by 1984 the basic mailbox service had been extended to give automatic access to the telex service which at the time was still relatively common in business and was the standard way to reach remoter parts of the globe. using a special "telex link" page, the message was composed in the usual way and then the destination country chosen and the telex number entered before sending just like a standard message. telex link added the necessary telex codes as required and tried to send the message as many times as required before positively confirming receipt by means of a special mailbox message. telexes could be sent to prestel mailbox users from a standard telex terminal by using telex link number and inserting "mbx" and the relevant mailbox number as the first line of the telex message itself. the incoming telex message appeared to the prestel recipient just as an ordinary mailbox message but with the telex number inserted at the top of the frame.