Everyone knows the story of Alexander Graham Bell inventing the telephone.
There is the story of Bell’s first words, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see
you”, that is indelibly imprinted in our brains from childhood. However, what some
I don’t know is that the phone was developed in a similar way simultaneously
by Elisha Gray, who lost the patent battle by just a few hours in 1876.
Bell succeeded mainly because he understood not only electricity and
the operation of the telegraph, but he had a thorough knowledge of acoustics,
with which most inventors were not so familiar. While he focuses on
mechanics, they were not taking into account the unique qualities of sound that
made voice transmission much more complex than simple clicks of the
Telegraph. With a background in music and acoustics, Bell could address these
problems more easily.
The serendipity that happens plays a role in acceptance.
The phone may not have gained such wide acceptance if, as if it were
Coincidentally, the Centennial Exposition had not been scheduled in Philadelphia for
just a few months later. Hidden on a small table in a dark corner, Bell
he did not expect to attract much attention until he caught the eye of the Emperor
Dom Pedro de Alcantara from Brazil, who was amazed by the invention. Immediately,
all the scientists present were clamoring to study the new invention.
At first, phones were seen as just another fad for entertainment.
purposes than trade, until newspapers and banks reluctantly began using them
to convey information quickly under the free telephone facilities. Tea
the publicity of this made them immediately more popular and soon telephone exchanges
they settled in most major cities.
In the 1880s metallic circuits were developed that allowed long distances
calls, which grew in popularity slowly due to cost. Later, in the
In the 1890s, this was superseded by the development of the party line so that families,
especially in rural areas, you could split the cost of a line.
Direct dialing overcomes operator interference
Until 1891, calls were made by exchange operators, but this was done
by a Kansas City man who invented the direct dialing system because
he was paranoid enough to think that the operators were sending his business calls
to competitors. He was an undertaker.
In 1927 the first transatlantic call was made by radio waves. during both
World Wars, telephone advances grew by leaps and bounds due to the strong
Defense Department spending. Innovations resulting from the war.
Experiments included Bell Telephone’s first mobile phone system, which
moving vehicles connected to landlines via radio. Surprisingly, this was like
in early 1946, a year that also saw the development of coaxial cables for major
transmission improvements with less interference.
In the 1960s, telephones were such a part of the landscape that Bell
The phone could no longer continue to use the alphanumeric codes for the phone.
exchanges (remember using numbers like Normandy-7610?) and changed to longer,
all numeric numbers. At the same time, transatlantic cables were being laid to
accommodates the growing demand for intercontinental telephone communications.

