Amparo Lasen compares the history of society’s adoption of the fixed-line telephone, and the corresponding adoption of the mobile telephone.This comparison covers a time span of a century and yet, considering the differences of social contexts and technical devices, the knowledge of early practices, conflicts, fears and hopes about telephones can nevertheless help to understand the uses and social roles of mobile telephones. The interest of the comparison is, therefore, to give an insight into what happens when new services and new devices enter a marketplace.