Telephone History Off Shoots

"Video conferencing and photo phones never became a 'must have' tool for business because many people do not like being on camera. The telephone allows people to hide behind the receiver and be unknown to the other person. Video conferencing allows everyone within the cameras eye to see and hear the people on the other end. ... (The company I worked for) had to place a large satellite dish on the roof and hook up special cameras, microphones and a computer box to relay the signals. It wasn't difficult to use, but it was very expensive, so only executive management got scheduled to use it. Later, the personnel department would hold training conferences where a whole room of people would learn about subjects like company orientation, diversity, and review and counseling procedures. The vice president or a department manager back East would teach the class from their video room so they didn't have to fly to the West Coast. The problem with video conferencing is the time delay (about ¼ second) makes the conversation jerky, and very few people actually like having an audience. The company had to train people for public speaking because of this and only 3 people in the building knew how to set up a conference call." (D. Schoelles, 2001)

Facsimilie Machine
2001Canon FaxPhone B740
Color copierand fax machine
(cannon.com, 2001)

"The facsimile or fax machine became very popular about the mid 1980's, but they had been around for about 30 years before that. The paper was a slick, heat and light sensitive paper that even picked up fingerprints from a warm hand. You would feed your letter into the top of the machine, dial another fax machine's telephone number, and press start after hearing the 'go' tone (a beep). Sometimes the operator would dial a regular phone number by mistake. The receiving machine would transfer your letter to the heat paper and print it out. The paper had to be kept in a sealed box and if you wanted to keep the fax copy for a long time, you had to make a photocopy of it since it faded. Now fax machines used regular printer paper and laser technology. Some fax machines are also computer printers and mini-copiers. Some print in color." (D. Schoelles, 2001)

"Mobile phones became available because of satellite technology in the 1960's. In 1984, my husband got a mobile phone that came with a separate battery pack. (The first mobile phones) weighed about 10 pounds and you could only get about 3 hours of time from the battery. They were so big because it took more power to reach the 'cell'. There were very few cells and the area each cell covered was very large. Today, it takes very little power to make a cell phone call and the batteries last an average of 36 hours, but I've heard of batteries that will last 60 hours. The phone was so large that it was a pain to carry around and the call quality was pretty bad at times, but he kept it until about 1986. He got a smaller phone about then, but it still weighed about a pound. It was smaller and looked like the handset of a desk phone with the battery attached to the back. All you could do with it was make calls. It had no memory for phone numbers, no messages, no games - none of the things on cell phones today. Cell and mobile telephones now also double as pagers, internet news boards, address books, and have games to keep the user busy when he is not using the telephone for anything else." (D. Schoelles, 2001)

Cellular (or Mobile) Phone 2001 Nokia 6185i
Cell phone and internet browser
(nokiausa.com, 2001)