And even 5 bits was enough for a long time, across a few European languages: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baudot_code https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baudot_code

And even 5 bits was enough for a long time, across a few European languages: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baudot_code https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baudot_code (which I just learned is also where "baud" comes from!)