And while looking into the ticker tape i completely missed the obvious, the teletype. You know, that device that gave us the the &#x2F;dev&#x2F;tty in unix.<p>That said, it seems most of them were operated over dedicated networks. And the one i can find a reference to that was operated by AT&amp;T had their own area codes etc.<p>All in all i get the impression that it could be done, but likely only so at great expense. Consider that having a ticker tape printer in your home suggested you were someone with great wealth that was watching the stock market 24&#x2F;7.<p>Even having a telephone was not chump change. My parents talk about having one phone for several households, with the bell patterns used to indicate who it was for.<p>I suspect we should not underestimate how much the IC and packet switching has driven down cost of installation and operation.