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Take a look back at the history of
how VoIP technology came into existance. The following article
is a condensed version of the History of the Telephone.
It covers the last 130+ years of
Telephony. It is a good overview of how we finally
arrived at VoIP.
For a list of top VoIP
providers including popular VoIP providers like Packet8 and
Vonage visit www.VoIPChoices.com . Pricing starts at $19.95/month for Unlimited
calling to the U.S. and Canada. You can compare VoIP
providers side-by-side by price as well as
features. Be informed and save!
History of the Telephone --
from Bell to VoIP and Beyond
By Lori
Wilkerson
Everyone knows the story of Alexander Graham
Bell inventing the telephone. There’s the story of Bell’s first
words, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you,” that’s indelibly
printed on our brains from childhood. However, what some don’t know
is that the telephone was developed in a similar form simultaneously
by Elisha Gray, who lost the patent battle by only a few hours in
1876.
Bell was successful primarily because he
understood not only electricity and the workings of the telegraph,
but had a thorough understanding of acoustics, which most inventors
weren’t all that familiar with. While focusing on the mechanics,
they weren’t taking into account the unique qualities of sound that
made transmitting speech so much more complex than simple clicks of
the telegraph. With a background in music and acoustics, Bell could
address these issues more readily.
Chance happening plays role in
acceptance
The telephone may not have gained such wide
acceptance if, as if by serendipity, the Centennial Exhibition
hadn’t been scheduled in Philadelphia for only a few months later.
Tucked away at a small table in an obscure corner, Bell did not hope
to garner much attention until he drew the attention of the Emperor
Dom Pedro de Alcantara of Brazil, who was amazed by the invention.
Immediately, all the scientists in attendance were clamoring to
study the new invention.
At first telephones were seen as a fad that
were more for entertainment purposes than commerce, until newspapers
and banks began grudgingly using them to convey information quickly
by virtue of free phone installations. The publicity from this made
them immediately more popular and soon phone exchanges were set up
in most major cities.
In the 1880’s metallic circuits were developed
that allowed for long distance calls, which grew in popularity
slowly because of the cost. Later, in the 1890’s, this was overcome
by the development of the party line so that families, especially in
rural areas, could split the cost of a line.
Direct dial overcomes operator interference
Until 1891, calls were put through by exchange
operators, but this was done away with by a Kansas City man who
invented the direct dial system because he was paranoid enough to
think that the operators were sending his business calls to
competitors. He was an undertaker.
In 1927, the first transatlantic call was made
over radio waves. During both World Wars, telephone advancements
grew by leaps and bounds because of heavy spending by the Defense
Department. Innovations resulting from war-time experiments included
Bell Telephone’s first mobile telephone system, which connected
moving vehicles to landlines via radio. Surprisingly, this was as
early as 1946, a year that also saw the development of coaxial
cables for major transmission improvements with less interference.
In the 1960’s, telephones were so much a part
of the landscape that Bell Telephone could no longer continue to use
the alpha-numeric codes for telephone exchanges (remember using
numbers like Normandy-7610?) and switched to longer, all numeric
numbers. At the same time, transatlantic cables were being laid to
accommodate the increased demand for intercontinental telephone
communication.
One of the most important shifts in telephone
history was the launch of the first telephone satellite in July of
1962. TelStar was a joint venture between Bell and NASA and
revolutionized telephone communications like nothing that had come
before. Satellites in geosynchronous orbit could now be used for
long distance calls without the need for laying endless lines of
cable and did away with the problem of frequent cable damage and
repair.
Fiber optics move sound at the speed of
light
Fiber Optic Cables were first used for
telephone transmission in 1977, when both GTE and AT&T laid
Fiber Optic lines in Chicago and Boston. By the mid-1980’s, fiber
optic cable was the preferred method of telephone transmission,
since it could carry a much higher volume of calls with much less
interference. Since it also carries information faster and farther
and resists lightning strikes, the advantages soon became obvious to
the computer and other industries as well.
When the United States government deregulated
telephone service, AT&T, the telephone communications giant, was
immediately inundated with competition from MCI, Sprint and hundreds
of smaller local companies and soon fiber optic lines were snaking
around the country, being dropped along side natural rights of way
such as gas lines and railroads. Telephone costs dropped and a new
telephone service revolution had begun.
Cellular phones take the next step
forward
In 1973, Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola
Corporation made what was probably the first cellular telephone call
on a portable handset called the Dyna-Tac. After a successful test
run, he took it to New York to introduce the technology to the
public. By 1977, the cell phone had gone public, but these first
models were cumbersome and generally used by those who were used to
keeping in touch by two-way radio. By no means were they considered
something that everyone should have or even want. They were
initially considered a replacement for the mobile phones already in
existence. The difference with cellular was the use of small “cells”
for range of service in order to increase the capacity of calls
handled, dramatically increasing the number of calls capable of
being made by mobile/cellular phone at one time in one
area.
