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Telecom Observations from the Seamless Expo in Saudi Arabia

Observations and takeaways from Saudi Arabia Seamless Expo

I had the opportunity to represent Global Call Forwarding at the Seamless Middle East 2024 Expo in Riyadh. Having worked in telephony and communications for so many years, I’m always …Read More »

What is Call Transcription? 8 Use Cases

what is call transcription

Managing numerous sales and support calls daily can often lead to missed details and oversights due to multitasking or information overload. With AI Call Transcription, your team doesn’t have to …Read More »

What are Phone Number Tags? 6 Ways to Use

what are phone number tags

Managing a myriad of inbound and outbound phone lines efficiently can often become chaotic and disorganized. This is especially true for businesses that may have different phone numbers for different …Read More »

AI in VoIP Technology Trends (2025)

AI in VoIP Technology Trends

VoIP and cloud telephony have become staple tools for global business communication. Its ability to deliver voice calls over the internet has changed how we stay connected—both in businesses and …Read More »

Setting Up Customer Support for Your Global E-Commerce Business

Setting up customer support for a global ecommerce brand.

A robust global support strategy is necessary to expand and grow in international markets. Catering to global customers comes with the challenge of providing seamless and consistent support across different …Read More »

Global Call Forwarding Launches New Call Transcription Feature

call transcription PR

Global Call Forwarding launches a new Call Transcription feature that enables customers to view, analyze, and share call transcripts. DELRAY BEACH, FL, July 2024 Global Call Forwarding, a leading provider …Read More »

The History of Mobile Phones

Mobile phone technology has progressed significantly since ‘cell phones’ were first invented. The first modern portable handset was invented by Dr. Martin Cooper in 1973. Motorola sought to build a personal telephone that belonged to an individual rather than a home or a desk.

1973 – 1980s – 1G

Dr. Cooper was an engineer and general manager at Motorola at the time he invented the cell phone. The prototype developed by Dr. Cooper weighed almost two and a half pounds and was larger than today’s office phones. In 1973, he placed the first call from a portable phone – to a rival engineer at Bell Labs.

After Dr. Cooper’s revolutionary creation, it took nearly ten years for mobile phones to reach the market. Motorola rolled out the first commercial mobile phone in 1983, the DynaTAC 8000X, costing $3,995. The cost of Motorola’s first phone today would be $9600 after accounting for inflation! Mobile phone technology was relatively underdeveloped at the time, operating on an analogue cellular network.

1990s – Digital Cellular

Consistent with the rapid technological advancements of the 1990s, cellular phone technology improved exponentially. In the 1990s, a 2nd generation of mobile phone systems was created. Two systems vied for global supremacy: the U.S. developed CDMA standard and the European developed GSM standard.

Along with the new ways of transmitting information, cellular phone technology was advancing. Smaller batteries and improved energy-efficiency devices enabled companies to create smaller cell phones. While the brick-sized Motorola DynaTAC 8000 weighed 28 ounces, newer phones in the 90s weighed between 3.5 and 7 ounces.

The 2nd generation of phone systems introduced text messaging and the ability to access web content from mobile phones. Custom ringtones were incredibly popular among mobile phone users. Of course, SMS/text messaging has been a huge success. ‘Texting’ is the preferred medium for communications among millennials. In addition, four out of five people use texting for business communications.

Nokia was a leader in the mobile phone industry during the 1990s. Nokia launched an early mobile phone with vibrations, and later introduced ‘Snake’ to cell phone users.

The first full internet service on a cell phone was introduced in 1999. However, this internet access was different from accessing the mobile internet.

2000s – 3G/4G

During the 1990s, cell phone use started to become commonplace and the demand for cellular data increased. More people sought access to the internet from their mobile phones and people sought faster data speeds.

Engineers in the industry began developing ‘Mobile Broadband’ to satisfy mobile phone users. 2G technology utilized circuit switching for data transmission. The major change from 2G to 3G was the use of packet switching to replace circuit switching. It wasn’t until 3G technologies that mobile phone users could access the mobile internet.

In 2007, Apple rolled out the first iPhone in the United States. The iPhone was a revolutionary device with full internet access, a touch screen and all the functions of a traditional camera phone and mp3 player. Apple has continued to make improvements to the iPhone and there are now more than 100 million iPhone in the United States.

By 2009, engineers began developing a 4th generation of technology to accommodate bandwidth consuming applications like streaming media. The 4th generation is called Native IP Networks.

