Telex
More info
- Type
- Network service
- Released
- 1930s (Germany)
The global network of teleprinters, where you "dialled" a subscriber and your text printed out on a paper strip at the far end.
Telex (teleprinter exchange) was in effect a telephone network for typewriters. It grew up in Germany in the 1930s and became worldwide after the war: every subscriber had a teleprinter and a number, dialled the other party and typed, and the message printed straight out at the receiving end. Transmission ran at 50 baud using the 5-bit Baudot code.
The point was proof. An "answerback" drum replied automatically to the code WRU ("who are you") with the recipient's identity, giving a legally usable receipt — vital for trade, shipping and news agencies. Telex was gradually displaced by fax and then email, but hung on into the 2000s wherever confirmed delivery mattered more than speed.