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A Primer on the History of the Telephone

By Jack Spencer

Depending on the amount of time that you have been using the telephone, you might be fascinated to learn a little bit of history about it. I'm not necessarily talking about going all the way back to Alexander Graham Bell but I am referring to the fact that the telephone has really changed quite a bit in recent history.

Most of us are familiar with computers but it wasn't all that long ago that computers were not available and the entire telephone system was operated manually. Operators would answer the telephone calls that were coming in, find out the place where they were heading out and then manually plug them into a large switch board which was in front of them. Although this system worked well for a while, it eventually needed to be upgraded which is why the telephone company made its next move.

This is when the 10 digit telephone number came into existence and it was a huge step forward over the old system of talking to a manual operator. By being able to identify where the call was coming from and where it was going to, using this numerical system, the entire process was able to be automated.

The first three digits of the telephone number were handed out to different areas of the country and they became known as the area code. This is still true, even today. By looking at an area code, you will be able to tell a general area of where the telephone call came from. Although these area codes are being used up rather quickly, there are still plenty of them left and it should work well into the foreseeable future.

After you dial the area code, you will next dial another three digits that will narrow down where your telephone call is going even further. Inside each area code, a combination of some 999 different numbers is available. These are typically assigned to a small area within a city or perhaps a town of medium or smaller size. These three numbers help the computers at the telephone company to route the call even faster.

Most of us are familiar with the pushbutton telephones that are currently being used but just a few short decades ago, the rotary phone was in existence. If you are unfamiliar with the rotary phone, it was a telephone with a large dial on the front which spun in a clockwise direction. You would put your finger in the hole that corresponded with the number that you were dialing and spin it to the right. As it would spin back, a number of clicks would be audible which would let the telephone company know which number you were dialing.

Now, we have cellular telephones and fax machines that are eating up an enormous amount of telephone numbers, along with using additional area codes from the available pool of numbers. Most of us could not imagine a day whenever we did not have the cellular phone, but it wasn't all that long ago that nobody carried them around.

As we continue to push on in the future, it's difficult to tell where the telephone company and technology is going to take us. Until that time, however, the simple area code in 10 digit telephone number will continue to be something that we can use to our benefit.

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