Dr. Nester
Eng. 1010
09.05.2009
A Comparison of Land Line Telephones vs. Cell Phones
What would man do without the telephone? The telephone has made the world a much smaller place for everyone. Not only that, it has become ubiquitous in the world. The telephone has evolved as well. We now have phones we can carry with us where ever and whenever we choose. But what of the necessities of telephone use can we live with in this world of ever changing technology? Let’s talk about the history of the telephone. In the 1870’s, two inventors Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell both independently designed devices that could transmit speech electrically (the telephone). Both men raced to the patent office within hours of each other. Needless to say Alexander Bell got there first. Prior to the telephone was the telegraph services. The telegraph preceded the telephone by 30 years, but it was limited in its ability to pass information. The dot-dash telegraph could only process one message at a time in a laborious manner. Since its existence the home telephone has evolved to the point where you can dial by voice and even send pictures. But the cell phone circumvented the proliferation of those services. The main thing land lines have going for them is the way electricity runs them; direct current from batteries. This means that when the electricity fails for devices like cell phones and other devices that use ac-current the land line telephone will still work independently. And those batteries will last much longer than the cell phones. Most home telephones will work without electricity from alternating current (AC). Cordless phones are one of the few types’ of telephones that will not work when the power goes out. The Bell System laid the backbone of what is now the Internet. We started with copper as our means of transporting the signals that are created when we talk on the telephone. While we still use copper to the door