Travel less thanks to the videophone in 1973 – RadioVisie

In February 1973, the so-called videotelephone was ready for a large-scale trial in the Netherlands. In September, PTT and Philips started a testnet. Fifty participants were recruited and will be followed for two years.

The videophone on the desk was a great status symbol, but according to PTT’s D. van den Berg, it would also be very expensive. This will cost ten to fifty times more than just making a phone call. He also stated that he did not expect the video telephone network to be able to be used in the Netherlands before 1980.

Van den Berg based his statement on similar tests that began in 1970 in the American city of Pittsburgh. Bell Telephone & Telegraph has connected eighty companies to a pilot network. She indicated that the subscription amounted to no less than $160 per month for one call, in addition to another $1.60 per minute during the call.

A trial connection has also been established between a number of post offices in London and Birmingham in England. Televisions were placed in spacious cells and with the help of microphones, speakers and of course telephone lines, it became possible for people to talk to each other but also show things or documents to each other.

Until the beginning of 1973, PTT and Philips had each spent approximately one million guilders on developing the videophone. There had been talk since 1968 about starting this experiment, but that had never happened before. The statement came from PTT. Only by laying four telephone wires instead of two, and using different coverings, as well as adapting telephone exchanges, was it possible to begin the experiment.

Although PTT, as a government company, was not really keen on introducing videophone throughout the country due to the very high costs. er. Van den Berg stated that people are committed to becoming proficient in this technology thanks to these tests. He believed that a great advantage would be that, thanks to the videophone, it would be possible to travel much less in the future, for example to attend meetings.

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