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Global Telegram System RIP (1845-2013)
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HireMe.geek.nz Send message Joined: 22 May 99 Posts: 29 Credit: 286,765 RAC: 0 |
Telegram system ends. Stop. Replaced by text messages. Stop The telegram, that bringer of bad news and birthday greetings, was too slow for the digital age -- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/10120701/Telegram-system-ends.-Stop.-Replaced-by-text-messages.-Stop.html For more than a century, bad news always came by telegram. A slip of pastel paper through the door would confirm our worst fears, from the death of a relative to the loss of a battle far from home. Yet the telegram service was not able to break the news of its own demise on Thursday. Instead, the announcement that India would abandon the service next month appeared on the internet, the telegram’s nemesis. After 163 years, Indians will send their last telegrams on July 15. BSNL, the government-owned firm that operates the service, has lost more than £2 billion and says it can no longer afford to run it. Erratically punctuated messages in capitals have gradually been replaced with the electronic trill of “You’ve Got Mail†or the ping of an incoming text message. The announcement made headlines yesterday because India is the last country to use the telegram on such a large scale. The American service closed in 2006, while BT put an end to the British version in 1982. Even centenarians can no longer expect a telegram from Buckingham Palace. Today, the Queen opts for a card, having abandoned “telemessages†– letters that look like telegrams – in 1999. Little more than a century earlier, however, another Queen was rather keener on this form of communication. Before she embarked on her Diamond Jubilee procession on June 22, 1897, Queen Victoria stopped at the telegraph room in Buckingham Palace. She pressed a button, and within minutes the Central Telegraph Office relayed her message to every country of the Empire. “Thank my beloved people,†it read. “May God bless them.†It had taken only a few decades for the telegram to reach such prominence. Samuel Morse is thought to have been sent the first message via telegraph wires using his system of dots and dashes in May 1844. His message, sent from Washington to Baltimore, read: “What hath God wrought?†[...] |
celttooth Send message Joined: 21 Nov 99 Posts: 26503 Credit: 28,583,098 RAC: 0 |
Yes, I also miss flint knives. |
Donald L. Johnson Send message Joined: 5 Aug 02 Posts: 8240 Credit: 14,654,533 RAC: 20 |
But you can still send money via Western Union ..... Donald Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired |
John Clark Send message Joined: 29 Sep 99 Posts: 16515 Credit: 4,418,829 RAC: 0 |
The Western Union is the method the spammers use to beg for money .... It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues |
Wiggo Send message Joined: 24 Jan 00 Posts: 34744 Credit: 261,360,520 RAC: 489 |
Ah yes, the old telegram service. Here in Australia we dismantled this service a bit over 2yrs ago now. Ever since the introductions of both mobile phones and the internet, the telegram service here was deemed dead back in the mid-late 1990's (and a large cost burden as it was not being used). I'm actually surprised that the service here took 10yrs longer to complete the take down than it was originally suppose to (that was something that we Aussies were to leave behind in the 20th Century). Cheers. |
celttooth Send message Joined: 21 Nov 99 Posts: 26503 Credit: 28,583,098 RAC: 0 |
Well you can still rely on good old Canada. We still have it here. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/featured/the-first-telegraph-in-canada |
James Sotherden Send message Joined: 16 May 99 Posts: 10436 Credit: 110,373,059 RAC: 54 |
The telegraph, Ive read where that was the first revolution in rapid communication. Dont mourn the telegram or the telegraph. Consider them the ancesters of todays internet. You still need a code to to be on the internet. Its binary not Morse. A text is just an electronic telegram. I dont mourn the passing of the telegraph. I celebrate the wonders that it has brought forth. [/quote] Old James |
W-K 666 Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 19047 Credit: 40,757,560 RAC: 67 |
The telegraph, Ive read where that was the first revolution in rapid communication. Dont mourn the telegram or the telegraph. Consider them the ancesters of todays internet. +1 |
Donald L. Johnson Send message Joined: 5 Aug 02 Posts: 8240 Credit: 14,654,533 RAC: 20 |
I will mourn the telegram, I think it had its place. I am old enough to still remember the telegram boys on their Post Office BSA 125cc motorbikes. It stopped in 1977. Then we had Telemessages via BT Accurate which ceased in 2007.These days if you get a greetings telegram from the Queen on your Diamond Wedding or 100th Birthday, it is a card through the post. Doesn't quite have the same cachet does it? Hand-signed? That would be a keepsake. Better than an email. Well, maybe a graphic e-Card... Donald Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired |
Donald L. Johnson Send message Joined: 5 Aug 02 Posts: 8240 Credit: 14,654,533 RAC: 20 |
The Queen's congratulatory messages consist of a card containing a personalised message. The card comes in a special envelope, which is delivered through the normal postal channels. Even if signed by a staffer or an autopen, I'd save it.... Donald Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired |
skildude Send message Joined: 4 Oct 00 Posts: 9541 Credit: 50,759,529 RAC: 60 |
The telegraph, Ive read where that was the first revolution in rapid communication. Dont mourn the telegram or the telegraph. Consider them the ancesters of todays internet. Binary is basically morse code but with a 1 or 0 instead of a _- In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face. Diogenes Of Sinope |
Julie Send message Joined: 28 Oct 09 Posts: 34053 Credit: 18,883,157 RAC: 18 |
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