Title: The Evolution of Long-distance Communication | Avatel's Blog
Headings: The Evolution of Long-distance Communication
The Evolution of Long-distance Communication
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Content: Early methods of long-distance communication included runners to carry important messages, smoke signals, chains of searchlights, drums, carrier pigeons, the Pony Express and the telegraph. It was not until the late nineteenth century, however, that man was able to send and retrieve information by less physically limiting ways. In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell ushered in a new era of voice and sound telecommunication with his prototype telephone. The telephone transmitted actual sound messages and made telecommunication immediate. “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” ~ Western Union internal memo, 1876. When the telephone was originally invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, communication across a phone line was only achievable by short distances and was only used to transmit voice. The technology grew quickly from this point, with inter-city lines being built and telephone exchanges in every major city of the United States by the mid-1880s. The telephone made it possible to conduct business affairs across large distances, helping to revolutionize the way that business was done in many different industries.