Illinois Bell

Illinois Bell Telephone Company, LLC is the Bell Operating Company serving

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

. It is owned by

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...

through AT&T Teleholdings, formerly Ameritech. Their headquarters are at 225 West Randolph St.,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, IL. After the 1984 Bell System Divestiture, Illinois Bell became a part of Ameritech, one of the 7 original Regional Bell Operating Companies. The Illinois Bell name continued to be used until January 1993, when Ameritech dropped all of their individual Bell Operating Company names in favor of using their corporate name, Ameritech, for marketing purposes. Illinois Bell started doing business as Ameritech Illinois. Illinois Bell, in 1971, became the first ever telephone company to offer

Call waiting Call waiting is a telephone service where a subscriber can accept a second incoming telephone call by placing an in-progress call on hold—and may also switch between calls. With some providers it can be combined with additional features such a ...

, Three-way calling, Speed Calling, and Call forwarding, all popular local exchange carrier telephone service options to this day. In 1997, Illinois Bell acquired lines in the Chicago metro area from Central Telephone Company of Illinois, a Sprint company. In 1998, Ameritech announced intentions to merge with SBC, another former RBOC. Though the merger wasn't well received at first, it was allowed to occur with some conditions. The two companies were officially merged as of October 8, 1999. The Ameritech name continued to be used until 2002, despite the merger. In 2001, the company started doing business as SBC Ameritech Illinois. In 2002, SBC dropped the Ameritech name in favor of "SBC" as a national brand. On January 1, 2003, Illinois Bell, for regulatory business, was renamed Illinois Bell Telephone Company d/b/a SBC Illinois. Illinois Bell's trade name was changed once again in 2006, following conclusion of

SBC Communications The history of AT&T dates back to the invention of the telephone. The Bell Telephone Company was established in 1877 by Alexander Graham Bell, who obtained the first US patent for the telephone, and his father-in-law, Gardiner Greene Hubbard. Bell ...

' purchase of

, to Illinois Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T Illinois. AT&T subsidiaries Bell System Telecommunications companies of the United States Companies based in Chicago Defunct telecommunications companies of the United States Telecommunications companies established in 1920 American companies established in 1920 1920 establishments in Illinois {{US-telecom-company-stub