Nope, John. Automatic Electric was the supply arm of GTE. Stromberg-Carlson (later Comdial) was a "floater". It supplied equipment to really independent independents. Of course, they also supplied to United, etc. and the government.
Yes, ITT was a big supplier to United/Sprint/Embarq, but so was North Electric (a mirror of Western Electric). Their products were identical to Western Electric, but expensive. That's why most of UTS's equipment came from ITT. Low bidder in my opinion.
Bill, Graybar was the product of Gray and Barton, two people who were very heavily involved in the race to the patent for the telephone. When they gave up fighting the fact that Bell won, they decided "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". While their company wasn't the sole source of supply to the Bell System, they were very instrumental in bridging the gap between Bell and independent companies with regard to supply.
Yes, they manufactured fans, toasters and irons like Western did.
