Telefonmuseum Telekom-Historik e.V.

Description

Telecommunication-
nothing has shaped our world so much in recent times. But nothing is forgotten as quickly as the technology that made it possible.

Our association Telekom-Historik Bochum e.V. wants the development of this fascinating technology to be remembered!

Even before the invention of the telephone, messages were transmitted over long distances disembodied, i.e. without a stagecoach or rider. In the "Wild West", the Native Americans communicated with smoke signals. The Prussians used an optical telegraph line. It was only with the invention of electric current that the possibilities multiplied.

Morse telegraph, telephone, teleprinter, fax, mobile phone and smartphone, are just a few examples of this development.

In the early days of the telephone, conversations had to be mediated by hand, by the "Fräulein vom Amt", but this task was later taken over by electromechanical voter exchanges. In 1997, the last mechanical exchanges in Germany were replaced by digital ones.

The connections in the fixed network are increasingly being changed from copper lines to fiber optic cables. Thus, the term "optical telegraphy" regains meaning, with the difference that it is now referred to as "data transmission". The speed is also "slightly" higher. While it took hours for a DIN A4 dispatch with the Prussian optical telegraph line, today you can easily stream videos over the Internet.

Under the motto: From Morse code to today´s data technology, from overhead lines to fibre optic cables, visitors are taken on a journey through time through the history of electrical communication - not as amazed observers of lifeless exhibits, but as users. They are asked to seek proximity to the exhibits, to establish telephone connections or to send texts with teleprinters.