Portal:Telephones

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The Telephones Portal

A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, 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 Ancient Greek: τῆλε, romanized: tēle, lit. 'far' and φωνή (phōnē, voice), together meaning distant voice.

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 cell phone 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 collect call in Canada and the United States, known as a reverse charge call in other parts of the English-speaking world, is a telephone call in which the calling party wants to place a call at the called party's expense.

Collect calls were originally only possible as an operator-assisted call, but with the introduction of computer-based telephone dialing equipment, it became possible to place a collect call without using an operator. Automated reverse charge dialing eliminated a service that could be provided, at a higher fee, only on operator-assisted connections: the person-to-person call, in which there is no charge unless a designated person is available.

In the US, while Mother's Day is the holiday with the highest number of phone calls, the day with the most collect calls is Father's Day. (Full article...)

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A secure telephone is a telephone that provides voice security in the form of end-to-end encryption for the telephone call, and in some cases also the mutual authentication of the call parties, protecting them against a man-in-the-middle attack. Concerns about massive growth of telephone tapping incidents led to growing demand for secure telephones.

The practical availability of secure telephones is restricted by several factors; notably politics, export issues, incompatibility between different products (the devices on each side of the call have to use the same protocol), and high (though recently decreasing) price of the devices. (Full article...)

List of phone types
Payphone Courtesy telephone Emergency 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 Prepaid mobile phone

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RO' SIT

Reorder – intraLATA

VC SIT

Unassigned N11 code, CLASS code or prefix

NC' SIT

No Circuit – intraLATA

IC SIT

Intercept

IO SIT

Ineffective/Other

Future SIT

Future Use (Not Used)

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In telephony, a special information tone (SIT) is an in-band international standard call progress tone consisting of three rising tones indicating a call has failed. It usually precedes a recorded announcement describing the problem. (Full article...)

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

Image 1A Nexus 6, an Android smartphone, displaying the Main Page of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 2Xiaomi 13 Ultra featured a Leica Summicron camera system (from Smartphone)
Image 3IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
Image 4Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Image 5Tooltip 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 6The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Image 7Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 8People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 9Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 10The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
Image 11This 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 12A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 13Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 14Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 15Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 16Martin 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 171896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 18A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 19A 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 20The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
Image 21Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 22A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 23
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 241917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 25Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 26E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 27A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 28A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Image 29Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 30Actor 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 31Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Image 32Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 33A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
Image 34Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 35The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 36Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 37Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 38A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 39A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 40Oppo Find X6 features software-based tuning co-developed with Hasselblad (from Smartphone)
Image 41Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 42A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 43Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 44Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
Image 45Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1–f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 46Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 47The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 48Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 49Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 50Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 51Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 52A 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 53A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 54Reis's telephone around 1861, first device called telephone (from History of the telephone)
Image 55"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 56Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 57A Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)
Image 58Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 59The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 60Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 61Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 62Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 63A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)

Selected biography

Bell, c. 1917

Alexander Graham Bell (/ˈɡreɪ.əm/, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.^{[additional citation(s) needed]}

Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work. His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices, which eventually culminated in his being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone, on March 7, 1876. Bell considered his invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.

Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils, and aeronautics. Bell also had a strong influence on the National Geographic Society and its magazine while serving as its second president from 1898 to 1903. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies
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 Pat Fleet John Draper

Selected images

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

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Mobile phones

Mobile phones by company

Active noise control mobile phones

Mobile telephone broadcasting

Mobile phone companies

Mobile phone culture

History of mobile phones

Mobile phone industry

Lists of mobile phones

Mobile device management

Mobile phones with 4K video recording

Mobile phones with 8K video recording

Mobile phones with an integrated hardware keyboard

Mobile phones with infrared transmitter

Mobile phones with mechanical zoom lens

Mobile phones with pressure-sensitive touch screen

Mobile phones with self-capacitive touch screen layer

Mobile phones with stylus

Mobile phones with user-replaceable battery

Mobile phones with multiple rear cameras

Open-source mobile phones

Mobile phone recycling

Mobile phones by shape

Smartphones

Mobile software

Solar-powered mobile phones

Mobile phone standards

Mobile phones with stereo camera

Watch phones

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Mobile phones by year of introduction

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WikiProject Telecommunications
Bell System task force

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Telephones in the news

15 November 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine, Germany–Russia relations: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz holds a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine, their first contact since 2022. Putin tells Scholz that any negotiated settlement to end the war must recognize the territories that Russia has occupied as part of Russia and that Ukraine must abandon its aspiration to join NATO. (AP) (The New York Times)
29 October 2024 –: Four people are injured after a derailed tram crashes into a phone and computer shop in central Oslo, Norway. (Euronews)

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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