March 10th: 150 years since the first phone call and the decline of landlines
If you were born before the year 2000, you probably still remember the sound of a rotary dial, the tangled cord, and that famous shout: "I'm hanging up on you!". Well, March 10th isn't just any ordinary day. Today marks exactly 150 years since Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call in history, summoning his assistant with the famous words: "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you." What many people don't realise is that the very device which revolutionised the world is slowly becoming a museum piece.
In Brazil, the decline in landline use is staggering. Since 2010, the number of active fixed lines has been cut in half. Anyone over 40 lived through an era when having a phone at home was a luxury—and today, kids find it strange when they spot a public phone box on the street. Technology has changed, and with it, our habits. But have we lost something along the way?
The collector keeping history alive
It was with this in mind that YouTuber João Víctor de Melo, from Belo Horizonte, started gathering telecommunication relics. On his channel, he showcases everything from vintage Telebrás models to rarities like the Aqua-air Aqpm-10 De Março Ac-5c-md 115V March, a piece of industrial equipment from the 1980s that few even remember existed. "It's a way of keeping the memory of how we used to communicate alive," João explains in one of his recent videos. His YouTube channel has gained popularity precisely by unearthing these objects that left their mark on generations.
The landline's last gasp
A symbolic milestone in this farewell occurred on March 10, 2019, when the city of São Paulo removed the last public telephone from Avenida Paulista. The event went almost unnoticed at the time, but for those with an eye for history, it signalled the end of an era. The glass phone booths, once bustling with people using tokens and cards, have been replaced by Wi-Fi hotspots and mobile phone charging stations. Communication has changed its guise, but its essence remains the same: the human need to connect.
From Graham Bell to WhatsApp: a timeline of connection
To grasp the scale of this shift, it's worth looking at the key milestones over these 150 years:
- 1876: Graham Bell makes the first telephone call, in Boston.
- 1922: The first telephone arrives in Brazil, installed at the Catete Palace in Rio de Janeiro.
- 1990: Mobile phones go on sale in the country – they were genuine bricks, weighing over 1 kg.
- 2010: Smartphones begin to popularise, and landline usage goes into freefall.
- 2026: We mark 150 years since the first phone call, and fixed-line phones are increasingly rare.
Despite all of today's technology – with Zoom, WhatsApp and satellite calls – the act of phoning someone still carries a certain affection. Perhaps that's why people continue to search on YouTube for old Telesp commercials or the nostalgic sound of a dial tone. March 10th reminds us that, deep down, the medium may change, but the desire to say "hello" is eternal.