What invention surpasses the telephone?

Answer 1

I would contend that electric power certainly does as does the light bulb (both invented by the same man that invented the telephone, Nikola Tesla).

The internal combustion engine is also a vital part of the modern world. We need these far worse then we need the telephone.

On the medical front, vaccines offer life to otherwise dead humans. Penicillin is also a godsend invention that to those of us alive because of it believe exceeds the telephone.

ADDITION:

an invention better than the telephone is a matter of opinion; in other words, you are asking what people THINK. There is no factual answer.

I think fire and the wheel are the principle inventions of the ages. The telephone, the internal combustion engine, vaccines, penicillin, and even Insulin and battery power would not have been possible without fire and the wheel.