15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Telephones

Just how important is a smartphone in your life?

That one device, that you carry with you like it was your Iron Man’s Arc Reactor. The one dependable friend who never forgets to wake you up on that lazy Monday morning by constantly beeping! (Yes, it does get irritating after a while)

Imagining life without a phone is not possible in this age of technology!

Not just for personal use but a lot of businesses are opting for cloud telephony so they can manage their communication with just a smartphone.

Over the years, the telephone has evolved From being an improvement in telegraphy’ to the sophisticated business tool it is today, the evolution of the telephone is fascinating, and sometimes even funny.

Here are some interesting facts about it we’re betting you didn’t know before.

1. “Ahoy” was the original telephone greeting. old-telephone

Alexander Graham Bell suggested ‘ahoy’ (as used in ships), but was later superseded by Thomas Edison, who suggested ‘hello’ instead.

2. The very first phone call was: “Watson come here, I want you!”

It was made on March 10, 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts, between Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Thomas A. Watson

3. The origin of the phrase ‘to put someone on hold’ was Alexander Graham Bell handing over his telephone instrument to his partner Mr Watson and saying, “here, hold this”.

4. The memorable Nokia tone for receiving SMS text messages is Morse code for ‘SMS’ Likewise, the ‘Ascending’ tone is Morse code for ‘Connecting People,’ (Nokia’s slogan) and ‘Standard’ is Morse code for ‘M’ (Message).

5. Bell’s patent for the telephone was modestly titled ‘Improvement in Telegraphy’.

6. According to a recent survey, 47 percent of all water-damaged mobile phones in the UK have been dropped in the toilet bowl.

7. A ton of mobile phones contains more gold than a ton of ore from a gold mine.

8. According to the 1945 edition of Who’s Who, Hitler’s home phone number was Berlin 11 6191.

old_telephone9) The mobile phone number 666 6666 fetched £1.5 million in a charity auction in Qatar in 2007.

10. In the early days, telephone wires were ranked according to how tasty they were to mice and rats.

11. Mark Twain was one of the first to have a phone in his home.

12. The 555 prefix is reserved for fictional US telephone numbers.

13. As a tribute to Alexander Graham Bell when he died in 1922, all the telephones stopped ringing for one full minute (14 million telephones in US and Canada were affected).

14. Frigensophobia is the fear that using your mobile is damaging your brain.

15. Nokia was founded back in 1865 and manufacturing paper was its primary business. Many years later, it switched to making rubber products, telegraph wires, and other electrical cables.

Enjoyed reading? Here are a few bonus points:

16. Payphones are still used by five percent of the population, at least once per year.

17. The first phonebook in history was just one page long.

18. The term Bluetooth comes from a Nordic king. It is about the Danish and Norwegian King of the 10th century, Harald Blatant, wrongly translated into English as Harald Bluetooth.

19. Addiction to mobile phones is called nomophobia.

20. Mobile phones have 18 times more bacteria than toilet handles.