Editing Customer-premises equipment (section)

== History ==
The two phrases, "customer-''premises'' equipment" and "customer-''provided'' equipment", reflect the history of this equipment.

Under the [[Bell System]] monopoly in the United States (post [[Communications Act of 1934]]), the Bell System owned the telephones, and one could not attach privately owned or supplied devices to the network, or to the station apparatus. Telephones were located on customers' premises, hence, customer-''premises'' equipment.  In the U.S. [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) proceeding the [[Second Computer Inquiry]], the FCC ruled that telecommunications carriers could no longer bundle CPE with telecommunications service, uncoupling the market power of the telecommunications service monopoly from the CPE market, and creating a competitive CPE market.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/cpe.htm|title=Cybertelecom :: CPE :: Hush a Phone :: Carterfone ::|website=www.cybertelecom.org}}</ref>

With the gradual breakup of the Bell monopoly, starting with [[Hush-A-Phone v. United States]] [1956], which allowed some non-Bell owned equipment to be connected to the network (a process called [[interconnection]]), equipment on customers' premises became increasingly owned by customers. Indeed, subscribers were eventually permitted to purchase telephones – hence, customer-''provided'' equipment.

In the pay-TV industry many operators and service providers offer subscribers a [[set-top box]] with which to receive video services, in return for a monthly fee.  As offerings have evolved to include multiple services [voice and data] operators have increasingly given consumers the opportunity to rent or buy additional devices like access [[modem]]s, internet gateways and video extenders that enable them to access multiple services, and distribute them to a range of [[consumer electronics]] devices in the home.