Portal:Telephones

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A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into electronic signals that are transmitted via cables and other communication channels to another telephone which reproduces the sound to the receiving user. The term is derived from Greek: τῆλε (tēle, far) and φωνή (phōnē, voice), together meaning distant voice. A common short form of the term is phone, which came into use early in the telephone's history.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be granted a United States patent for a device that produced clearly intelligible replication of the human voice at a second device. This instrument was further developed by many others, and became rapidly indispensable in business, government, and in households. (Full article...)

A mobile phone (or cellphone) is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area, as opposed to a fixed-location phone (landline phone). The radio frequency link establishes a connection to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, which provides access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Modern mobile telephone services use a cellular network architecture, and therefore mobile telephones are called cellphones (or "cell phones") in North America. In addition to telephony, digital mobile phones support a variety of other services, such as text messaging, multimedia messaging, email, Internet access (via LTE, 5G NR or Wi-Fi), short-range wireless communications (infrared, Bluetooth), satellite access (navigation, messaging connectivity), business applications, payments (via NFC), multimedia playback and streaming (radio, television), digital photography, and video games. Mobile phones offering only basic capabilities are known as feature phones (slang: "dumbphones"); mobile phones that offer greatly advanced computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones. (Full article...)

A smartphone (often simply called a phone) is a mobile device that combines the functionality of a traditional mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multimedia playback and streaming. Smartphones have built-in cameras, GPS navigation, and support for various communication methods, including voice calls, text messaging, and internet-based messaging apps. (Full article...)

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A harmonised service of social value is a type of freephone service available in the European Union and in some non-EU countries (including the countries in the European Economic Area and United Kingdom), which answers a specific social need, in particular which contributes to the well-being or safety of citizens, or particular groups of citizens, or helps citizens in difficulty. The phone numbers and the corresponding service descriptions are managed by the European Commission and harmonised across all EU and EEA member states. Harmonised services of social value use the prefix 116, which is then followed by three digits indicating the type of service.

After the commission has assigned a number, it is then up to the telephone regulator in each country to allocate the number to a telephone service provider and providing organisation of their choice. The first telephone numbers to be allocated are 116 000 (missing children helplines), 116 111 (child help lines) and 116 123 (emotional support helplines). (Full article...)

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A prepaid mobile device, also known as a pay-as-you-go (PAYG), pay-as-you-talk, pay and go, go-phone, prepay or burner phone, is a mobile device such as a phone for which credit is purchased in advance of service use. The purchased credit is used to pay for telecommunications services at the point the service is accessed or consumed. If there is no credit, then access is denied by the cellular network or Intelligent Network. Users can top up their credit at any time using a variety of payment mechanisms. ("Pay-as-you-go", "PAYG", and similar terms are also used for other non-telecommunications services paid for by advance deposit.)

The alternative billing method (and what is commonly referred to as a mobile contract) is the postpaid mobile phone, where a user enters into a long-term contract (lasting 12, 18, or 24 months) or short-term contract (also commonly referred to as a rolling contract or a 30-day contract) and billing arrangement with a mobile phone operator (mobile virtual network operator or mobile network operator). (Full article...)

List of phone types
Payphone Courtesy telephone Emergency telephone Secure telephone Smartphone Mobile phone Satellite phone Phablet Car phone Windows Phone Camera phone Feature phone VoIP phone iPhone Tin can telephone Sound-powered telephone Grillo telephone Golden telephone Reis telephone Cordless telephone Shoe phone Field telephone IBM Simon Mobile radio telephone Foldable smartphone Modular smartphone

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Multi-frequency dialing

These multi-frequency tones were generated by automated switching equipment. The blue box was designed to replicate these tones.

