The Machines That Built America – S01 E05 : Telephone Wars

In the 1870s communicating with distant family requires sending a letter, and waiting days or weeks for a reply. The telegraph is faster, but too expensive for most people. When communication giant Western Union offers a colossal cash prize to anyone who can improve its network, two daring inventors go head-to-head in a fight that will forever change the way humans connect. Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray will stop at nothing to lay claim to the new technology and dominate the market.