TELEPHONE MARVELS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1298, 29 November 1911, Page 9

TELEPHONE MARVELS.

LONDON CAN NOW SPEAK TO SWITZERLAND. "I am speaking from Bale; is that London?" A telephone subscriber in the City area, who answered a prolonged ringing of his telephone bell, was surprised beyond measure to hear quite clearly the ■ above words, spoken in Switzerland. It was explained that tho call was an experimental out 1 , to ascertain if speecii could bo maintained between the two places, and a short conversation followed. Speaking in excellent English, the operator in Switzerland anked what sort of weather London was having, and was surprised to learn that it was dull nnd cold. "It is quito sunny ami fine - here," she said. "This call goes through Belfort (onthe French frontier) and Parisi, and so on to London." Although the distance between the two speakers was over 620 miles, conversation was maintained quite easily, and the words as they on mo from Bale were so distinct that they could easil/ have been taken down in shorthand. Several other successful experiments in long-distance telephony wer.' carried out recently, an oflicial staled. Ono day a call canio through from a Dutch official at Amsterdam, and on anott.er occasion communication was obtained with several Gorman cities. Those px|ieriments are foi the purpose of ascertaining how far the public telephone service between England and the Continent majj be extended through the medium oC tho new and improved Channel cable. At present the only service maintained is between England and France and Belgium, hut such good results have been obtained from test cal's that a service to Holland and Switzerland will in all probability soon be eslabliuhed. The most important matter remaining to be settled is ono of rates with tho countries concerned.