Where was the first telephone service in America established? [originaltext]

The first telephone service in North America began on the East Coast in the late 19th century. All of the calls arriving in New York were routed to the office of the early Bell Company. In turn, the Bell Company would switch the calls through a manual switchboard from New York to their destination for the charge of one penny per call. Later in the century, telephone services were established between Chicago and Boston and between Washington and Philadelphia. In 1910 the Bell Company changed from a privately held company to a publicly held corporation. The new company increased the number of telephone switchboards and introduced the use of electronic switches instead of manual operators. It was very expensive for people in rural areas of the west to set up phone service though. In order to lower the prices of the telephone services, the United States government forced the telephone company to allow local telephone companies to offer competing services. The telephone service that started in American over a hundred years ago has developed into the most sophisticated communications network in the world.