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150 Years After the First Phone Call, We're Still Looking for 1-on-1 Connections
AT&T marks 150 years since Bell’s first call with a Dallas exhibit highlighting the shift from voice calls to data, moving an exabyte daily across its network.
- To mark the invention's 150th year, the MIT Museum and AT&T staged exhibits, with the first discernible human voice traveling over wire on March 10, 1876, now commemorated.
- In the 1870s, Boston's inventive community set the stage for Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson to develop a liquid transmitter in a Boston lab, sending intelligible speech over copper wire.
- Museum curators point to artifacts like a 1914 copper wire spool, an exact replica of Bell's liquid transmitter, and the March 7, 1876 patent, with Caughlin stating, 'Watson could hear noises, sounds, but he couldn't really make out what Bell was saying.'
- Modern network data show voice calls are a small slice of overall traffic; AT&T says it moves an exabyte per day with nearly three times more texts than voice calls in 2025.
- Looking beyond the lab, connectivity tech now includes 5G, fiber and satellite calling, with Bell transmitting a human voice over a beam of light in 1880, showing ongoing experimentation.
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16 Articles
16 Articles
150 years ago: The invention of the telephone[more]]>
·Hamburg, Germany
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Exactly 150 years ago, on March 10, 1876, the very first phone call was made. Although it's easier than ever thanks to smartphones, calling seems to be on the decline. "We have to keep teaching young people the importance of making phone calls," says Herve Van de Weyer, head of communications at PXL University College.
·Antwerp, Belgium
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Young people make fewer calls and are more inclined to chat. They're used to the digital world because they grew up with it. Many young people also have phone anxiety.
·Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
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Total News Sources16
Leaning Left3Leaning Right3Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution46% Center
Bias Distribution
- 46% of the sources are Center
46% Center
L 27%
C 46%
R 27%
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