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Telephone Trends

June 1, 2013

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Profile America -- Saturday, June 1st. The first public phone booth was installed on this date in 1880 in New Haven, Connecticut, just four years after the telephone was invented. These first public telephones were supervised by attendants, while those operated by coins came along nine years later. Today, it's rare to see a pay phone beyond transportation terminals, but the latest models have computer-like features, and worldwide, some booths are converting to wireless fidelity hot spots. At the same time, the number of Americans using cell phones has surged from under 40 percent at the beginning of the last decade, to nearly 91 percent most recently. You can find current data on the country's economy by downloading the new "America's Economy" mobile application at <www.census.gov/mobile>.

Sources: www.businesshistory.com
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012, t. 1392
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/international_statistics/telecommunications_computers.html