Long Distance Telephone Calls

      One of the many things which distinguishes my generation from the current one is the solemnity with which we used to bestow upon long distance telephone calls. If we received one at the house everyone was told to be quiet because "it's long distance!" The cost of the call was foremost in our minds. The fact sometimes the connection might be less than stellar was another good reason we had to listen carefully and everyone nearby had to be quiet as church mice.

 

 

 

 

     It similar to what a friend of mine from college days told me about his children. He is fascinated by stereo components, as we all were at one time. His ear for music demands that he have a high fidelity option in his life. His sons cannot conceive of why he wants this, as opposed to relying upon ear buds connected via wireless to their smartphones. I suppose if you've never heard music on the best equipment you just don't know what you're missing and simply accept the convenience which the smartphone offers.

 

     From my long experience working on and helping build the Internet one Cisco router at a time, I'm usually partial to the whole experience simply working! The times the traffic didn't flow as expected were always fraught with a bit of terror as to what the customers would think. Now that we have perfected the transmission of sound between two stations we expect sound so good you can hear a pin drop, from anywhere in the world. What's more, we have basically reduced the cost to nothing. Times have certainly changed, but  to tell the truth, I still am a little awestruck by a long distance call, and think to myself what it must be costing. Then I come to my senses and simply enjoy the convenience with we know to be so commonplace.