Telecommunication Early means of communicating over a distance included visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs. Other examples of pre-modern long-distance communication included audio messages such as coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, and loud whistles. 20th- and 21st-century technologies for long-distance communication usually involve electrical and electromagnetic technologies, such as telegraph, telephone, and teleprinter, networks, radio, microwave transmission, fiber optics, and communications satellites. A revolution in wireless communication began in the first decade of the 20th century with the pioneering developments in radio communications by Guglielmo Marconi, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in
SBC Long Distance to compete for telephone service. In 2002, SWB Long Distance was renamed SBC Long Distance, as part of SBC's brand unification among its companies. In 2005, SBC purchased AT&T, and changed its name to AT&T. On April 1, 2006, SBC Long Distance began doing business as AT&T Long Distance. SBC Long Distance provides competitive long distance service within the Bell Operating Company regions of Illinois Bell, Indiana Bell, Michigan Bell, Nevada Bell, Ohio Bell, Pacific Bell, Southwestern Bell, and Wisconsin Bell. SBC Long Distance does not provide service for BellSouth Telecommunications customers, who are served by BellSouth Long Distance, nor