History of the Telephone and Telephone Service

It seems unbelievable that the first electromagnetic telegraph, which enabled electrical signals to travel from one device to another, was built in 1834 by Carl F.Gauss and Ernst H. Weber. Within 10 years, in 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse showcased the telegraph line. But it wasn't until 1860 that Philipp Reis invented a "telephon", the first phone prototype that transmitted the spoken word. However, it wasn't until 1874 Alexander Graham Bell discovered the principle of telephone functionality, after James C. Maxwell explored electromagnetic radiation in 1864 and after transatlantic telephone communication was available between two countries in 1866 via underwater cable. On March 3, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell filed his "Improvements in Telegraphy" under US Patent No. 174,465. But hours later, Elisha Gray applied for a similar patent hours. The dueling patents created legal battles between the two men over whose phone took precedence in patenting the invention. But that was certainly not the end of the journey of telephonic improvements. In 1877 Thomas Edison filed a patent in Britain for the "electro-motograph," using a carbon-based transmitter which is still used in landline telephones today. During the same year, the first permanent outdoor telephone wiring was strung for commercial telephone service in the USA.

Telephone service, just like today, was provided only to "subscribers", meaning businesses and persons who paid a fee for equipment and to make and receive telephone calls. (These came to be billed separately as "equipment" and "service"; later bills also included a "repair of service" cost. New or replacement equipment was always separate, if a "telephone repairman" could not repair the base or receiver.) At first, calls were routed by telephone subscribers' names. So if Sam Henderson's Mercantile Business had telephone equipment, the early wall unit, a caller would simply ask an operator for Sam Henderson. But in 1878, a manner of switching the calls among any number of subscribers came into use, and by 1879, subscribers were designated by numbers rather than names. This change to a number system allowed more subscribers per switching station. By the 1880s, metallic circuits allowed the new establishment of and expansion of "long distance" service; in most areas, this meant each small town and city fell under "local calling" and any number outside the local area was "long distance".

The early 1880s found Thomas A. Edison discovering the flow of electronics in a vacuum, and in 1888 Hammond V. Hayes developed a central battery to supply all telephones on an exchange.

Automatic Dialing

A Kansas City undertaker (e.g. funeral director) patented the first automatic dial system in 1891, which meant callers could dial on their own without using a switchboard operators to make a telephone call. Other advances continued to be made. By 1911, The American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) took control of Western Union Telegraph Company, which until then had been the primary telegraph company throughout the USA; telegraphed messages were commonplace interstate and intercontentental. Once AT&T owned the telegraph company, it began the era of "Ma Bell", a term commonly used by citizens from the mid 1910s through at least the 1980s to designate "the (only) telephone company". "Ma Bell" was the largest telephone company in the US, and its monopoly was felt far and wide, from the common man to the largest companies. In 1915, The Bell System completed its U.S. transcontinental telephone line and everyone in the US had the opportunity to be connected to each other via telephone service. By 1918 the "Bell System" had ten million subscribers with telephones in service.

In the 1940s, cities and towns went by two letter codes for telephone service. As an example, one city area might have been labeled "BA". Each subscriber then had a 4-digit number. So a caller might dial "BA-4457" to reach the party with that number. At first, service in almost all rural areas was "party line", with 3 or more subscribers on each "line". That meant if a neighbor was very talkative or would not give up the line, all the other subscribers were inconvenienced. Party lines also meant that any of those subscribers could "listen in" to your calls, even if you did not want them to do so. The 1950s movie, Pillow Talk, with Doris Day and Rock Hudson is a perfect example of "party line" frustrations between New York City tenants. However, in 1958, an "All Number Calling (ANC)" system was instituted in response to consumer demands for individual telephone numbers. With the ANC, a possible 9,999,999 numbers became available. Subscribers used a 7-digit number, the first three numbers being the exchange in a particular city, and the last 4-digits being the individual subscriber's "telephone number". The 10-digit numbers the US has today uses the same principles, with the addition of 1 to access "long distance" followed by a 3-digit 'Area Code". (Note, in the 1980s, service providers like Sprint and MCI to name two, entered competition with AT&T after the 1974 U.S. Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit against AT&T, known as "United States v. AT&T". The divestiture settlement was finalized on January 8, 1982. The Ma "Bell System" was then broken into local exchange service operating companies. The divestiture invigorated the telephone market, both for equipment and new subscribers. Prices have continued to drop on both equipment and services, though AT&T remains one of the highest priced services for both monthly service and calling plan features.)

This is only a small summary of the invention of the telephone. More information can be found online.

The Impact of the Telephone

Environmental

Most towns and cities already had the overhead street wiring for telegraph and electricity. So the addition of overhead external wires for telephone service did not change a town's appearance very much, except that telegraph poles were typically shorter than the standard "telephone poles" known today. A telephone pole, also known as utility pole, transmission pole, telecommunication pole, power pole, hydro pole, telegraph pole, or telegraph post (source: Wikipedia) has become standardized. In the US, poles are typically 40 ft (12 m) long with about 6 ft (2 m) buried in the ground. But, depending on However, for clearance requirements, poles in some areas may be 120 ft (37 m) or more high. Poles generally are spaced evenly at about 125 ft (38 m) apart for urban areas, or up to 300 ft (91 m) apart in rural areas, depending on terrain. Few citizens would have raised any alarm from an environmental standpoint about the additional wiring.

