Nowadays, placing an international call is at the reach of a button. You can stay in touch with your loved ones left back home without any issues. You even have the option of choosing the most convenient carrier and the most affordable rates for you. But was it always this easy?
The Early Messenger Pigeons
One of the most famous methods of carrying messages across the border was the messenger pigeon. These birds are able to use Earth`s magnetic field to determine their directional heading and altitude. It is known that Genghis Khan used messenger pigeons at the close of the 12th century and he established pigeon relay posts across Asia and much of Eastern Europe. This way, he was able to transmit instructions to his capital for the governing of his distant dominions.
The first US long-distance phone call
The first United States long-distance phone network was completed in 1892 and reached from New York to Chicago because the wiring used couldn`t be stretched any further. It was a luxury to afford a long distance call at that time. You had to make appointments to use special phone booths containing 4-wire phones and other additional technology needed to connect calls across the country. Later on, if you wanted to make a long distance call, you had to go through the operator, who would connect you to a special line.
Next step: transatlantic calls
Given that you could make longer and longer calls (distance-wise), the next frontier was represented by transatlantic calls. This was made possible with radio-telephone technology. William Bell`s engineers achieved in 1915 the first brief voice transmission across the Atlantic, between Virginia and Paris. By 1927, commercial radio-telephone service began between New York and London.
Worldwide communications
Telecommunication technology has gone a long way in a short amount of time. Pigeons have been replaced with smart phones and we are all aware of the power of the World Wide Web. Internet makes everything possible. For instance, apps make our life much easier. Calling apps are perfect for keeping in touch with your friends and family abroad. A perfect example is NOBELApp, an app very easy to install which offers calling services at low rates all over the world with crystal clear connections. With NOBELApp international calling is one tap away!
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