1. Prior to .......... . only one company offered telephone services in the United States. Now, there are many companies to choose from that offer reasonable telephone service rates.

2. I got charged a long-distance .......... for a call to a friend three miles away. I tried to fight it but the telephone company said that he is part of a different network and they won't reverse the charges. What a rip-off!

3. I am getting my phone .......... up at the beginning of next week. Until then, you can call my parents and they will give me the message.

4. AT&T used to have a .......... over the telephone industry until deregulation. One could only get service from them. They are still one of the largest telephone companies but they aren't the only service provider anymore.

5. Hi, Operator. I would like to .......... a call to an old army friend of mine who lives in St. Louis. If I give you his name, can you look up his telephone number and connect me to him?

6. I want to go into the .......... field once I am done with school. I want to work with either a telephone company or an internet service provider. The work seems interesting, the pay is good and one can find work in a lot of nice locations.

7. Please hold that thought, Karen. I want to hear what you have to say but I have to go .......... my telephone quickly. I am expecting an important call.

8. Did you check the answering machine? You did? Were there any .......... for me that I need to respond to tonight?

9. That jerk. When I called the company to explain that they billed us incorrectly, he refused to take the charge off of the bill. When I tried to argue that we never ordered the services that appeared on the bill, he .......... up on me.

10. Bruce? I am sorry to interrupt. I have a call on the other line. Will you please .......... for a moment?