Like all outdoor wiring, and because of telephone wiring being so near electrical wiring, the wires and transformers can attract lightning. However, in the early days, ceramic resisters, white circular objects placed strategically along wiring reduced the flow of and interference from electricity.

Rain continues to play havoc with coated wiring; squirrels break the covering; sun dries the covering; and ice and thawing create cracks and flaws. Each of these flaws permits rainwater or thawing ice to reach the metal/copper wiring and cause shorts, resulting in static or complete loss of signal.

Economic

As stated, as phone invention impacted local communities, letter writing dropped. This began the slow and painful decline in postal services (now in 2012 reaching catastrophic economic decline for the US Postal Service). From the beginning, however, the telephone ushered in new jobs, from pole installers to linesmen to repairmen (and now women), and switchboard operators previously to in office service representatives. In efforts to reduce costs and because customers resent paying extra fees for services or repair, many traditional services have become automated (reducing the workforce and costs; companies often expect customers to resolve their own repair issues if the customer has not paid a monthly 'repair' fee). In 2011, 26 percent of Americans gave up their landlines-meaning, their HOME service telephones (per study by National Center for Health Statistics. An Atlanta-based tech analyst, Jeff Kagan, estimated that consumers might save anywhere between $180 to $480 each year if they discontinued their landline and used a cellphone (Source: Bankrate website). However, per the 26% statistic, it still means 73% (leaving a 1% margin of error since no statistic can ever be '100%') of people still value landline services. Some reasons people give for their choice of landline versus cellphone include: familiarity and desire to maintain tradition; unreliability of cell phone signal; need for reliability of service for people with disabilities or medical problems; little interest or desire for cell phone features; ease of access to emergency services via 911 (though more 911 centers now use reverse lookup); cost of cellphone equipment and plan; and a customer's lack of credit references/bad credit to move their established landline service to a cell phone provider.

Safety

Most telephone equipment was and is safe for its intended use. However, because landline telephones (the only kind available prior to the 1980s) used electricity for the bell ringer and other components, telephones should not be exposed to water or it could give a shock to a person or short out the telephone equipment. Even today, components in landlines corrode if exposed to too much moisture, creating a green film which "shorts the circuit". Though not a safety risk per se, dust, including old coal dust from coal furnaces (even if now converted to gas or removed), can settle in carpets where friction releases it into the air and allows it to settle in telephone jacks and interfere with service.

The other big safety risk results from drivers who hit telephone poles, bringing the pole and wiring (including live electrical lines) down onto streets and cars.

Social Impact

Socially, our ancestors up until the telegraph relied on word of mouth or personal letters sent via the post office. A letter back then could take weeks to be delivered, with no assurance of delivery. The telegraph, with the first message sent May 24, 1844 by Samuel Morse (from the Supreme Court chamber in Washington, D.C., to the B & O Railroad Depot in Baltimore, Maryland), allowed everyday citizens by the 1850s-1860s to send personal and business messages to another person, for a few. Until 1877, the telegraph was the only rapid long-distance communication which could be 'delivered' from one telegraph agent and deciphered by another agent. The rapidity-or quickness-was determined by how many telegraph orders had been placed prior to yours, and how quick an agent became at tapping out the specific Morse Code for your message. But as said in the telephone history, the telegraph industry met its competitor with the telephone in 1877. As the availability of telephone service spread, fewer people used intra-state and interstate telegraphed messages; they continued using services like Western Union for overseas communication that needed to be delivered swiftly.

More people connected faster and more easily via the telephone. Personal letter writing dropped. Today with cell phones and computer email, fewer and fewer people write to communicate their messages. Even standard invitations, traditionally sent by mail have been replaced by quick phone messages, texting, or E-mail. The development of Answering Services, followed by Answering Machines, and now Voice Mail allow callers to deliver messages with utmost certainty the person will receive the message even if delayed.

However, many historians and philosophers (as well as writers like Mark Twain, poet Benjamin Franklin Taylor, and composer/songwriter Irving Berlin) lamented that the telephone has been the cause of and source of human isolation and loneliness, emphasizing an "alone by the telephone" theme. Though it may be difficult for younger people to imagine, even today billions of people never receive even one daily or even weekly phone call; never have reason to "Reach Out and Touch Someone" (AT&T's popular advertising slogan); have or know no one to 'reach out and touch'; and often only receive "wrong number" calls. In this sense, the telephone has pushed us away from the neighborly one-on-one, face-to-face contact people made with each other before, whether over a backyard fence, at a local diner, or at social and church gatherings. Many older people become more frustrated with technology, including just changing telephone landline equipment, and become more isolated as a result of technology.

