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1864 - Gen Ulysses S. Grant became commander of the Union armies.

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell used the telephone for the first time to utter the prosaic, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you."

- Jim

And I wonder how long after that someone figured out how to bill people for the calls? And how long it took for the government to figure out how to put a tax on it.

The first commercial telephone service was established in 1877. Of course it cost money. That's the American Way: Invent something, patent it, sell it, get rich.

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The first telephone service in Texas started on Galveston Island in 1878.

The question is, who would buy the first telephone, when there was no one else to call?

The U.S. federal government started taxing telephone calls in 1898, to pay for the Spanish American War.

BTW, the U.S. is nearly the only country in the world that had privately-run phone service from the beginning.

In every other country, the national government had a monopoly. Their services were typically substandard and expensive. Most cost more than the U.S. or else provided poor service because they were underfunded.

- Jim

Wow! Thanks, Professor! I really shouldn't complain about someone charging for a service...guess Obamaism affected me momentarily and I thought everything should be provided free by the Government

tfrazier wrote:Wow! Thanks, Professor! I really shouldn't complain about someone charging for a service...guess Obamaism affected me momentarily and I thought everything should be provided free by the Government

I am paying for a phone service that isn't really there that I couldn't use anyway because I'm not there. They charge me $15.00 bucks sor the priveledge of squating on my second line. then charge me $10.00 on top of that for taxes.. Grrr......
I complain about them a lot.