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National Landline Telephone Day – March 10 – History and Facts

March 10 is National Landline Telephone Day. It is a day to honor the same day in 1876 when Alexander Graham Bell transmitted his very first phone call to Thomas Watson.

The words on the call were “Mr. Watson come here. I want to see you.” Imagine his delight when he assistant appeared and told him that he understood the words.

It’s amazing how much technology has changed over the years. It’s important to reflect back on the journey of technology over time.

Single pole telephone transmitter of 1876

Single pole telephone transmitter of 1876

Just imagine how different things would be if the landline telephone had never been invented! I, for one, and grateful it was. 

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What is a landline telephone?

We have such ease in making phone calls today on mobile devices but this was not always the case. 
To do this in the past, we needed to use a landline telephone.Landline phones to celebrate National Landline Telephone day

What does the term landline telephone mean?

A landline telephone is a phone that uses metal wire, or optical fiber telephone lines for transmission. 

The mobile phones that we know and love, on the contrary, use radio waves for transmission.

The terminology of landline phones has changed slightly over the years. It is now commonly meant to refer to a fixed-line home phone. 

In spite of the ease of using mobile phones, there are some advantages to landline phones:

  • Landlines are more dependable and don’t drop signals.
  • A landline doesn’t need to be charged daily.
  • The reception on landlines is more consistent and very clear.

History and facts about telephones

Brush up on your knowledge of the landline telephone with these fun facts.Telephone fun facts

  • Alexander Graham Bell was not the only person to apply for a patent for the telephone, but he was the earliest to do so and was awarded the patent on March 7, 1876.
  • On August 10, 1876, the first long distance phone call was made to Brantford, Ontario, Canada
  • Just over a year later, Bell Telephone Company was founded and telephone lines were installed from Boston to Sommerville, MA.
  • Mark Twain was one of the first to have a phone in his home.
  • The first phone book was only 20 pages long!
  • Almost 100 years later, in 1967, the one millionth telephone was installed.
  • By the year 2000, there were 16 landline telephone lines for every 100 people in the world.
  • Between 1995 and 2008, over 25% of American homes no longer hand landline telephones, and that number is much higher today.
  • The phone number 666 6666 was bid up to £1.5 million in a charity auction in Qatar in 2007.
  • When Alexander Graham bell died in 1922, all of the telephones in the US and Canada stopped ringing for one full minute as a tribute to him.  This was 14 million telephones.

How to observe National Landline Telephone Day

There are lots of obvious ways to celebrate National Landline Telephone Day (just call on a landline phone!).  Here are a few other creative ideas to help honor this day.

  • If you can find one, call someone else who still has a landline telephone.
  • Still have a landline?  Treat yourself to a retro landline phone inspired by the classic Batman Batphone.
  • Make dinner tonight wearing a funky Andy Warhole retro phone apron.
  • Read the book Alexander Graham Bell Answers the Call to your child.
  • Go all in to celebrate and wear some telephone earrings today.
  • Do the word search puzzle for March to see if you can find Landline Telephone Day
  • Use the hashtag #NationalLandlineTelephoneDay and #landlineteleophoneday to spread the word about the day on social media. Here is a tweet to get you started:
March 10 is #NationalLandlineTelephoneDay. Find out about the history of telephones and share your favorite photos of old phones with your friends.☎📞 Click To Tweet

What is a national day?

National days of the year are a fun way to celebrate odd happenings, unusual days and foods and drinks that you come into contact with. 

Be sure to check out my national day’s guide for lots of fun days to celebrate them.

There are close to 2000 national days in the year and over 150 of them are celebrated in February. To see them all,  have a look at this post to discover more about the national days in March.

Is food your thing? Each day of the month has a food or drink associated with it, too. You’ll find all the March food holidays here.

Be sure to also check out these other unusual national days:

And for another electronic day, check out National Color TV Day.

Pin this post for National Landline Telephone Day for later

Would you like a reminder of this post for National Landline Telephone Day? Just pin this image to one of your trivia boards on Pinterest so that you can easily find it later.

You can also watch our YouTube video to learn about more national days in March. 

National Landline Telephone Day is March 10.

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