Effects on Family

Without a doubt, increased phone use while at home or when with your family decreases and diminishes family relationships and interactions. Teenagers are most likely to have "telephone-itis", but one or both parents may suffer the same condition. Much like being glued to a television set, billions of children and adults find a telephone receiver glued to their ear (or an ear bud or headset), or find themselves speaking in the direction and looking in the direction of a small, flat lit up screen. One day, I suppose, people might catch sight of themselves and wonder if they really look silly, but I'm sure people will debate whether it appears sillier to talk toward a lit up screen or hold a telephone receiver to their ear!

Many families institute no phone meals, to give families quiet time to reconnect 'person to person' and face to face. Often, parents must set the example they wish their children to follow.

Quick Communication of News… and Natural / and Man-made Interferences

I recall very clearly "9-11". I sat in my living room watching the morning news when it was interrupted by a "breaking news story" about a plane flying low in New York City. I reached for the phone to wake a friend since she knows planes and aviation. Just after I insisted "turn on your television to NBC", we both telephonically shared the immediate shock of witnessing the first plane slam into the World Trade Center-"The people!" I cried out and heard my friend reply, "Dear God!" as her two word 'prayer'.

Just as we shared that news event on our private landline phones, millions around the world heard the news transmitted by live broadcasts, often by reporters using cell phones, and millions shared the emerging details we heard with friends, family and neighbors. Indeed, even the doomed passengers on the three flights reached out to their families and emergency services on land via the telephone. However, after the first two planes hit the towers and before the plane hit the Pentagon, the US National Military Command Center (NMCC) attempted an "Air Threat Conference Call" but could not include the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control command center because of equipment problems and lack of secure lines. Therefore, the top commanders situated in Florida and the Cheyenne Mountain never conferred with the FAA headquarters, according to findings of the 9/11 Commission. The destruction of the emergency operations center, located on the twenty third floor of 7 World Trade Center, effectively prevented immediate communication 'on the scene' to and between First Responders. Additionally, calls over the cell phone network of New York City doubled over normal usage rates in the minutes and hours after the attacks, and overloaded the network as traffic doubled over normal levels, resulting in network crashes all along the East Coast.

A more recent example of the telephone's ability to transmit information was during the winter of 2013 Hurricane Sandy that hit New York and New Jersey. But once again, disasters quickly show major flaws in both landline and cell phone service. Storms quickly dismantle both above ground wiring and underground wiring, and lack of electricity renders dead cell phones useless in emergencies.

Sun flares that affect artificial satellites for cell phones can disrupt whole networks. Flooding (both above and below ground) or electrical strikes at switching stations can destroy entire grids for land based telephones. In addition, computerized components used in switching stations (landlines) and in cell phones can experience unexplained and unanticipated failures, in the first case affecting thousands and in the later case affecting an individual user.

Effects on Health

Landlines vs. Cellphones

Most older persons remember at least one-or more-incidents when they believed they must have injured their elbow while on the telephone! The bent elbow position is not comfortable for longer calls.

Today, however, more people debate whether cell phones directly affect the brain from holding a cell phone to the head/ear. Most people believed ear bud headphones the reasonable answer. However, unless a person cleans the buds properly, the bud headphones can lead to ear canal fungal infections.

After phones went from the standard early wall unit, they became corded. By the 1960s customers could buy 100-foot cords for a landline. Thus, the most immediate threat to health (besides hoarseness in long calls) was tripping over the cord as a person moved about the house, carrying a base unit and dragging the cord between the unit and wall jack. Companies responded with making extra long spiral cords for the handset going to the base, but those cords often tangled among their own 'curls' (and caught the curly or long hair of users!).

Both hand sets on landlines and cellphones are susceptible to becoming a fomite-an inanimate object that becomes contaminated with infectious bacteria and viral germs. Land bases and cells should be cleaned daily with a disinfectant (check with your provider for restrictions) and dried completely with a clean cloth. Be aware of germ transmission if you use another person's phone.

Two other health risks are worthy to note. The first involves the throwing of a landline unit in frustration or anger. Several friends hit themselves in the head when the unit bounced off walls. One received a glass splinter in her arm when she threw her phone and hit a window, which shattered on impact.

However! cell phones face a much higher calamity and health risk. Since most 'cells' are placed in a side pocket of slacks/pants or dangle from a carrying place on a belt, far too many phones end up in the toilet-often someone else's toilet. And because people don't typically carry plastic/vinyl/latex gloves, they make a horrid face and reach into the toilet bowl to retrieve the phone. Toilet bowls contain some of the nastiest bacteria, including Staphylococcus bacteria, which can be most difficult to kill, particularly the methicillin-resistant strain known as MRSA. Reaching into a toilet exposes skin, broken cuticles, and fingernails (including under the nail ends) to every bacteria that everyone else deposited in using the same toilet. I, for one, know I will never lose my big telephone land-based unit, with its huge handset, and 100-foot cord into any toilet!

Crying

One other note: crying on either type of phone can temporarily short out components in the microphone area. Besides, phones amplify the worst parts of a crying jag. So, hold your tears!

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