
Belgium ends 19th-Century telegram service - bauc
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42359914
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johannes1234321
The German post offers fake telegrams: They can be sent via telephone or
internet (incl. CSV upload for mass spendings) and will be delivered by
regular mail. If entered till 3am it will be delivered on the same day. 160
characters for 12.90€.
[https://www.deutschepost.de/de/t/telegramm.html](https://www.deutschepost.de/de/t/telegramm.html)

~~~
mrighele
It's the same in Italy [1]. Until just a few years ago it was still somewhat
used in special circumstances (wedding, death of friend/relative) to send a
formal message when you could not be present in person.

[1]
[https://www.poste.it/gamma/telegrammi.html](https://www.poste.it/gamma/telegrammi.html)

~~~
cpach
We used to have that in Sweden as well, but it seems like it was discontinued
a few years ago.

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kristopolous
The service was offered on things like trains and cruise-ships and of all the
miraculous things, you could send actual money through it as well. Sounds like
a pretty magical service for the 1930s. There were even photos and drawings
over it:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirephoto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirephoto)

~~~
qubex
Hence the idiom ”to wire [money]”.

~~~
24gttghh
In general terms, transferring funds via ACH is over a wire (or perhaps more
specifically, a fiber optic filament) as well.

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struppi
When I was young, I sometimes got birthday telegrams from my uncle. I loved
them - only a single sentence in all caps.

So I am feeling a little bit nostalgic right now. But, of course, I would not
want that world back - where you had to pay a small fortune to "instantly"
deliver a short message.

And "instantly" meant within a few hours, not milliseconds like today.

~~~
lb1lf
I remember getting one -1- telegram. (Received for my Confirmation from a
distant relative in the US. Must have been May 1993.)

This was such an event in the cottage I lived in at the time that the local
postmaster dropped by on his way home from work to deliver it, rather than
just toss it in the mail for delivery next day (as was SoP, if I remember
correctly - I seem to remember telegrams were telexed from whatever entity
served as the national gateway to the nearmost post office, where it was
printed and put in local mail; this procedure was written out in the phone
books, and provided for a glimpse into an exotic world for a kid stuck in West
Podunk, Norway in the eighties...)

Still get a chuckle out of it, as my relative (who had emigrated from Norway
as a kid, and thus spoke Norwegian) had apparently gamed the system a bit - in
order to pay for fewer words, he'd strung multiple words together like
'CONGRATULATIONSON THEBIGDAYMAY GOD BLESSALL'

(Wonder how that worked out - presumably foreign language text was billed at a
higher rate?)

~~~
andyjohnson0
> in order to pay for fewer words, he'd strung multiple words together

I remember reading [1] that nineteenth century telegraph users could buy
popular code books that allowed them to save money by substituting single
words for common phrases. Obviously both parties needed to use the same code
book, and unsurprisingly the telegraph companies tried to ban the practice.

[1] I think this was in _The Victorian Internet_ by Tom Standage. A very
interesting read btw.

~~~
majewsky
The same technique is still used by stenotypists.

Some years ago, I read a newspaper story about a blind stenotypist who records
the proceedings at the Saxonian parliament. He said that he uses a set of a
few thousand abbreviations specifically designed for parliament speeches. Then
someone takes his papertrail and expands the abbreviations into the actual
proceedings.

~~~
saalweachter
The practice was also used in shorthand. In addition to being a phonetic
transcription, the secretary would also utilize standard abbreviations and
contractions to keep up with the spoken word. The documents would then be sent
to a secretarial pool of typists who would transcribe it to long-hand. Schools
would train secretaries to write their shorthand identically, so that it was
legible to other secretaries and the abbreviations were universally
understood.

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JoeDaDude
I remember the anecdote about ending the use of a Morse code only distress
channel by the Coast Guard. On the last day, the land based radio operators
spent the time sending each other Shakespeare quotes and similar until they
received an actual emergency distress call! Seems a small cargo ship had lost
a lot of systems - including rudder control - and were forced to use the Morse
channel to ask for help.

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Aeolun
I am always sad to hear that another part of history dies out. I'm not sure
why, since I've never in my life used a telegram, but it's somehow
representative of an age that is no more. Including anything from steam
engines, trains, intercontinental ship travel and a whole range of things that
have long since been improved on, but which I'm still sad to see go.

~~~
jcrites
Intercontinental ship travel has not entirely died out. Well, for pure
transportation it largely has, but for tourism or entertainment you can
frequently find intercontinental legs on cruise ship voyages. These are not
routinely offered and usually occur when the ship itself needs to sail between
continents.

Because these voyages have multiple consecutive days at sea with no land
activities, they are usually considered less desirable than cruises that dock
every day in port. As much as there is to do (relatively) on big ships, most
passengers get bored. Those of us who enjoy solace and contemplation can enjoy
the time however.

On modern cruise ships, all of these journeys are fast and uneventful, what
with weather radar and forecast, fast travel speeds, and stabilizers that
nearly eliminate rolling motion in calm waters. Plus satellite Internet and
often cellular phone connections. So they rarely ever have the drama that we
imagine from a century ago.

~~~
cr0sh
You can also book rooms on some container ships (yes, container ship cruises
are a thing!).

The downsides of such a cruise are readily apparent: Lack of amenities during
the cruise, few to no people to talk to/with (unless you know the common
language of the crew - which could be almost anything - but even then, they
have work to do!), etc.

You are also limited on where you can travel from and to, and of course when
you arrive at your destination, you probably have to get creative to gain
transport from there to wherever.

There's also the fact that you won't usually have a set and known time for
when to board the ship for leaving (it might be in port and scheduled to leave
at a certain time, but might be held up for one reason or another outside of
the port, or delayed leaving for some reason or another), or when it will
arrive at its destination (like any ship, I suppose - but container ships are
working vessels, and they may be held out of port for certain admin purposes,
or some other law-related reason, or they may have to dock elsewhere for
repairs - or who knows what else).

That all said, from what I have investigated, if you want a little (or a
potentially a lot) of adventure, and don't mind the whole uncertainness of the
experience, container ship cruising can be a very inexpensive (compared to a
regular cruise ship). I don't think it compares to flying (but I never delved
that deep into the pricing), but it certainly could be worth it from an "about
my vacation" story perspective.

~~~
Aeolun
The last time I had a look at this the cost was $130 per day. This seemed a
tad on the expensive side for a trip that could take a few weeks.

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snowpanda
This image shows the worldwide wiring map in 1891 for those interested:

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/1891_Tel...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/1891_Telegraph_Lines.jpg)

~~~
digi_owl
And many of the same paths are today used for fiber optics.

~~~
snowpanda
That's so true! I hadn't thought of that, but you're right.

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barking
I rememeber us getting a telegram from an aunt who lived abroad in the 70s.
The local post office phoned us with the message and the written telegram
itself was delivered by the postman, next day. I kept it for awhile.

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sohkamyung
From the article:

 _Just 10 businesses and a handful of individual customers have kept the
Belgian system going until now. It has been chiefly used by bailiffs, who had
need of a system which provided legal guarantees of dispatch and receipt._

Would email programs supporting PGP fill this role?

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aldof
We all use www.telegram.org nowadays.

