The beginning of the telegraph in Britain was due to the railways. Along these railway lines, telegraph wires would be suspended. These telegraphs were used to communicate between railway stations, control signaling and send messages. As telegraph technology developed, it became widespread in many parts of the country. A ship also made it possible to internationalize this network. The Great Eastern laid telegraph wires along the Atlantic, enabling rapid communication with nations across the sea. This sparked a worldwide development in international communications, as many countries gained their own telegraphs. However, around this time, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. This allowed people to talk with others who were not in the same room. In 1887 there were 26,000 telephones in Britain. Even further, at the end of the 19th century, radios appeared. These allowed for even better global communications because there were no wires to connect the sending end and the receiving end. The development of communications in Britain had a huge impact on what it is today.