| Did you know that wireless communications was created in
1792 by a Frenchman named Claude Chappe? He invented the telegraph,
which marked the first time that messages could travel quickly
over long distances. When Western Union started operating the
first transcontinental telegraph line in 1861, the Pony Express
went out of business. The fastest that a horse and rider could
go was 250 miles a day, and the telegraph could send a message
cross-country in a few seconds.
Alexander Graham Bell took the next step when he sent a
voice message eight miles over telegraph wires in 1876.
In 1956, the first mobile phone system was set up in Stockholm,
Sweden. The first mobile phone was the size of a suitcase
and weighed 35 pounds. It cost almost as much as a car!
In 1983, Washington D.C. and Chicago were the first cities
to offer commercial cellular service as we know it. Today,
over 90 million cellular customers use their phones to communicate
every day!
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