The first telephone call in Bohemia was made on April 10, 1881 between the Hartmann coal mine in Ledvice and a nearby train station in Duchcov, covering a distance of around two and a half kilometres.
A year after the first phone call took place, the first switchboard was established at Prague’s Malé náměstí, in a house called u Rychtrů. In the beginning, 13 people were interested to own the phone. It was far from a cheap service. In addition to the call charge, other fees were paid - for the distance of the call, the rental of the device or for switching.
The price of a few minutes of gossiping or business negotiations could climb to several crowns,the price of, for example, lunch in a cheaper restaurant.Even so, the number of people interested in getting a telephone connection increased rapidly.
After a few months of operation, Prague Business published the first phone book, which already had 98 participants.
The owners of today's mobile phones with a touch keyboard and other gadgets would probably be unpleasantly surprised by the staff of the then machines. They would search in vain for dials or keyboards on the device. The basis of the operation was the handle. By spinning it, the conversation began.After turning again, a young lady from the headquarters called, who contacted the client on request. At the end of the conversation, the swirling motion of the handle again played a key role. After this notification, the headquarters ended the call.
Praguers also learned to communicate properly through the line. At first, according to legend, they said "Ha, hey" into the handset.In the end, however, the word "haló", prefered by the inventor of the phone, Graham Bell, became domesticated.
Phone calls became more accessible with the arrival of first phone booths in the streets of Prague in 1911.
Payphones still have an irreplaceable role in cases of emergency calls or as an alternative solution in case of a broken, forgotten, lost or discharged mobile phone.
