Published on Oct 6, 2013
Once upon a time, the telegram service was one of the most high-tech telecommunication services you can get. Imagine being able to send messages hundreds of kilometers away across many islands in just a few days when there was no Internet, no mobile phones and in many areas, no telephone.
But with the current technologies available nowadays, messages, not only text but pictures and even videos can be sent in seconds across the globe. Obviously, the telegram service has become obsolete and the government has decided to shut it down. So, the last telegram message was sent across the Philippines to mark its end on September 20, 2013.
The last telegram message sent in the Philippines.
Source: http://newsbytes.ph/2013/10/04/photo-last-telegram-in-ph-marks-end-of-era/
There are many anecdotes associated with the telegram service, especially that the cost depended on the number of words sent. Frequent users have devised methods of putting together some words as one word so that the cost could be lesser. Or creating cryptic acronyms so that a long sentence becomes just one word.
Do you have a story about the telegram service? Make sure to remember it. Maybe write it down somewhere. We can’t make anymore of them, at least in the Philippines.