The telephone combined the knowledge of how sound works together with a variable electric signal that could be sent over great distances....
Cables and wires are the unsung heroes or 'facilitators' of the age of telecommunication. In the space of twenty years, cables changed from two mile long wooden troughs containing copper wire in grooves to cables that could be laid underwater across the Atlantic....
Fibre optic cables are very different from copper ones. They carry light, not electricity, and have no need for a second cable for a 'return path'....
The complexity of a network - telephone or computer - rises dramatically with the number of people connected to it. This was not something that had bothered people until the telephone became widespread, when it suddenly became really important....
One thing that has extended the use of the telephone system is the way that new machines, like computers and faxes, have been connected to the existing network - the cables and exchanges that form the telephone infrastructure....
