Telecommunications

April 3, 1973

Martin Cooper, considered the “father of the cellular phone”, makes the first cell phone call on a New York City street.

March 27, 1884

The first truly long distance telephone call was made by Alexander Graham Bell to his assistant Mr. Watson from Boston to New York City. The call lasted 90 minutes before the line failed. However this call was done as an experiment using copper wire instead of galvanized iron. Spanning a distance of 235 miles for the experimental call, its success proved the feasibility of using copper wiring and opened the possibility of long distance telephone service which eventually spread around the country and the world.

March 10, 1876

Alexander Graham Bell makes the fateful call to his assistant, Mr. Watson, which is considered the first phone call in history: “Mr. Watson come here I want you.”

March 7, 1926

Exactly 50 years to the day that Alexander Graham Bell received a patent that made the telephone possible, the first transatlantic telephone call was made from London to New York. Using radio communication technology because phone voltages were too low to transmit through underwater transatlantic cables, commercial service would start less than a year later on January 7, 1927 at the cost of $75 for the first three minutes. 

March 7, 1876

Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent (US No. 174,465) for an “Improvement in Telegraphy,” which will later come to be known as the variable resistance telephone.

February 28, 1885

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone. Eventually the companies would “merge” and thus AT&T was born.

February 24, 1962

The first satellite telephone and television relays are established through the communications satellite Echo 1. The satellite was basically a big metallic balloon that simply bounced microwaves off its surface. Simple, but effective.

February 23, 2005

The discovery of the first mobile phone virus, Cabir, is accounced. Specifically, Cabir is a worm which infects phones running the Symbian OS. Whenever an infected phone is activated, the message “Caribe” is displayed. Infected phones also attempts to spread the virus through Bluetooth signals.

February 21, 1878

The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut by the New Haven Telephone Company. It lists twenty-one names. You probably have at least twice as many names in your cell phone today!

February 16, 1968

In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.