2. Introductory note
This is a presentation made for general knowledge and not
for academic reference. Please see source list for details on
quoted facts.
3. Contents
• Definition of the telephone
• A timeline
• Telephone use
• Smart phone explained
• Source list
4. Definition
Telephone: “An instrument that converts voice and other sound
signals into a form that can be transmitted to remote locations and
that receives and reconverts waves into sound signals.”-
thefreedictionary.com
5. A timeline
After Alexander Graham Bell was granted the telephone patent in 1876, the telephone went onto form one of the most
researched technological developments in history.
The Plusnet Community blog has a list of the most significant dates mentioned in their post on “Broadband and phone - a
look at Bell, the telephone and how far we've come”:
• 1876: The telephone patent was granted to Alexander Bell, who made the world’s first telephone call to his assistant,
Thomas Watson. The pair celebrated by doing a victory dance in their rented rooms, leading their landlady to threaten them
with eviction.
• 1877: The construction of the world’s first telephone line (between Boston and Massachusetts) was completed. The first
switchboard was set up (in Boston).
• 1878: Bell set up his first telephone company, now known as AT&T. The first telephone book was published by the New
Haven District Telephone Company. The first telephone was installed in the White House by the President Rutherford B.
Hayes administration. The first outgoing call from the White House went to Alexander Bell, who was told by the President
to speak more slowly.
• 1880: By the end of this year, there were 47,900 telephones in the USA. Bell developed the Photophone – establishing
himself as the father of fibre optic communication.
• 1882: The patent for the first telephone switchboard was granted to Leroy Firman.
• 1886: The first Yellow Pages directory was published.
6. • 1889: The patent for the first coin-operated pay phone was granted to William Gray.
• 1937: The first long distance phone lines were laid underground, instead of being strung between poles.
• 1941: The first ‘Touch Tone’ phone was installed.
• 1947: Research into mobile phone technology began.
• 1951: Direct dialling was first trialled in Englewood, New Jersey.
• 1964: The videotelephone was put into service for the first time – between New York, Washington and Chicago. It
was not well used or received.
• 1970s: The first cordless phones were introduced.
• 1970: Optical fibre was successfully developed by Corning Glass Works, 90 years after Bell invented the Photo
phone.
• 1971: The patent for the first computerised telephone exchange was granted to Erna Schneider Hoover of Bell
Labs.
• 1977: General Telephone and Electronics sent the first live telephone traffic through fibre optic cabling.
• 1982: The patent for Caller ID was granted to Carolyn Doughty of Bell Labs.
• 1991: The World Wide Web was invented
7. Telephone use
Telephones are now used in a variety of settings such as:
• In service buildings: phone systems are set up in places like
hospitals and welfare points to connect people with individual
departments or offices within those buildings i.e. connecting you
with a specialist doctor at a major hospital with several offices
and several doctors via a main phone number that you go
through via a reception of some kind
• At home: we use a landline phone (connected to a telephone
cable) less nowadays given the fact that most of us own cell
phones but these still serve as portals for broadband internet and
fax machines.
8. Smart phone explained
The smart phone is steadily replacing the traditional phone such as the landline
or phone box. We may all have a smart phone but what is it?
“A smartphone is a mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with
more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a feature phone.
The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a
personal digital assistant (PDA) and a mobile phone or camera phone.
Today's models also serve to combine the functions of portable media players,
low-end compact digital cameras, pocket video cameras, and GPS navigation
units. Modern smartphones typically also include high-resolution touchscreens,
web browsers that can access and properly display standard web pages rather
than just mobile-optimized sites, and high-speed data access via Wi-Fi and
mobile broadband.” - Wikipedia
9. Source List
• For quoted sources please click through to original pages where
information was quoted from:
• thefreedictionary.com
• Broadband and phone - a look at Bell, the telephone and how far
we've come
• Wikipedia
