost eighty-seven cents.",
          "reasonText": "Only one source states this: Ask MetaFilter."
        },
        {
          "k": 23,
          "claim": "Per minute, the 1980 New York to Los Angeles AT&T rate was about 43 cents on weekdays and about 17 cents at night or on weekends.",
          "reasonText": "Only one source states this: Ask MetaFilter."
        },
        {
          "k": 24,
          "claim": "The per-call gap between the weekday and night or weekend rate in the 1980 AT&T example was one dollar and thirty cents.",
          "reasonText": "Only one source states this: Ask MetaFilter."
        },
        {
          "k": 26,
          "claim": "The tagline of the Esquire piece promised a story so incredible it may even make readers feel sorry for the phone company.",
          "reasonText": "Only one source states this: OCTOBER 1971."
        },
        {
          "k": 33,
          "claim": "The Separations Manual was published by NARUC and approved by the FCC as a standard cost-splitting book.",
          "reasonText": "Only one source states this: law.justia.com."
        },
        {
          "k": 36,
          "claim": "In 1970 the cost allocation formula for local lines became steeper.",
          "reasonText": "Only lower-weight sources state this: law.justia.com and 1 more."
        },
        {
          "k": 38,
          "claim": "The revised Separations Manual is called the Ozark Plan and was recommended by a Federal-State Joint Board.",
          "reasonText": "Only one source states this: law.justia.com."
        },
        {
          "k": 39,
          "claim": "Under the Ozark Plan, local phone companies sampled calls to determine what share of a line's use was interstate.",
          "reasonText": "Only one source states this: law.justia.com."
        },
        {
          "k": 43,
          "claim": "AT&T warned that competition would disrupt what it called its delicate system of rate averaging.",
          "reasonText": "Sources only partly back this: encyclopedia.com."
        },
        {
          "k": 47,
          "claim": "In 1983, interstate calls accounted for 8.3 percent of how local lines get used.",
          "reasonText": "Only one source states this: FindLaw."
        },
        {
          "k": 48,
          "claim": "In 1972, the local costs assigned to long distance were about 1.9 billion dollars.",
          "reasonText": "Only one source states this: FindLaw."
        },
        {
          "k": 49,
          "claim": "In 1983, the local costs assigned to long distance were 11.2 billion dollars.",
          "reasonText": "Only one source states this: FindLaw."
        },
        {
          "k": 55,
          "claim": "A UPI-reported study put average basic local service at 14.29 dollars a month in December 1985, including a new one-dollar subscriber line charge.",
          "reasonText": "Sources only partly back this: UPI."
        },
        {
          "k": 58,
          "claim": "The local rate figure comes from one study, as reported by UPI.",
          "reasonText": "Sources only partly back this: UPI."
        },
        {
          "k": 61,
          "claim": "In 2024, the FCC's contribution factor was 34.4 percent of interstate and international end-user revenue.",
          "reasonText": "Sources only partly back this: Federal Communications Commission."
        },
        {
          "k": 68,
          "claim": "The economist Robert Crandall describes universal-service funding as a tax on long-distance calling.",
          "reasonText": "Sources only partly back this: Brookings Institution."
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}