The 25th of April each year is World Telephone Day, and one Vodafone Australia customer has kept their number for 26 years, with some people keeping their landline number for decades! What’s the history behind this day, and how long have you kept your number?
Earlier this week, I was contacted by Vodafone Australia to let me know about “World Telephone Day”, which started life in the US as “National Telephone Day”, and is celebrated on the 25th of April every year.
It commemorates the first successful transmission of speech by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, with telephones having revolutionised the way we communicate, even though there are billions more mobile phones than landline phones these days, and even though we now take calls over apps, and video calls via FaceTime, Skype, Messenger and Zoom are now commonplace.
According to the US based National Day Calendar website, there are over 10 billion mobile phones in the world today, and over 900 million landline phones.
Now, most people associate the telephone’s invention with Alexander Graham Bell, but as the National Day website above explains, the patent for the telephone was almost claimed by two other people.
The site states: “Had his attorney been delayed by foul weather or poor planning, the answer may be a different name.
On February 14, 1876, Marcellus Bailey, one of Bell’s attorneys, rushed into the U.S. Patent office in Boston to file the patent for what would be the telephone.
Later the same day, Elisha Gray filed a patent caveat for a similar device. A caveat is an intent to file for a patent.
There was also a third contender. Antonio Meucci filed a caveat in November of 1871 for a talking telegraph but failed to renew the caveat due to hardships.
Because Bell submitted his record first, the patent office awarded Bell the patent on March 7, 1876. Gray contested this decision in court, but without success.”
The first words spoken on Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, three days after the patent was approved, were a call to his assistant, where he said: “Mr. Watson, come here! I want to see you!”
The National Day Calendar website continues: “By May, Bell and his team stood prepared for a public demonstration. And there would be no better place than the grand stage of the World’s Fair in Philadelphia. On May 10, 1876, in a crowded Machinery Hall, a man’s voice transmitted from a small horn and carried out through a speaker to the audience.
One year later, the White House installed its first phone. The telephone revolution began.
Bell Telephone Company was founded on July 9, 1877, and they installed the first public telephone lines from Boston to Sommerville, Massachusetts, the same year. By the end of the decade, nearly 50,000 phones existed in the United States. In May of 1967, phone companies across the country installed the 100 millionth telephone line.”
So, what is the information that Vodafone Australia shared?
Vodafone noted that “when Australia’s first mobile phone system began in the 80s, no one could have predicted how dependent we’d become on them.”
Vodafone shared data showing Australians are creatures of habit, with almost half (49.3%) holding onto the same phone number for more than 10 years and 2.4 million having the same digits for a quarter-century.
I did ask Optus and Telstra to provide similar details, but while they did respond saying they would get me the information, none has been forthcoming, but Vodafone did share the following:
“In the last 15 years, more than 123 billion calls have been made and 143 billion SMS have been sent on the Vodafone Network. According to the telco, 2012 was the year of the SMS with over 12 billion texts sent on the network.
2023 on the other hand, was the year of the phone call with over 12.5 billion calls made on the network. Thanks to those extra Christmas calls, December 2023 became the chattiest month on record, racking up over 1.05 billion calls.”
So, how long have you kept your number for? While many people have kept their landline number for decades, and I’ve had my number since 2003, a Vodafone customer called Jacob Aldridge (age 42) has had the same mobile number for more than 24 years and has paid to keep it despite moving across the world, as it is also his 6-digit date of birth.
Jacob said: “I’ve had the same mobile number since my first phone in the year 2000. In that time, I’ve even moved around the world, and paid to keep my Australian accounts active so that my phone number doesn’t disappear.
“Why? Because when I bought my first mobile phone the call centre operator offered something amazing – My phone number is also my 6-digit date of birth. As I like to say whenever I give someone my phone number: “Now you have my birthday I expect a present!”
Here’s some more history from the National Day Calendar website:
In May of 1967, the 100 millionth telephone line was installed in the United States. On May 11th, governors and dignitaries for U.S. territories joined President Lyndon Johnson on the largest conference call ever held up to that date. Each governor, dignitary, and the President were issued gold phones to commemorate the day. At the same time, a proclamation was issued declaring May 12th as National Telephone Day.
There is no record of the day being observed again on that date. However, National Day Calendar continues to research the origins of this technology day.
Telephone FAQ
Q. Do payphones still exist?
A. Yes. However, the number of payphones began declining in the mid-1990s. If you’re looking for a payphone, some cities and states have payphone maps. You can also look in public places like federal offices, libraries, transportation hubs, large shopping centres, and gas stations.
Q. What about in Australia? (This information comes from me, Alex)
A. Payphones have steadily disappeared in Australia, too, but Telstra, which operates most of the pay phones in Australia, have done two great things – they’ve made phone calls to mobile and landlines free from pay phones, now called free phones, and they’re also a place to get Telstra-provided free Wi-Fi.
Going back to information from the National Day Calendar site:
Q. When was the first mobile phone invented?
A. Motorola made the first mobile phone called the DynaTAC 8000x in 1983.
Q. When was the first smartphone invented?
A. The Simon Personal Communicator was released in 1994 by IBM.
