Internet vs. Telegraph

Similarities

1.     Both allow for long range communication in a matter of moments in what could takes days if one were to travel by foot or try to communicate by mail.

2.     They both have their messages encoded for transmission and both have to have their messages decoded upon reception. The electric telegraph has the Morse code and the internet has binary code

3.     Both have  fostered transcontinental trade and helped make the world a smaller place in terms of communication

Differences

1.     The internet allows for point-to-many communication, this means that one person is able to reach multiple people in a transmission. The electric telegraph is a point-to-point form of telecommunication; this means that it is communication from one telegraph to another telegraph.

2.     The internet allows for users to communicate in more than one form of transmission. With the internet you can use audio, video, and text to send your message out. It also allows people to access that information at any point in time.

3.     The internet is also a storage medium for information where as the telegraph is just a transmission tool to send out information, once it was sent out it was up to both parties to keep a log the transmissions and there was no way of being able to check and see if the transmissions took place until a reply was received.

Interesting Fact about the Electric Telegraph

•  In the 1866 Western Union bought the last two competitors in the industry to become the first business monopoly in the United States.