GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing further back than that, until 2000, when it was acquired by Bell Atlantic; the combined company took the name Verizon.
KarTrak Automated Car Identification system on a caboose in Florida
A manhole cover featuring the company logo in Hillsboro, Oregon
Independent telephone company
An independent telephone company was a telephone company providing local service in the United States or Canada that was not part of the Bell System organized by American Telephone and Telegraph. Independent telephone companies usually operated in many rural or sparsely populated areas.
This 1911 advertisement from Seattle shows phone numbers from two different phone companies; the exchanges were not interconnected.