When I was a kid, people did not own phones. They could only rent them from AT&T. I remember going with my family to buy our own phone (after that became legal). The FCC's Resale and Shared Use decision is a good read:

http://etler.com/FCC/pdf/CC/CC%2080-54/FCC%2080-607.pdf

As another note, I recently read that several hundred thousand Americans still rent landline phones from the phone company.

https://consumerist.com/2012/04/30/hundreds-of-thousands-of-...