Free Republic

50 Years ago today . . . Long before smartphones and text messages made the world instantly available with a split-second tap, reaching out to touch someone could take a full 10 seconds. That was just to dial a number, ticked out one deliberate digit at a time, on a mechanical wheel owned by the phone company. Monday marks 50 years since the United States began saying goodbye to the classic rotary phone, replaced by touch-tone services that slashed dialing time and foreshadowed a digital revolution that keeps reshuffling everyday communication. The push-buttons became an especially big deal in Western...

Today we launch a major new series investigating the parlous state of customer service in Britain. We start on telecoms companies, which, despite being in the communications business, generate more complaints than any other industry. Britain's internet and phone companies show a shameful disregard for their customers - leaving 4.1 million people unhappy with their service every year. Official figures show that an incredible 3.3 million customers have been left waiting three months or more for their phone or broadband provider to resolve a problem.