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Period: to
Progress of Telephone
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Telegraph
The first UK public telegraph carrier, the Electric Telegraph Company was registered. Telegraphs were encoded messages that could be sent through different signalling systems between two places, removing the need for snail mail. -
Bell & the Phone
The first telephone was developed by Alexander Graham Bell. The telephone converted sound, so you could hear the original voice. The first words ever spoken were from Alexander Graham Bell, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you." -
Switchboards
The workable exchange was developed, which enabled calls to be switched between subscribers rather than having direct lines. This lead to the switchboard and switchboard operator. You picked up the telephone and asked the operator to connect you to another particular numbered telephone. -
In the Home
Telephones were being placed in homes, primarily by the upper class, but eventually spreading further through society. -
Outdoor telephone lines
The very first permanent outdoor telephone wire was completed. It stretched a distance of just three miles. This was closely followed in the U.S. by the worlds first commercial telephone service. At this point two telephones were connected with one wire and could only call each other. -
Transatlantic phone calls
John W. Atkins made the first international telephone call over telegraph cable at 09:55am from his office in Key West, USA to Havana, Cuba. This was followed by the first transmission of speech across the Atlantic Ocean by radiotelephone from Arlington, VA to Paris, France. -
A phone in every home
The Western Electric Telephone were in almost every North American Home when they were released. It was very durable and simple to repair. This phone was commonly found in the color black, with only ten number keys. -
Telephone Numbers
A national (USA) numbering system was developed - allocating connected houses in different states a different number combination to ease the phoning process. -
Satellite
the first satellite to communicate telephone conversations is launched into space, removing the dependency on wires connecting cities and countries. -
Touch Button Phone
replacing the traditional rotary dial phone was the touch-tone phone. -
Cordless Phones
In the 1970s, the very first cordless phones were introduced. -
Mobile Phone
Motorola made the first mobile telephone call from handheld subscriber equipment. The prototype weighed 1.1 kg and measured 23 cm long, 13 cm deep and 4.45 cm wide. The prototype offered a talk time of just 30 minutes and took 10 hours to re-charge -
Beginnings of the Modern Phone
In the 1980's mobiles transitioned into the digital system we still use today. Competition increased as different companies began releasing mobile phones and network providers offered a range of usually contracted phone plans. -
The Smartphone
The first cellular phone to incorporate PDA features was an IBM prototype, however the best known progression is Apple's release of the iPhone in 2007. The release of a phone that allows people to store a range of information, search the internet, communicate with others through phone calls, text, images, social media and a range of other abilities.
