Spoken, written, smoke signals, hand signals.
How did people communicate in the olden days?
You mean the olden days before texting? As uncouth as this sounds we actually talked to each other.
During the 1950s I worked as a telegraphist and we still used Morse code. Dots and dashes. It was a system that survived for a century and was very effective.
Before that, we used everything from smoke signals to couriers (go read the story of Pheidippides the Runner).
And before Pheidippides and his ilk, the Australian aborigines (who have inhabited the great south land for 40,000 years) used a device called a bullroarer.
You can hear a bullroarer in action in this 35 second clip. It doesn't always end up this way:
In person , on the house phone.
I used the Pony Express.
It was easy ! No bill, no miss dial, nothing !
They sent real letters and actually visited in person when possible :)
Letters cards talk to you in person