Cell Phones Today

Like most electronics, improvements in mobile phone technology came about exponentially. Today’s cell phones have capabilities that are likely beyond the imagination of Dr. Martin Cooper. There are almost as many cell-phone subscriptions as there are people on this earth. The advancement of mobile phone technology is bound to continue in future years. What innovations would you most like to see in coming years?

The Invention of the Telephone

Earlier today, Apple unveiled two new iPhones: the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus. The tech giant announced newer models in its immensely popular line of smartphones. Smart phones today come with advanced mobile operating systems, which combine features of a mobile telephone with features of a personal computer.

Mobile telephones like the iPhone are currently some of the most widely used communications devices in the world. In the United States, nearly everyone has a cell phone – including your kids! China has an astronomical 1,100,000,000 cell phones in use.

Although in existence for more than 100 years, telephone usage and demand has been steadily increasing. There is tremendous use for telephones in business communication in addition to the use of personal mobile phones. For such a widely used device, the history of the telephone is rarely discussed.

The History of the Telephone

Alexander Graham Bell’s greatest success was accomplished on March 10, 1876, when he completed a monumentally successful experiment with the telephone. According to his journal entry dated 10 March 1876, Bell spoke these famous words, “Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you.” This marked the first time he was able to “talk with electricity.”

However, the story behind the invention of the telephone has been surrounded by controversy. Two inventors in the 1870s both independently designed devices that could transmit speech electronically. Within hours of each other, Elisha Grey and Alexander Graham Bell rushed their designs to the patent office.

According to official records, Bell was the first to register his patent by a matter of hours. The two entered a notorious battle over the years regarding the true inventor of the telephone. Alexander Graham Bell emerged as the winner of the legal battle, and thus was declared the official inventor of the telephone.

Telegraphs as a way of communicating

Telegrams were the major form of communication before telephones were invented. For those unfamiliar with telegraphy – a telegram is a message sent by an electrical telegraph operator using Morse code. Users were limited to receiving and sending one message at a time. Telegrams were used to transmit and receive messages over long distances.

Imagine for a second how difficult it was to communicate with somebody using telegraphy. The process required electric telegraph operators, Morse code and wires! Cell phones are so easy to use.

The wire-based telegraph system was highly successful for more than 30 years. The Western Union Telegraph Company bought out smaller companies during the 1800s and rapidly extended its lines to become the dominant player in the early telecommunications industry. In fact, Western Union even built the first transcontinental telegraph line. However, two inventors in the 1870’s would drastically change telecommunications for a long time.

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh Scotland. Bell’s parents and grandparents were instructors in elocution and the correction of speech. Bell dropped out of high school and university, and his early career involved teaching deaf people. He taught at the Clarke School for the Deaf and at the American School for the Deaf.

While pursuing a teaching career, Bell began researching telecommunications on the side. Bell imagined potential innovations to the telegraph system.

Multiple message telegraphs

Alexander Graham Bell imagined sending multiple messages over the same wire simultaneously. He envisioned a multiple message telegraph that would allow users to send and receive several messages at the same time, rather than a single message.

In 1974, Bell received funding from father-in-law/Boston attorney Gardiner Greene Hubbard to create the “future of telecommunications” – the multiple message telegraph.

Bell worked on the multiple message telegraph and eventually enlisted the services of Thomas Watson, a young electrician. However, the pair began exploring a new idea – developing a device that would transmit speech electronically.

The harmonic telegraph

The two discovered that different tones would vary the strength of an electric current in a wire. Bell and Watson realized they only needed to build two devices for this to work. First, a working transmitter that is able to vary electric currents. Second, a receiver that would reproduce these varied currents.

On June 2, 1875, Alexander Graham Bell was first able to hear sound – a twanging clock spring – over a wire using his “harmonic telegraph” device. Less than one year later, the telephone was born, marking the death of the multiple telegraph idea.

Being able to “talk with electricity” presented vast opportunities to communicate with others.

The future of the telephone

Apple’s announcements today did more than unveil the newest iPhone 7. The announcements showed how far telephones have come. Alexander Graham Bell would probably not recognize his “harmonic telegraphs” today.

Still, the innovations to telephones have been so useful to hundreds of millions of people. Telephones and softphones are still widely used in business today and new features exist that enable landlines to do so much more than transmit voices. In addition, many companies are opting for alternatives to PSTN. Major innovations have altered the field of telecommunications. What’s next?