7. Thanks in part to Title II of The Communications Act of 1934, and the overdue 1982 breakup of the Bell system, corporations couldn’t hold public utilities (systems of communication like tele…Life Before the Internet2.8K98ThunderPuffPatrick WoodFollowJul 23, 2017 · 1 min readThe consent decree was signed in 1982, but the actual split occurred on Jan 1, 1984.