I.D.-ing your 300 series phone...

[paul-f]

Yes, in many cases we did have a choice.  Even though public utilities are monopolies, there were parts of town that were Bell system, and parts that were not.  That being said, there are many factors that determine where in a particular town one might live.  Upscale versus trashy, how close to work, schools for the kids and so forth.  I moved back and forth between Ma Bell and GTE several times in those days, and while I might have grumbled at it,  The question of who gave me dial tone never seemed to enter into my decision as to where to live.

I suggest that statistically you had an unusual choice, living near a border.  I grew up in a city served by an independent and the Bell System was definitely not a choice anywhere in the surrounding area.  I later moved to Bell System territory in another state and would have to move quite a ways to live in non-Bell territory.  I certainly agree that the phone service provider was not a deciding factor for the vast majority of Americans when determining where to live.  Practically speaking, anyone in the large cities had no choice.

[cchaven]

One thing I've noticed on later 300-based keysets is that they tend to have the model stamped on the bottom just like the 500 series sets do. Of course, the first tipoff that something is different is their larger size and the 4 to 6 clear buttons below the dial.  I have two:

1951 465G (E/G and 465G stamped in white on the bottom)
1954 440A (A/C and 440A 3-54 stamped in red/orange on the bottom)

I can't find a mount code stamped on the inside of the case near the cord hole at all, but they do have date codes stamped along the front inside edge of the upper case.

Jeff