Telephone - Cell Phones

History 1911 � American Telephone and Telegraph (AT & T) acquire the Western Union Telegraph Company in a hostile takeover. They purchased stocks in the company covertly and the two eventually merged.

In this article we're going to discuss what is arguably the greatest invention since the first telephone was made over 100 years ago, the cell phone.

The telephone was certainly a great invention. No question about it. We could make calls to our friends to invite them over for dinner, our boss to tell him we'd be out sick and our spouses to tell them we'd be home late for dinner. But once we were out of reach of a phone, our communication with the outside world came to a complete stop. If we had to make an emergency call while out on the road we had to either find a pay phone or some business kind enough to let us use theirs, which wasn't likely.

History 1946 � Worlds first commercial mobile phone service put into operation. It could link moving vehicles to a telephone network via radio waves.

Today, that has all changed with the invention of the cell phone. Actually, the concept of the cell phone began in 1947 when researchers looked at crude mobile car phones and realized that if they used small cells they could increase the traffic range of mobile phones. Unfortunately, the technology needed to do this did not exist yet.

History 1900 � First coin operated telephone installed in Hartford, Connecticut.

It wasn't until 1973 when a man by the name of Dr. Martin Cooper, a former GM for Motorola, made the first call on a portable cell phone in April of that year. He made the call to a rival of his, Joel Engel, who was Bell Labs head of research. Ironically, though, it was Motorola that were first to incorporate to the technology into a portable device, the first one to be designed to be used outside of the car.

History 1874 � Principal of the telephone was uncovered.

In 1977 AT&T and Bell Labs constructed their first cellular system. A year later were the first public trials of this new system with over 2000 trial customers. Two years later, in 1979, the first cellular system was put into use in Tokyo.

It wasn't until 1982 that the FCC finally authorized commercial use of cell phones in the United States. One year later the first cellular phone service was established in the United States called the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS). It was made available in Chicago by a company called Ameritech.

History 1876 � Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone, beating Elisha Gray by a matter of hours.

In spite of the incredible demand for cell phones, it took cell phone service 37 years to become available in the United States. But by the year 1987 there were over one million cell phone subscribers and the airwaves were already overcrowded. Because of this, improvements needed to be made, which included increasing frequencies allocation, splitting of existing cells and improving the technology.

Today, we have probably the most sophisticated cell system that anyone could ever want, including cell phones that even take photos. But this hasn't come without many prices to the consumer and the general public around them.

History 1877 � The very first permanent outdoor telephone wire was completed. It stretched a distance of just three miles.

Aside from the high cost of cell service, especially if you go over the minutes allocated to you, there are the increased hazards and annoyances that these phones cause to others, such as going off in the middle of the big finale at a Broadway play or the danger of people using these phones in places like hospitals where the operation of sophisticated equipment can be affected.

Yes, we have our cell phones and all the wonders and headaches that go with them. Like they say, you don't get nothing for nothing.

------------------------------------------------------- Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Telephones -------------------------------------------------------

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Telephone - Caller ID Any Good?

History 1877 � The very first permanent outdoor telephone wire was completed. It stretched a distance of just three miles.

In this article we're going to discuss the pros and cons of a fairly new invention in relation to how long the telephone itself has been around, caller ID.

The first thing, for those who may not know exactly what caller ID is and how it works, is to give a brief explanation of caller ID.

History 1874 � Principal of the telephone was uncovered.

To trace caller ID's history you have to go back to the 1980s. During this time, state public utility commissions from all over the country were trying to agree whether or not to approve telephone company requests for Caller Number ID service (CNID) which had come from the ever increasing annoyances of telemarketing and prank calls. At the time Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) brought up some concerns that were published in their news letters and newspapers printed around the country. Because of these concerns, Public Utility Commissions (PUC) decided that they better get involved in the proceedings that were taking place across the country.

The decisions of each state varied. Some agreed with the CPSR analysis that not having the ability to block one's number from being identified led to right to privacy issues that we are still battling today. In California they actually requested that CNID would not be allowed in their state. The commission however decided to allow it with the provision that the number would only be visible if the person making the call gave permission for this to be done. By default, no numbers would be shown, which effectively made caller ID in California pretty useless. Because of this restriction, telephone companies in California decided not to offer caller ID at all. Meanwhile, in Oregon, certain privacy concessions were made so that the caller ID service was approved.

History 1911 � American Telephone and Telegraph (AT & T) acquire the Western Union Telegraph Company in a hostile takeover. They purchased stocks in the company covertly and the two eventually merged.

Because of the problems that they faced in many states, telephone companies petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue rules on CNID that would apply nationwide. What this ended up doing was just making things worse. The FCC decided to make number blocking the default nation wide, which actually overruled many of the individual state's decisions. Many of the states appealed but the FCC denied all their appeals. This cleared the way for telephone companies to offer CNID with weak privacy protections nationwide. That is what we have today.

History 1955 � Saw the beginning of the laying of transatlantic telephone cables.

But what good is caller ID anyway? Most numbers that call us we probably won't recognize anyway unless they are close friends. What if a company we actually do business with tries to call us? We may not recognize the number. Do we answer the phone or not? The truth is, and many people believe this, answering machines do a better job of screening calls than caller ID. The machine actually answers the call and then if it's important the caller will leave a message and a phone number so we can get back to them.

History 1936 � Research into electronic telephone exchanges began and was eventually perfected in the 1960's with the electronic switching system (SES).

The bigger problem with caller ID is that this allows businesses to collect phone numbers for marketing purposes, which brings up the privacy concerns again.

Whatever side of the fence you're on, caller ID will certainly be a greatly debated topic for many years to come.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Telephones

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