Thomas "Tom" F. Carter was the inventor of the Carterfone, a privately-manufactured radiophone that would strike the first blow against AT&T's then-monopoly. This is a device which was invented by Thomas Carter. ... AT&T (formerly an abbreviation for American Telephone and Telegraph) Corporation (NYSE: T) is an American telecommunications company. ...

During the 1940s, Carter sold and installed two-way radios, mainly to the petroleum industry. But he found that there was a need for something that would let workers at remote well sites communicate directly with corporate executives over the phone. To fill this need, Carter designed a coupler for radio communications carried over AT&T's network. // Events and trends The 1940s were dominated by World War II, the most destructive armed conflict in history. ...

During this period, AT&T had a monopoly on the manufacturing of all telephone equipment installed on the premises of their customers. However, during the next two decades, Carter sold his "Carterfones" until AT&T finally found out about his device and acted to suppress it. This is a device which was invented by Thomas Carter. ...

AT&T's main argument against the Carterfone and other private devices was that there were no standards for the public to follow. The company claimed that the devices could cause irreparable network harm through hazardous voltage, excess signal power, line imbalancing and improper network controlling, among others.

In 1965, Carter filed an antitrust suit against AT&T, financing it by selling his ranch and liquidating all his assets. All reports indicate that during the his suit, his business income decreased significantly.

But in the end his perseverance paid off. The Federal Communications Commission handed down the "Carterfone" decision in 1968, permitting non-telephone company devices which are considered to be "privately beneficial" to be attached to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), prohibited only from harming the network. This effectively deregulated the telecommunications equipment market. The FCCs official seal. ... The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is the concatenation of the worlds public circuit-switched telephone networks, in much the same way that the Internet is the concatenation of the worlds public IP-based packet-switched networks. ...

After this monumental win, Thomas Carter founded the North American Telephone Association with the goal of protecting and expanding the competitive market. NATA was the predecessor to the MultiMedia Telecommunications Association.

In 1975, Thomas Carter and his wife moved to Gun Barrel, Texas, where he ran a small radio business. In 1978, an award was created by NATA to "recognize outstanding service in the public interest in the field of telecommunications." The first recipient of this award was Thomas F. Carter, and the award is named after him.

Carter died in 1991.