1861: Johann Philipp Reis manages to transfer voice electrically over a distance of 340 feet with his Reis telephone. Reis uses his telephone to transmit his phrase "The horse does not eat cucumber salad". This phrase in German is hard to understand acoustically so Reis uses it to prove that speech can be recognized successfully at the receiving end.
The first long distance telephone call was made on August 10, 1876 by Bell from the family homestead in Brantford, Ontario, to his assistant located in Paris, Ontario, some 10 miles (16 km) apart.