Timeline Filter by: Decade or Famous Calls The Network The Business
Early tech | Electronics | Wireless | Digital | Operators | Cables and wires | Exchanges | Phreaking/Hacking | Dialing | Switching | Telegraph | Wired Tech | Office systems | Payphones | Data services | Line workers | Operations
First telephone line completed, between Charles Williams Jr's home and office
Charles Williams, Jr.
1877
Doolittle invents hard drawn copper wire
Doolittle invents hard drawn copper wire
1877
American Bell creates Long Lines division
1880
First telephone lines in Constantinople and Egypt
1881
First long-distance line: Boston to Providence
1882
Doolittle builds the first long distance copper wire circuit (NY to Boston)
Thomas B. Doolittle
1884
Telephone service begins between Tokyo and Yokohama
1890
Ad: AT&T long distance advertising (pocket map cover)
AT&T long distance advertising (pocket map cover)
1898
Slideshow: Pac Tel 1912: Outside plant construction
Pac Tel 1912: Outside plant construction
Slideshow: 57 photos
1912
Siemens begins laying the Rhineland cable
Siemens begins laying the Rhineland cable
1912
A Desert Span, Building Trunk Telephone Lines (AT&T)
A Desert Span, Building Trunk Telephone Lines (AT&T)
1929
Coaxial cable patented by Espenschied and Affel
Lloyd Espenschied
1929
Newfoundland Long Lines, a WWII Film (U.S. Army / AT&T)
Newfoundland Long Lines, a WWII Film (U.S. Army / AT&T)
1943
Ad: 'War still needs the wires'
'War still needs the wires'
1944
Cable to Cuba, Laying Undersea Cable (AT&T)
Cable to Cuba, Laying Undersea Cable (AT&T)
1950
Hawkins co-invents low-cost polymer cable sheathing
Walter Lincoln Hawkins
1956
Transatlantic telephone cable (TAT-1)
Transatlantic telephone cable (TAT-1)
1956
Cable to the Continent, the Second Transatlantic Telephone Cable
Cable to the Continent, the Second Transatlantic Telephone Cable
1959
T1 digital carrier system developed
1960
TPC-1: First transpacific telephone cable
TPC-1: First transpacific telephone cable
1964