Administrative Assistant's and Secretary's Handbook, 5th Edition

Chapter 9

Office Equipment

Telephones

Telephone service has come a long way since it was invented in the late 1800s. In the early days, telephone service was primitive and selective. Not everyone had a telephone, nor could you call everyone or everywhere. Only towns that put up the poles and ran the wires had service, and even then, many people had to share a telephone line.

Today, telephone service is taken for granted. Businesses use voice mail and computerized answering machines to take messages, to network computers across town or across the country, and to send fax transmissions to offices around the world. Let’s start with the basic business services that allow you to call across the street.

Private Branch Exchange

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