Today is the 70th Anniversary of the first time one person used a telephone to call another from one coast to the other without any assistance from operators.
But older folks like me remember when it was a significant event!
The main reason was the cost.
From the Boston University blogger who writes under the site name The Conversation:
"On November 10, 1951, the first direct dial long-distance telephone call in North America was placed from Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood, New Jersey to Mayor Frank Osborne of Alameda, California via AT&T's Bell System.[5] The ten digit call (seven digits plus a three-digit area code) was connected automatically within 18 seconds.[6]"People think nothing of using the cellphone in their pocket to call someone on the other side of the planet.
But older folks like me remember when it was a significant event!
The main reason was the cost.
From the Boston University blogger who writes under the site name The Conversation:
"Making a coast-to-coast phone call a century ago was very expensive. Back in 1915, a three-minute daytime phone call from New York City to San Francisco cost $20.70. Adjusted for inflation, that means the rather abrupt call cost more than $500 in today’s money.
Over the next half-century, prices fell drastically, although it was still rather pricey. In 1968, the same three-minute call cost $1.70 – or about $12 today. That’s why, when I was dating the woman who became my wife, we primarily spoke at night – when phone calls were much cheaper – to save a little money."
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