'Tin-can' telephones had been around for a while, and the problems with the operation of the early electric telephones led to a brief up-surge of interest in the much more basic technology, even in Jamaica, it seemed.
The advertisements continued for a few months into 1885, and then disappeared permanently; the limitations of the acoustic 'phone, which only worked over short distances, became increasingly obvious. The Bell electric telephone, whatever its early difficulties, was clearly the technology for the future.