1980	First use of the "900" number.
1981	First cellular mobile telephone service is offered, in Saudi Arabia and Scandinavia. A new telephone service, DIAL-IT® allowed a caller to listen to the voice communications between the Space Shuttle Columbia and the ground command center. BITNET is introduced (Because Its There NETwork)
1982	256K DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) is introduced. The first full-color two-way video teleconferencing service is offered. The development of TFM (Time Frequency Multiplexing)
1983	The Cleaved Coupled-Cavity (C³) laser was introduced. The single frequency tunable laser emitted a light so pure that over a billion bits of information per second could be sent through a glass fiber. (April) The first commercial cellular phone system is introduced in Chicago. (13 October) Desktop workstations are introduced.
1984	IEEE Centennial Breakup of AT&T.(1 January) Local area signaling service is introduced. The service is used to trace nuisance calls, transfer calls, and provide other advanced calling services. (20 May) AT&T and NASA space shuttle Discover launch its second Telstar 3 satellite. 1 Sept. Domain Name Service (DNS) is introduced. DNS is used mostly to translate between domain names and IP addresses, and to control Internet email delivery.
1985	AT&T Bell Laboratories combine 10 laser beams on a single optical fiber demonstrating the capability of lightwave systems to carry 20 billion bits per second (equal to 300,000 telephone calls.) Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL) is started. Symbolics.com is assigned on 15 March to become the first registered domain. Other firsts: cmu.edu, purdue.edu, rice.edu, berkeley.edu, ucla.edu, rutgers.edu, bbn.com (24 April); mit.edu (23 May); think.com (24 May); css.gov (June); mitre.org, .uk (July)
1986	TAT-3 transatlantic cable is retired (1 Sept.) An Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is deployed, capable of handling voice, data and video. (16 December) The first Freenet comes on-line 16 July in Cleveland, OH.
1987	Superconductivity is discovered - the transmission of electricity without resistance through low temperature material. TDD (telecommunications device for the deaf) is initiated. UUNet is founded by Rick Adams.
1988	A self replicating program, a worm, invaded hundreds to thousands of computers, making them unusable. (3 November)
1989