And Alexander Graham Bell never meant to invent a voice-over-wire telephone.
What he wanted was a multiplexed telegraph, where many signals of diverse frequencies could be sent over one circuit at the same time. This would increase message throughput, offer some (but not much) privacy, and greatly improve return on investment of the most expensive part of the network, namely the wire between the stations.
What he got, as we know, was an electromagnetic device that could reproduce what ever sound was put into it at the other end of a set of wires.
His paradigm for a telephone service was modeled after the telegraph. You would go to an office and use the phone on a per call basis. This idea was immediately panned, since Grandma (or whomever) was NEVER at the other Bell office to receive the call.
The first paying customers of the Bell System were a doctor and a pharmacist who had a direct line (no switchboard) so that prescriptions could be called in and ready when the customer arrived in the store.
The government quickly put a tax on the new technology to pay for a war. 100 years after the war was over, the tax was removed.
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