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A blue box is an electronic device that produces tones used to generate the in-band signaling tones formerly used within the North American long-distance telephone network to send line status and called number information over voice circuits. This allowed an illicit user, referred to as a "phreaker", to place long-distance calls, without using the network's user facilities, that would be billed to another number or dismissed entirely as an incomplete call. A number of similar "color boxes" were also created to control other aspects of the phone network. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various telephone-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Martin Cooper of Motorola, shown here in a 2007 reenactment, made the first publicized handheld mobile phone call on a prototype DynaTAC model on 3 April 1973. (from Mobile phone)
Image 2Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 3The back of a Nokia 9 PureView. It features a five-lens camera array with Zeiss optics, using a mixture of color and monochrome sensors. (from Smartphone)
Image 4A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 5The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 6A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 7A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 8The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
Image 9Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola 8900X-2 to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 10The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 11The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Image 12A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 13Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 14A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 15Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 16The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
Image 17Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1-f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 18"Device options" menu of Samsung Mobile's TouchWiz user interface as of 2013, accessed by holding the power button for a second (from Smartphone)
Image 19This layout of the camera viewfinder was first introduced by Apple with iOS 7 in 2013. Towards the late 2010s, several other smartphone vendors have ditched their layouts and implemented variations of this layout. (from Smartphone)
Image 20Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 21Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 22The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (from Smartphone)
Image 23People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 24A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
Image 25Tooltip in Kiwi Browser, a Google Chromium derivative, reveals the full URL by hovering over the tab list using the stylus on a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. (from Smartphone)
Image 261917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 27Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 28Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 29Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 30Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 31Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 32Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 33Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 34Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 35Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 36IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
Image 37Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 38Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 39Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Image 40Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 41Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 42A smartphone displaying the homepage of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 43Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
Image 44A sign along Bellaire Boulevard in Southside Place, Texas (Greater Houston) states that using mobile phones while driving is prohibited from 7:30 am to 9:00 am and from 2:00 pm to 4:15 pm. (from Smartphone)
Image 45Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Image 46A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 47Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 48A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Image 49A sign in the US restricting cell phone use to certain times of day (no cell phone use between 7:30–9:00 am and 2:00–4:15 pm) (from Mobile phone)
Image 50Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 511896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 52A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 53Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 54Actor portraying Alexander Graham Bell in a 1932 silent film. Shows Bell's second telephone transmitter (microphone), invented 1876 and first displayed at the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia. (from History of the telephone)
Image 55A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 56A Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)
Image 57
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 58Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 59E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 60A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 61The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 62Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)

Selected biography

Fleet in studio, August, 2008

Pat Trumble Fleet is an American voice actress. Widely recognized for the tens of thousands of recordings she has made for US telephone companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, the former Bell System companies, and others since 1981, she is still most recognized as the person who says "AT&T" in the company's sound trademark, which played prior to any operator assisted or credit card paid call, and on answer when calling AT&T customer service numbers.

She is also the voice for most "star" services (e.g. last-call return, call blocking, etc.) for AT&T local telephone companies, and the voice heard when making AT&T handled calls through 1-800-CALL-ATT (225-5288) and through international AT&T access numbers such as USADirect. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies
Alexander Graham Bell Thomas Edison Innocenzo Manzetti Charles Bourseul Johann Philipp Reis Antonio Meucci Tivadar Puskás Douglas H. Ring W. Rae Young Martin Cooper (inventor) Thomas Cowherd Gardiner Greene Hubbard Anthony Pollok Thomas A. Watson Elisha Gray George Sweigert John Draper

Selected images

Image 1A Bell Canada payphone with digital display
Image 2Historical telephone with the German imperial eagle and the heraldic shield of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty; Vollmer's Mill, Seebach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Image 3Wooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked magneto generator
Image 4A historic telephone booth in Skansen, Stockholm
Image 5Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
Image 6Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania
Image 7Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France
Image 8Apple iPhones
Image 9A cordless phone
Image 10A Western Electric candlestick phone from the 1920s
Image 11An Italian gettone telefonico (telephone token) from 1945, which was used in Italian phone booths
Image 12Foldable smartphones
Image 13Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone
Image 14Android smartphones
Image 15Track-side emergency brake and emergency telephones at the platform of the metro station Aspern Nord, Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria
Image 16A traditional North American rotary phone dial. The associative lettering was originally used for dialing named exchanges but was kept because it facilitated memorization of telephone numbers.
Image 17Photograph of the interior of the Prairie Grove Airlight Outdoor Telephone Booth in Prairie Grove, Arkansas, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Image 18Push-button telephone
Image 19Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
Image 20A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably)
Image 21The AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963.
Image 22An example of a K6, the most common red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012
Image 23A police box outside Earl's Court tube station in London, built in 1996 and based on the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench design
Image 24Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany
Image 25A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia
Image 26Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012
Image 27Landline call blocking in use
Image 28Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886

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v t e Telephony
Types	Landline Cable telephony Mobile phone Satellite phone Photophone
Accessories	Answering machine Caller ID
Connectivity	Cable protection system Communications satellites Fibre-optical Free-space optical ISDN Mobile phone signal POTS PSTN Submarine cables VoIP
Calls	Missed call Misdialed call Nuisance call Phone tag
Applications	Fax transmission Telephone calls Telephone newspapers Théâtrophone Video calls
Telecommunication portal Telephones portal

v t e Emergency telephone numbers
Emergency telephone Harmonised service of social value
000 (Australia) 102 (India) 106 (Australia) 108 (India) 110 (Iran, Japan, China) 111 (New Zealand) 112 (Europe and others, worldwide GSM mobile networks) 119 (parts of Asia and Jamaica) 120 (China) 122 (Austria, Egypt, and Bosnia and Herzegovina) 123 (Colombia, Egypt) 128 (Mercosur member states) 190 (Brazil) 911 (Iraq, North America E-911 system, Philippines) 988 (North America Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) 999 (Bangladesh, UK and others) 1122 (Pakistan)
Telephones portal Telecommunication portal List article Category Wikimedia Commons