| Using the Telephone, Yesterday and Today |
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| Electronics - Mobile Phones |
| Written by Jack Spencer |
| Monday, 29 June 2009 09:31 |
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If you have only been using the telephone for a limited number of years, you might be interested in reviewing a little bit of history about this device. Although it is not necessary for us to go the whole way back to the original telephone, just going back a couple of decades would be enough to fill an encyclopedia of knowledge.
If you have only been using the telephone for a limited number of years, you might be interested in reviewing a little bit of history about this device. Although it is not necessary for us to go the whole way back to the original telephone, just going back a couple of decades would be enough to fill an encyclopedia of knowledge. It wasn't all that long ago whenever a human operator sat at a large switchboard and manually connected different phone calls that were taking place. By plugging in a wire to wherever the phone call was being routed to, they have the power to connect and disconnect at will, the phone calls that were under their control. It was not very long, however, until the phone company began to see the need to automate the system a little bit further. The 10 digit telephone system came into existence during this time, and it is one that we are still familiar with using today. The computers that are at the telephone company are able to use the various parts of this 10 digit number in order to route the calls effectively and without delay. By recognizing where the number is coming from and where it is going, it is not necessary to manually plug-in switches any longer. 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. The next three digits that you dial whenever you are dialing a 10 digit number is more localized than the area code. Since there are 999 different variations that can be used within any given area code, it helps you to narrow down exactly where the telephone number is going to. This also helps the computers to route the call quickly. 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. Even though the house phone continues to be the most popular in use, many of us are moving away from using it in favor of using a cell phone. Fax machines are also in existence in almost every office and this is using up the number of different telephone numbers and area codes rather quickly. We still are not in danger of running out of area codes, but it is possible that we will see a day where the system needs to change again It would be nice to be able to peer into the future and see what the technological advances are going to bring to us. Until that time, however, the simple 10 digit number is all that is necessary for us to talk to anybody, at any place in the country. About the Author: A complete listing of West Virginia area codes is available on our website. Visit us today for free |