The telephone has been a mainstay of society since Alexander Graham Bell first developed the technology.

Telephony has been rapidly changing over recent years, though, as the internet and digital technology open new areas for it, and expand the ways in which we can talk to one another.

Digital Phones

One of the first breakthroughs in telecoms was the advent of digital phones.

Known as DECT phones - Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications – this offers cordless technology and allows different users to share to the same frequency.

This meant that digital phones literally broke the cord that kept people attached to their phones. You could have a handset and wander around the office while talking to someone, and keep the phone with you wherever you were, so long as it was relatively near the room with the receiver, without having to dash through rooms at the faint sound of ringing.

Of course, you could already do this with mobile phones – but the big difference was in the pricing: DECT phones allowed you to make and receive phone calls based on a landline tariff so you were find to use 0800, 0870 and 0845 numbers more accessible for customers, while mobile phones tied you to much higher priced network tariffs.

Teleconferencing

The next big step in office telecoms was teleconferencing over the internet. No longer did you need to leave the office to meet with staff, clients, or other associates – and you did not have to just make telephone calls either. Now you could be seen face to face and set up virtual conferencing rooms online.

Webcams and conferencing software were obviously the big openers for this change, but it has taken a while for this to filter into more common use as the rate of broadband use has significantly increased its share in the market for internet connectivity.

VoIP

VoIP has been the biggest recent change to office communications. Instead of having to use a landline or mobile to telephone people, you can now use the internet for telephony instead.

Not only that, but the calls are often either free or very low rate when made over the internet.

This makes VoIP a very accessible way of making calls generally, and with software such as Skype you can connect with other business associate/clients/workers simply, easily, and with little hassle.

The Future

One thing is clear about the development of telecoms – it’s getting cheaper, and easier, to talk with people.

Not only that, but with digital technology and the internet, comes the promise that one day making calls on video using streaming media, will become as common as a voice-only calling is nowadays.