Telecommunications

A. = Adjective ADV. = Adverb IDM. = Idiom N. = Noun V. = Verb

a carrier N. a company which provides telephone service competition N. when several companies in an industry sell the same product or service resulting in lower prices and better customer support deregulation N. the act of taking a governmentcontrolled industry and opening it up to private companies for the purpose of introducing competition a fee N. a charge for a professional service to hook up V. to make the electrical connections required for a machine or information service to install V. 1) to put in or add a piece of equipment or hardware 2) to add (new software or hardware) to a computer a monopoly N. when one company (or the government) has control over an industry and does not allow competition to place a call V. to make a telephone call the suburbs N. an area outside a city where people live rather than work telecommunications N. the industry or technology of sending and receiving messages by telephone (or other electronic devices)

A) Vocabulary in Conversation Fill in the blanks with the words given below: carriers competition deregulation fee hooked up installed monopoly suburbs telecommunications to place calls

Sandra: Tony, I just moved into my new apartment, and I need to have the phone (1) ................ I have no idea what I am doing; I have to make all these decisions about local, local long-distance, and long-distance (2) ............... .

Tony: I know - it’s really complicated. In America, we have somewhere between five and ten thousand long-distance telephone companies. It’s good for (3) ............... , but sometimes I think we have too much choice! It was easier before (4) ............... in the early eighties. The (5) ............... industry has become far too confusing, but at least prices have really gone down in the last twenty years.

Sandra: Why do I need to choose more than one company?

Tony: We divide telephone service into three categories: local, local long-distance, and long-distance. Your longdistance company allows you to call foreign countries, other American states, and other cities in your state. Your local long-distance company allows you to call (6) ............... or regions just outside your city. And, of course, your local company allows (7) ............... you within your own city.

Sandra: But they only asked me to choose a local longdistance company and a long-distance company. Don’t I get to choose my local service?

Tony: In Southern California, we really don’t have much choice yet when it comes to local service. It’s still basically a (8) ...............

Sandra: Is it really expensive to make local telephone calls then? How much does it cost per minute?

Tony: Actually, for most people, local calls do not have a per-minute charge. You pay your local telephone company a monthly service (9) ............... of around ten to fifteen dollars for your local service, but then you don’t have to pay per minute.

Sandra: You don’t pay per minute? That’s amazing! In my country, I normally have to pay a lot of money for local calls.

Tony: I rarely pay more than twenty dollars a month for local, local long-distance, and long-distance combined. It’s so cheap that I had an extra telephone line (10) ...............for my daughter.

B) Fill in all the gaps using vocabulary given below: carrier competition deregulation fee monopoly suburbs telecommunications to hook up to install to place a call

1. Ted recently switched his long-distance ............... Now he uses AT&T.

2. I just got my computer, and I don’t really know what I am doing. Do you know how ............... a new computer program on the hard drive?

3. There were so many different wires that it took me more than half an hour ............... the video recorder.

4. That amusement park just raised its admission ............... again. It has become ridiculously expensive!

5. Ever since the ............... of the airline industry, the cost of flying has gone way down. Unfortunately, the quality of the service has gone way down as well.

6. Does your country allow ............... in the telecommunications industry, or is that still controlled by the government?

7. That software company has bought out so much of its competition that it has virtually become a ................

8. If you want ............... from this office, you need to dial “9” first to get an outside line.

9. Jonathan is majoring in ............... at Brown University. This semester he is taking a really interesting course on how the Internet and cable television will alter the pricing for longdistance telephone service.

10. In the 1950s, many Americans left the inner city and moved to the ............... to find the American dream of owning a house with a big backyard.