History_and_Future_Telecommunications

History and Future of Telecommunications Yana Monroe NTC 360/George McNary University of Phoenix March 11, 2008 History and Future of Telecommunications Telecommunications has evolved tremendously since it’s beginning in the mid 1800’s with the first public demonstration of the Morse code. (Webbconsult, 2008) Telecommuting some would say is a way of life. Could people actually live without telecommunications' Probably not, because so much is depended upon the telephone, such as Internet, fax, etc… This paper will discuss a brief history and explain where the world of telecommunications is going. As stated above, telecommunications started with its first public demonstration in the mid 1800’s, by Samuel Morse. Morse code is code that is designed to represent the alphabet and is transmitted through the telegraph. In 1858 after an attempt of the first Atlantic telegraph cable failed, the second attempt was a success in 1866. In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and it was patent in the US. The first words he spoke were, “Watson, come here. I need you.” Although there were recognizable speech sounds, it was hard to understand what was actually being said. In the 1880 pay stations were introduced to New York. These were actually pay stations with attendants rather than now, where one could just go to a payphone, insert coins and be able to talk. In 1885 American Telephone and Telegraph was established, known to many as AT&T. AT&T starts to offer private line service in 1886. The fax machine was invented in 1842 by Alexander Bain, but did not become familiar with the public until the 1980’s. Facsimile was the way of communicating when one party could not be reached and information needed to get to them right away. In 1981 IBM introduces its first desktop computer. In 1983 Microsoft introduces the Windows operating system. The 1980’s was when cable television and cell phones were popular. By 1987 the US reaches one million cellular customers and Integrated Services Digital Network trials begin (ISDN). ISDN is a fully digital telephone service, providing data, voice, and video channels over an existing phone network and is considered to be faster than the Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). In the 1990’s many people started doing business via the World Wide Web. In the year 2000 there was a big scare with the whole Y2K buzz. DSL became the hot service for homes and small businesses using the Internet. The terrorists attacks on September 11th did its damage to an already weak telecom industry, but showed its capabilities as telephone and data networks were back up and running by within just days of the attacks. For some networks it was hours. As for the future, this is the future. Could it get any better than it is now' We already are doing business via communications. Consumers are able to spend in the comfort of their on home or where ever. Cell phones are totally out of control. Cell phones can connect to the Internet. Let’s not discuss text messaging. The telecommunications world is amazing right now, and really what else is there to do. There will be some genius to think of new ideas for this already amazing era we are in. If only Alexander Graham Bell and Samuel Morse could see how there wonderful inventions has shaped the world of telecommunications. References Find Articles, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4070/is_2002_May/ai_86651556, retrieved from the World Wide Web on March 7, 2008 Webbconsult, http://www.webbconsult.com/1800.html, retrieved from the World Wide Web on March 7, 2008