The telephone has been around for several decades now and is used worldwide in homes and businesses.  Without this level of communication, our economy would not be what it is.  In fact, we rely so heavily on the use of telephones in our everyday home and work lives that we would struggle without them.

In 1987 Alexander Graham Bell transmitted the first ever communication via electricity.  From this day onwards, communication was never the same again.  Initially, many people were daunted by the prospect of electrically voice communication.  Mr. Bell took his public telephone demonstrations to numerous places to show the benefits of such a fantastic technology.  It didn't take long for people to realise that this would revolutionise methods of communication forever.

When the first phones were installed, they were connected by a single wire.  After 10 years, over 160,000 phones had been installed and a maze of networks connected them, and the people who used them.

Other inventors contributed to the development of the initial telephone.  Thomas Edison created the first transmitter and receiver that would be used for commercial use. 

And shortly afterwards the switchboard was invented.  At this point there were no dialling systems, and a person would operate the phone by picking up the receiver and speaking to an operator who would then connect them to another landline.  Although this was not an ideal system as it lacked privacy, it was a fantastic development in communication.

The telephone continued to develop and become an essential item in everyone's home.  Its ease of use and access to communication over great distances made it one of the greatest technological developments of the century.

But it didn't stop there.  There were still many technological advances to communication methods left to explore.  Fax machines and email just to name a few.  In addition to this though, improvements continued to be made to the telephone.

Telephone headsets became popular for ease of use and superior sound quality, as did mobile phones.  As technology continues to develop so to do communication methods, both new and enhanced.