• Home

• Preface

• Alexander Graham Bell

• Telecommunications history

• How the telephone works

• Phone FUN facts

• Why the Phone Works When the Lights GO OUT

• FTTP (Fiber to the Prem)

• Future of Telecommunications

• Crossword Puzzle

• Word Search

• Glossary

• Credits

• Speech by Thomas Watson

Preface

Through the ages, humans have always had the need to share information with others, to communicate. As pre-historic humans developed speech and then the ability to yell real loud, they had reached their limits. They were principally able to talk with their close neighbor and no further. As the need to communicate with the tribe next door or the government in the next country became necessary, all sorts of inventive communication methods were developed.

A few included:

• Drums
• Hilltop Bonfires
• Smoke signals
• Shiny sunlight reflectors
• Lights and Lanterns, “one if by land, two if by sea”
• Flags of differing sizes / shapes / colors
  
• Semaphore flag signaling
• Naval signaling lights
• Message runners (Incas / Aztecs) with knotted strings and ropes
• Carrier Pigeons
• Pony Express