A Phone is an essential tool to be connected. I have seen how a phone can be a device that can change lives.
Over the years the phone has evolved and undergone many changes and yet it continue to bring meaningful changes to our lives.
When we think of a phone we normally think of a smartphone with internet and so many apps to keep us updated with what is happening in our social circle and also in the world.
The world of telecom was not always like this. There was a time when people used wired phones. It had a rotary dial and a wire attached to an external network.
Back in the days it was the best device for instant communication however these devices were still limited to big cities and as we moved to tier two and remote areas there penetration dropped as the infrastructure to lay down the network of wires and erect the poles to support them was not only expensive to lay down but also cumbersome to maintain.
Calling between cities was not instant. One would need to book a long distance or trunk calls to make a call. Can you imagine having to wait a couple of hours or even days to be able to talk to a friend or a relative in another city?
All calls would be routed through a manual exchange and this means there would be errors and a lot of wrong numbers and cross connections too. A storm or a good rain was sufficient to disrupt the network and take down the phone network in an entire area.
Then when the mobile phone arrived it solved a lot of the shortcomings of the land line phone.
One no longer had to be tied to the land line as one could be mobile and make and take calls from anywhere.
The Internet revolution
Another revolution that was happening side by side was the evolution of the internet.
Back in the mid 80’s Internet as we knew it required a land line phone and a dial up modem to connect. Connections like 14.4Kbs,28.8Kbps and 33.6Kbps were the fastest we could connect. There were challenges in the early days as the slightest noise or static disturbance in the land line connection would mean we could get disconnected from the internet.
Either we could talk on the phone or use the line to connect our computer to the internet via the dial up modem.
The Internet was considered to be a big revolution that was still confined to the metros and the big cities.
Internet was a great opportunity to get information however its penetration was low because the infrastructure to access it was simply not there in the rural areas and the small towns.
The Internet becomes available on the Phone
Then the mobile phones began to have the facility to have 2G & 3G internet connectivity. The mobile phones had a much wider penetration and they began to reach the remotest areas.
Since the same telecom companies that provided the mobile connection began to provide the internet services as well.
Soon the new avatar of the mobile phone became the smart phone with some basic apps installed.
As the smartphone market expanded and grew there were a slew of developments to improve the design, performance and the UX for the end user.
Today when you say phone people think nothing less than a smart phone with the option of both preinstalled apps as well as the option of having the space and the possibility to install a ton of new apps.
It is given that these phones would have multiple modes of connectivity and data transfer and communication between devices.
Final thoughts
The humble phone has come a long way and undergone a lot of transformation. However in this long journey one thing that has not changed for the phone is it being an essential and central part of human lives.
I myself use it for a lot of things that I do from setting an alarm to doing online shopping via apps. The uses of a phone are endless.
Yet I try not to be totally dependent on the device.
This post is made in response to the "February Monthly Prompt Initiative" that can be found here