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The telephone has been around for over 100 years, and it continues to change everyday.
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Bell and Thomas Watson experimented with acoutic telegraphy which led to the "gallows" sound-powered telephone, which was able to transmit indistinct, voice-like sounds, but not clear speech. It was revolutionary at the time.
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Francis Blake invents the carbon transmitter which the Bell Company desperately needed in order to stay in business. Still the company is forced to merge with the New England Telephone Company.
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Distortion is reduced when the first phone company, At&t invents "loading coils". This doubles transmission distance of open lines.
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Bell system engineers briefly connected Paris and Virginia in the first ever voice transmission accross the Atlantic. Commercial telephone severice spread through North America and Europe over the next few years.
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After over 10 years of research, Bell labs and AT&T developed the first phone that could be used in cars. It was not very commonplace until more advancements in technology in the 1960s.
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This system assigns telephone numbers to custumers in most of North America based on the area location, the closest switching office, and the line number.
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AT&T introduces the model 500 telephone. Previously, phones had seperate ear and mouth pieces, now the phone was conveniantly combined the ringer and handset.
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In Englewood New Jersey, the first direct longdistance call is made without the assistance of an operator. Within a decade, the service is available nationwide.
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This allowed for better telephone communication between the States and Europe at the time.
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The world's first communications satellite, Telstar, was sent into orbit. Many more came after, expanding the network of television and telephone.
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Push button dialing was much faster than rotary dialing. However, the rotary dial remained in the majority of households until the early 1980s.
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Congress passed a bill for citizens to call a number incase of emergency, 911 was chosen because it was easy to remember and it was not being used. Britian had an emergency number- 999- since the late 1930s
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Martin Cooper (the old man holding a brick to his ear in the picture) makes the first truely portable phone in Bell Labs. He and his team were rewarded a patent in 1975.
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Text messeging is now a very popular way to communicate on phones. It can be used when voice communications is undesirable.
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The invention ofthe camera phone showed how phones may be used for multiple purposes, and it paved the way for future cellular phones.
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Philippe Kahn wired his digital camera to his phone to send a picture of his newborn girl to friends. It was the first picture messege ever sent. Companies made it possible to send pictures on phones.
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As cell phones continued to decrease in size, the number of subscribers skyrocketted. By 2000, the United States had 100 million subscribers, from just 25,000 in 1984.
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When Bell Atlantic buys GTE, it is one of the largest business merges in the United States. The company's name became Verizon Wireless.
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The iPhone starts to ship. This phone allows people more than just talking and texting, It includes music, entertainment and games which you can download onto the phone.
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Iowa Hill, California gets telephone service, it is one of the last places in the United States to get it. Now almost all the United States has service.
