Phones
Phones are, of course, an almost indispensable part of our everyday lives. At home, at work, in our cars, even walking down the street, we are happily tethered to them and, through them, to the rest of our world.
History
Of course, everyone knows that Alexander Graham Bell perfected the telephone in 1876 and that in 1877 he helped found the Bell Telephone Company and the rest, as they say, was history. From a thousand or so phone customers in 1877, the use of phones has more than kept pace with the explosive growth of the world's population.
Look Ma, No Hands
Mobile phones, the precursor to today's ubiquitous cellular phones, made their commercial debut way back in 1947 with limited range car phones.
Cellular technology was conceived back then as well but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) refused the request of AT&T to allocate a large number of radio frequencies towards making expanded and expansive mobile phone service a viable possibility. Without the incentive of possible commercial exploitation, the phone company shelved the idea. The FCC didn't change its position until the late 1960's. By the late 1970's a rudimentary cellular phone network was up and running in Chicago. By the 1980's cellular demand and usage had exploded and, of course, that's a trend that continue to this day.
Before the breakout of cell phones, the early 1980's saw the advent of cordless phones which began to liberate people from the tyranny of phones with wires that limited how far you can roam while using them. The early cordless phones, jammed into a limited range of frequencies by the FCC, had terrible sound quality but that changed quickly and wire-free, hands-free phoning came into its own.
The Future
Today, phone options seem endless. Cell phones are everywhere and doing more and more things everyday (you can take and send photos with them, play games with them, listen to music with them, check the internet with them, and, almost incidentally, you can make phone calls with them).
Land line phones are increasingly powerful and increasingly portable as well. Gone is the chunky black dial-up behemoth a lot of people grew up with and in its place is a rainbow of styles, sizes, and colors…something to please any discerning phone customer.
The future for phones is looking incredibly bright with more power, more features, and more ease of use seemingly just around the corner.
Phones are, of course, an almost indispensable part of our everyday lives. At home, at work, in our cars, even walking down the street, we are happily tethered to them and, through them, to the rest of our world.
History
Of course, everyone knows that Alexander Graham Bell perfected the telephone in 1876 and that in 1877 he helped found the Bell Telephone Company and the rest, as they say, was history. From a thousand or so phone customers in 1877, the use of phones has more than kept pace with the explosive growth of the world's population.
Look Ma, No Hands
Mobile phones, the precursor to today's ubiquitous cellular phones, made their commercial debut way back in 1947 with limited range car phones.
Cellular technology was conceived back then as well but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) refused the request of AT&T to allocate a large number of radio frequencies towards making expanded and expansive mobile phone service a viable possibility. Without the incentive of possible commercial exploitation, the phone company shelved the idea. The FCC didn't change its position until the late 1960's. By the late 1970's a rudimentary cellular phone network was up and running in Chicago. By the 1980's cellular demand and usage had exploded and, of course, that's a trend that continue to this day.
Before the breakout of cell phones, the early 1980's saw the advent of cordless phones which began to liberate people from the tyranny of phones with wires that limited how far you can roam while using them. The early cordless phones, jammed into a limited range of frequencies by the FCC, had terrible sound quality but that changed quickly and wire-free, hands-free phoning came into its own.
The Future
Today, phone options seem endless. Cell phones are everywhere and doing more and more things everyday (you can take and send photos with them, play games with them, listen to music with them, check the internet with them, and, almost incidentally, you can make phone calls with them).
Land line phones are increasingly powerful and increasingly portable as well. Gone is the chunky black dial-up behemoth a lot of people grew up with and in its place is a rainbow of styles, sizes, and colors…something to please any discerning phone customer.
The future for phones is looking incredibly bright with more power, more features, and more ease of use seemingly just around the corner.