February 12, 2026
Dial M for Moo
A brief history of barbed wire fence telephone networks
Farm fences turned phone lines spark nostalgia—and a Shannon-sized debate
TLDR: CU Boulder revived a barbed wire “fence phone” in a classroom, spotlighting a forgotten rural communication network. Comments erupted over missing credit to Claude Shannon, with links, biographies, and family recordings proving fence-line calling was real—and demanding Wikipedia updates to set the record straight.
Barbed wire phones aren’t just cowboy folklore—they’re back on campus, with CU Boulder installing a “Barbed Wire Fence Telephone II” in a classroom and giving a hands-on demo. But the real rodeo was online: the comment crowd turned the history lesson into a showdown over what (and who) got left out.
The loudest lasso: Claude Shannon. Multiple readers said the write-up ignores the farm kid who became the godfather of information theory, calling out his early tinkering with fence-line telegraphs and phones. One dropped archived HN threads, another cited the Shannon biography, and a third brought receipts—digitized tapes of a great‑grandfather clipping a handset to the fence to call the house.
Nostalgia met nitpicks. Some cheered the project’s “Other Networks” vibe and hyped the forthcoming book, while purists grumbled about missing credit to rural hackers who built “party lines on the prairie.” The jokes came fast: “5G for cows,” “Fence-Fi,” and “Can you hear me, heifer?” Meanwhile, the vibe was clear—this forgotten network wasn’t a quirky art piece; it was everyday life for millions. The comments want the history fixed, the Wikipedia updated, and the fence phones ringing again. Even the museum crowd chimed in, name-dropping exhibits of Shannon’s playful “toys.”
Key Points
- •CU Boulder hosted a re-installation of a barbed wire fence telephone (“Barbed Wire Fence Telephone II”) on August 29, with a demo on August 30.
- •The project follows Phil Peters and David Rueter’s 2015 “Barbed Wire Fence Telephone” exhibited in a Chicago gallery.
- •CMCI funded and staffed the installation, with the Media Archaeology Lab coordinating; about 20 people attended the demo.
- •Barbed wire fence phones were widely used in early- to mid-20th century rural U.S. and Canada but are sparsely documented.
- •Historical context: early designs (1860), first U.S. patent (1867), Glidden’s 1874 dominant design, falling prices, and the barbed wire industry’s consolidation by the 1890s.