The pony express
The Pony Express
Before the phone, but after the common use of electricity, the most common method of communication quickly across country was the telegram. Before electricity, smoke signals were used, or sometimes signal flags of some kind.
People used the pony express to communicate from large distances before the telegraph.
Telegram is a message sent over wires, usually in Morse code. A very common device before international phone lines existed.
Telegram/Post Service. :P
Message runners, semaphore, letter and note delivery and telegram.
The Cuban missile crisis. Germany sent a telegram to Cuba saying that they will send U-boats to sink USA. ships. Then the Cubans could get the supplies for their missiles with out any interruption from the USA. but this telegram was intercepted by the USA. before it got to Cuba. This telegram was called the Zimmerman telegram.
Batovin was the fastest olympic swimmer before Michael Phelps
Before the Telephone became available for use long distance electronic communication consisted of The telegraph. To take advantage of this form of communication one had to take ones message to a telegraph office where a telegraph operator would send it using Morse code to a recipients post office where it would be deciphered and sent on as a telegram to the recipient While the Telegraph was a great step forward in communication it was certainly far more cumbersome and difficult to take advantage of then modern telephony. http://www.sendatelegram.com/telegrams_history.asp
Paragien Falcon is the fastest. Please improve on my answer the answer before me was vandalism.
They carried messages from one location to another. Before the advent of the telegraph, they were the fastest means of communication over long distances, and they were still used for a time after the telephone and radio were introduced.