The first cellular services used analog
technology operating at 800 Megahertz in a continuous wave. Over
time, the power needs of callers increased and the industry standard
moved to a more reliable 1850 MHz with PCS. In 1988, the Cellular
Technology Industry Association was formed to develop guidelines for
cellular service providers and steer developments and improvements
in the cell phone industry. There are now well over 60 million
cellular telephone customers, a staggering number for a service that
has been commercially available for only thirty years.
Next stop, digital!
While the majority of users still have analog
cell phones, the new frontier is definitely digital. Rather than
using a continuous wavelength for transmission, digital chops up the
wave into discreet bytes of information and sends them in “pulses”
of data. The up side to this is that digital signals tend to be more
secure when transmitted than analog. It’s also a more efficient use
of bandwidth and provides clearer, cleaner sound quality. If you
transmit video clips or photos (like with the new video or picture
cell phones) digital is much faster, and will be the choice
hands-down when you’re integrating the cell phone and the
Internet.
There is a caveat; however, in that digital
currently transmits through three different technologies. This can
lead to some problems with coverage. If you are on a TDMA
(time-division multiple access) system and traveling in an area that
has digital coverage that’s CDMA (code-division multiple access),
you could run into problems.
The answer for now is the combined
analog-digital technology that providers are touting. This offers
the great coverage of analog when needed and the great speed and
quality of PCS/digital.
Telephone conferencing arrives on the scene
The first real “audio conferencing” could be
said to have been the party lines set up back in the early years of
telephone use, although at that time the advantages of a party line
for multiple users weren’t grasped except as a way to save money. In
fact, the fact that several people in different locations could pick
up and talk on the line at the same time was considered a nuisance
and was actively discouraged as
“eavesdropping.”
When party lines were phased out, the idea of
multiple conversations were forgotten until businesses began seeking
ways to carry on meetings via telephone in order to save travel
expenses and link teams together over distances. The concept was
revisited with new parameters; this time restrictions needed to be
in place, and the lines had to be open only when needed and
desired.
Soon companies around the globe were offering
to coordinate conference calling for companies based on either flat
rates, monthly fees or based on call volume, with a trained operator
setting up connections between each participant on a dedicated line
so that groups of up to ten could talk simultaneously. Their bulk
long-distance rates enabled them to pass savings along to their
customers.
Telephone manufacturers like Polycom, AT&T
and Panasonic also jumped on the bandwagon, developing office
telephone systems that enabled users to dial a client, put them on
hold then call up a third party and connect the three callers into
one conversation.
The Internet soon brought competition,
however, to audio conferencing and the cost of long distance
telephone calls. Even with lower rates based on bulk purchasing and
group rates, Internet telephony is gaining ground on traditional
telephone audio conferencing because it’s so much cheaper.
VoIP, the Internet and the eventual demise
of traditional telephone conferencing
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) soon
became popular for telephone communications because it avoids the
toll charges of standard telephone connections. Dial-up internet
connections provided near “toll-quality” voice communications, and
with broadband connections the increased data throughput enabled
businesses to use VoIP in conjunction with other Internet services
like data sharing and video conferencing. With the money saved using
VoIP, it seems obvious that using analog phone lines for telephone
conferencing will soon be a thing of the past.
Most VoIP audio conferencing technologies give
you the capability to network multiple groups or parties from
different geographical locations, making it simple to hold an
international sales taff meeting. Web conferencing solutions using
VoIP from companies such as Voxwire, TTCGlobalTalk and VoiceCafe can
provide almost unlimited conference room seats for a meeting,
limited only by the bandwidth of the VoIP server.
As the Internet becomes a standard part of any
suite of office equipment, analog telephone services, audio
conferencing and their equipment will soon become obsolete. Audio
conferencing will be done more and more on the Internet using VoIP
based web conferencing services offering powerful collaborative
services that go beyond just simple voice communications. For
placing calls, digital phone services like Vonage and Packet8 that
implement VoIP over broadband connections will step in to offer less
expensive, more comprehensive calling options to meet the needs of
individuals and companies going into the
future.
This article on the "The History of the
Telephone" reprinted with permission.
Copyright © 2004 Evaluseek
Publishing
About the Author
Lori Wilkerson is a
full-time freelance writer who loves her job because it gives her
the opportunity to learn more about the world every day. Right now,
she knows a little bit about almost everything, and a lot about
audio conferencing, VoIP telephony, and communication system
protocols. She has two dogs who are spoiled and one teenager who is
not. She does her audio conferencing in pink bunny
slippers.
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