History of

Telecommunications
Outline
• What is Telecommunications?
• The time before phones
• Who actually invented the telephone?
• 1900 – 1982 – Regulated AT & T Monopoly
• 1982 – Long Distance Competition
• 1996 – Local dial tone competition
• 2000 and Beyond – WWW, internet phones
Telecomm. Definition
• Transmission of signals over a distance for the
purpose of communication.
– The word telecommunication is adapted from a
French word. It is a compound of the Greek prefix
tele, meaning 'far off', and communication, meaning
'to transfer information'.
• 3 parts:
– Transmitter
– Medium
– Receiver
Telecomm. Definition

• What are some

examples of
Telecommunication
systems?
– Name the mediums for
each.
Time before Phones

• 1831 – Professor Joseph

Henry, Albany, NY – Ring a
bell at a distance by
connecting and disconnecting
wires.
• May 24, 1844 -- Samuel
Morse sends from Baltimore to
Washington, D.C. “What hath
God wrought.”
– Numbers 22:23
– Morse code
Time before Phones

• 1854 – 25,000 miles of telegraph wires have

been laid across the US.
– Train schedules, weather, important news
• 1864 – A telegraph line spans the entire
continental US
– Western Union is formed.
• 1866 – Trans Atlantic telegraph
– 8 words a minute
• Very costly
Who invented the Phone?

• 1861 – Johann Reiss, a German physics

teacher, completed an almost working
version of a telephone.
– Used: sausage skin, beer barrel, platinum bar
– Function: sent musical notes to a receiver that
could play them.
– Downsides: same idea as the telegraph;
making and breaking a circuit. Not continuous.
Who invented the Phone?

• 1871 – Antonio Meucci, an Italian immigrant living

in New York, files a caveat (an announcement of
invention) of a talking telegraph. However, due to
financial hardships, he is unable to pay for a full
patent when the caveat is due 3 months later.
– Had a working prototype.
– Honored in 2002 by Congress.
Who invented the Phone?
• February 14, 1876 (Valentine’s Day), Boston, MA
– US Patent Office
– 9:30 AM – Elisha Gray (or his lawyer) files a caveat for
an invention described as “the art of transmitting vocal
sounds or conversations telegraphically through an
electric circuit.”
– 11:30 AM – Alexander Graham Bell’s lawyer files AND
pays for a patent described as "Improvements in
Telegraphy.“
– 2:30 PM – Elisha Gray’s caveat is paid for so that a
patent can be granted.
Who invented the Phone?

Elisha Gray (1878)

Alexander Graham Bell (1867)
Who invented the Phone?
• US Patent 174,465
– Said to be the most valuable patent ever
• Over 600 lawsuits were filed in the 1800’s over it.
• Awarded to:
– Bell in 1876

Bell tried to sell the patent rights to

Western Union in 1876 for $100,000.

Western Union said the patent was

worthless; who’d want voice when the
telegraph still work?
Who invented the Phone?
• More about Alexander Graham Bell:
– Wife was deaf.
– Wanted to communicate to her at a distance.
– 1874 – phonoautograh made out of a dead man’s ear.
• Ear’s membrane vibrated differently based on the intensity of
the sound. Used to switch a lever on and off and “write”.
• He thought that by using a membrane to convert sounds of
varying intensity into electrical current of varying intensity and
then reversing the process on the other end with another
membrane, he could replicate speech over long distances.
Who invented the Phone?
• Bell’s first phone used a metal disk attached to a
rod floating in acid to create a variable resistance.
– A change in intensity made the disk vibrate differently.
• 1877 – Thomas Edison invents the carbon
microphone.
– Used in phones until late 1970’s
• A phone produced from around 1900 on will still
work on today’s phone network.
Who invented the Phone?
• When the patents were filed, Bell’s phone didn’t
work.
– Gray’s was a better design
• March 10, 1876:
– “Mr. Watson, Come here! I want you!”
– First telephone message.
• A one wire, copper system was
used at first.
A 2 wire system was invented in 1881
- Much clearer conversation.
- Insulated by cotton/rubber and twisted
Who invented the Phone?
• Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the
first US patent for a device which ultimately
became the telephone.
• Who invented the telephone is very
debatable.
1877 - 1900
• 1877 – Bell telephone company formed.
• 1877 – Western Union forms the American Speaking
Telephone Company using Gray’s invention.
– All phones are party lines initially (without switches).
• 1877 – In July, a druggist in New Hartford, Connecticut
invents the switchboard.
1877 - 1900
1877 - 1900
• Ringers:
– Thumper (pre switchboard)
– 1878: Thomas Watson
invents the ‘Magneto’
• An AC current sent down the line
that would make a hammer
move back and forth between 2
bells.
– The first non-voice signal that
the telephone system used.
1877 - 1900

• 1891 – An undertaker named Almon Strowger in

Kansas City, Missouri invents the first phone that
uses a keypad
– Also uses automatic connections from the central office
using electromagnetic rods.
• Automatic switching didn’t take hold, however.
– 1921 – first automatic system installed in Omaha,
Nebraska.
– It wasn’t until after well after WW 2 that automatic
systems were the norm.
• Think of the Andy Griffith Show.
1877 - 1900

Strowger’s Phone
1877 - 1900
• 1879 – Because of the measles epidemic in
Massachusetts, a doctor recommends
numbering phone lines instead of using names.
– The system was eventually expanded to a 2 letter, 5
number system
– The first 2 letters identified the state / CO.
– The next number identified the CO.
– The last 4 numbers identified the customer.
• PE 6-5000
– This system was used until the 1950’s and beyond.
1877 - 1900
• 1896 – Invention of the rotary dial phone.
– Less wiring and cheaper.
1900 – 1982 Monopoly
• 1899 – American Bell is acquired/renamed AT & T
– American Telephone and Telegraph.
• Many companies entered the phone market
around this time.
– None were interconnected.
– You had to have the same carrier.
– You had to buy your phone from your provider and they
owned the network.
– AT & T eventually become a natural monopoly by the
1920’s for long distance calls.
• This was allowed by law.
– No competition and expensive.
1900 – 1982 Monopoly
• January 8, 1982 – AT & T is broken up:
– AT & T was broken up into 23 Bell Operating
Companies, that would compete against AT &
T in the telephone long distance market.
– AT & T had to let other companies use their
network.
– AT & T would only be in the long distance
market →Very Bad.
– AT & T was bought by one of its children (SBC)
in 2005.
1996 – Telecommunications Act
• February 1996 –
– There can now be competition in the local market.
– The telephone industry was deregulated.
– You can now get local, long distance, cellular, high
speed Internet, and digital cable all from one provider,
all over the same network.
• Prices go way down.
• Who owns the Internet? Who owns the telephone
network? Are they even separate networks?
– Circuit switched vs. packet switched.
– QOS
2000 and Beyond
• The telephone network is now all digital, up to the
end user’s home (local loop).
– Some are digital – DSL.
– Most are analog phones.
• Is telephony going to become just another
application of the Internet?
– Maybe
• Many applications exist that we haven’t talked
about:
– Caller ID (1991), 911 emergency service (1968),cellular
phones (1984)