Voice

Before Skype and FaceTime: When The Picturephone Was The Future

"From a booth set up in Grand Central Terminal, a person could talk to a friend in Chicago or Washington while also seeing them on a small video screen. The friend would also have to go to a special booth in those cities to take the call. The price for the novelty of a three-minute call was $16.

That would be equivalent to $121 in today’s money."

From the Telecom Archive: A Continent is Bridged

“I talked with one of your engineers nearly 20 years ago. He said something about waves. Said you needed something that would make the long-distance wires talk farther.”

That’s how our conversation begins between two men, one of them an engineer, in this 1940 film that looks back on AT&T’s first transcontinental phone line.

Rise of the Apps: How OTT Traffic is Balancing a Carrier Slump

We recently wrote about the decline of international carrier traffic, which comes at the hands of “over-the-top” (OTT) communications services.

In 1954, Popular Mechanics' Headlines Were About Connecting Hemispheres

Here's a good one from the archives.

"America and Europe will soon be linked by the first trans-Atlantic telephone cables," reads this March 1954 article from Popular Mechanics.

Market Sees First Decline in International Voice Carrier Traffic Since Great Depression

With the TeleGeography Report hot off the press, it seems that there are more than a few good stories nestled in this year’s data.

First up is the curious discovery that 2015 marked a turning point in the market. It was the first time since the Great Depression that international carrier voice traffic declined.

New Year, New TeleGeography Report

Happy 2017, TeleGeographers. We're a few days into the new year and we're pleased to announce that the annual update to our TeleGeography Report is now live.

The Best Telecoms Stuff We Wrote About in 2016

We had a good time combining our research, the latest headlines, and a hearty dose of telecoms history in our blog this year. 

Here's a look back at 10 of our favorite pieces from 2016. 

The Outlook for the Voice Traffic Business

Over the past two decades, the international long-distance industry has experienced wrenching changes. Service providers have weathered market liberalization, the enormous telecom market bubble and its aftermath, intense competition, rapid technological innovation, and non-stop price declines.