One of the most important changes in the history of the telephone was the launch of the
first telephone satellite in July 1962. TelStar was a joint venture between
Bell and NASA and revolutionized telephone communications like nothing else
come before. Satellites in geosynchronous orbit could now be used for a long time
remote calls without the need to run endless cable lines and eliminated
with the problem of frequent cable damage and repair.
Fiber optics move sound at the speed of light
Fiber optic cables were first used for telephone transmission in 1977, when
both GTE and AT&T installed fiber optic lines in Chicago and Boston. For him
In the mid-1980s, fiber optic cable was the preferred method of telephony.
transmission, as it could carry a much higher volume of calls with much less
interference. Since it also carries information faster and further and resists
lightning strikes, the advantages soon became apparent to the computer and other
industries too.
When the United States government deregulated telephone service, AT&T, the
telephone communications giant, was immediately swamped by competition from
MCI, Sprint and hundreds of smaller local businesses and fiber optic lines coming soon
they were meandering across the country, falling alongside natural rights-of-way
such as gas lines and railways. Phone costs down and a new phone
The service revolution had begun.
Mobile phones take the next step forward
In 1973, Dr. Martin Cooper of the Motorola Corporation made what was probably the
first cell phone call on a portable phone called the Dyna-Tac. After
successful trial, he took him to New York to present the technology to the
audience. By 1977, the cell phone had gone public, but these early models were
cumbersome and generally used by those who were used to keeping in touch by
two way radio. They were in no way considered something that everyone should
have or even want. Initially they were considered a replacement for the mobile
existing phones. The difference with the cell phone was the use of small
“cells” for service range in order to increase the capacity of calls answered,
dramatically increasing the number of calls that can be made by
mobile/cell phone at one time in one area.
The first cellular services used analog technology operating at 800 Megahertz.
in a continuous wave. Over time, the power needs of callers have increased and the
Industry standard moved to a more reliable 1850 MHz with PCS. In 1988, the
The Cellular Technology Industry Association was formed to develop guidelines for
cellular service providers and direct developments and improvements in the cellular network
telephone industry There are now more than 60 million cell phone customers,
a staggering number for a service that has been commercially available for only
thirty years.
Next stop, digital!
While most users still have analog cell phones, the new frontier
it’s definitely digital. Instead of using a continuous wavelength to
transmission, digital cuts the wave into discrete bytes of information and
it sends them in “pulses” of data. The advantage of this is that digital signals tend to
to be more secure when transmitting than analog. It is also a more efficient use.
of bandwidth and provides clearer, cleaner sound quality. If you stream video
clips or photos (as with new video or image cell phones) digital is much
faster, and it will be the undisputed choice when you are integrating cell phone
and Internet.
There is a caveat; however, in that digital it currently transmits through three
different technologies. This can lead to some problems with coverage. If you are
in a TDMA (time division multiple access) system and traveling in an area that
If you have digital coverage that is CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), you can run
in trouble
The answer for now is the combined analog-digital technology that providers
are everything. This offers the great coverage of analog when needed and the great
PCS/digital speed and quality.
The conference call arrives on the scene
Arguably the first real “teleconference” was the party
lines established in the early years of the telephone’s use, although at that time the
The advantages of a shared line for multiple users were not captured, except as a way of
save money. In fact, the fact that several people in different places could
picking up and talking on the line at the same time was considered a nuisance and was
actively discouraged as “eavesdropping”.
When group lines were removed, the idea of ​​multiple conversations faded.
forgotten until companies started looking for ways to conduct meetings over the phone
to save travel expenses and join remote teams. Tea
the concept was revised with new parameters; this time the restrictions were to be
in place, and the lines had to be open only when needed and wanted.
Soon companies from all over the world offered to coordinate conferences.
calls for companies based on flat rates, monthly fees or based on calls
volume, with a trained operator establishing connections between each participant
on a dedicated line so groups of up to ten can talk simultaneously. His
wholesale long distance rates allowed them to pass the savings on to their customers.

Phone makers like Polycom, AT&T, and Panasonic also jumped on the bandwagon.
car, the development of office telephone systems that allowed users to dial a
client, put it on hold, then call a third party and connect all three
callers in a conversation.
However, the Internet soon brought competition to audio conferencing and to
cost of long distance phone calls. Even with lower volume-based fees
purchases and group rates, Internet telephony is gaining ground over the traditional
audio conference calls because it is much cheaper.
VoIP, Internet and the eventual disappearance of traditional telephony
conference
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) soon became popular for the telephone.
communications because it avoids standard phone toll charges
Internet dial-up connections provided near “call quality” voice
communications, and with broadband connections the highest data performance
allowed businesses to use VoIP in conjunction with other Internet services such as
data exchange and video conferencing. With the money saved using VoIP, it seems
obvious that the use of analog phone lines for conference calls will soon be a
thing of the past
Most VoIP audio conferencing technologies give you the ability to network
multiple groups or parties from different geographic locations, so it is
easy to hold an international sales staff meeting. web conferencing solutions
using VoIP from companies like Voxwire, TTCGlobalTalk, and VoiceCafe can
Provide nearly unlimited conference room seating for a meeting, limited only by
VoIP server bandwidth.
As the Internet becomes a standard part of any office equipment suite,
analog telephone services, audio conferences and their equipment soon
become obsolete Audio conferences will increasingly be done on the Internet
using VoIP-based web conferencing services that offer powerful collaboration
services that go beyond simple voice communications. To make calls,
digital phone services such as Vonage and Packet8 that implement VoIP over
Broadband connections will intervene to offer more complete and less expensive services.
calling options to meet the needs of individuals and businesses entering the
future.
This article on “The History of the Telephone” reprinted with
permission.

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