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. Nowadays, phones are almost always in the form of smartphones or mobile phones, due to technological convergence.

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 which 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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Direct distance dialing (DDD) is a telecommunication service feature in North America by which a caller may, without operator assistance, call any other user outside the local calling area. Direct dialing by subscribers typically requires extra digits to be dialed as prefixes to the directory telephone number of the destination. International Direct Distance Dialing (IDDD) extends the system beyond the geographic boundaries of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). (Full article...)

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An emergency telephone is a phone specifically provided for making calls to emergency services and is most often found in a place of special danger or where it is likely that there will be a need to make emergency calls. It is also sometimes known as blue lights. (Full article...)

List of phone types
Payphone Courtesy 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 Prepaid mobile phone

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Reproduction of an IOS phone disconnect tone (not the original audio)

A disconnect tone in telephony is a tone provided to the remaining party to a call after the remote party hangs up. Typically, the disconnect tone is a few cycles of the reorder or busy tone (e.g. in US), or between five and fifteen seconds of the Number Unobtainable tone (e.g. in UK). (Full article...)

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

Image 1Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 2A smartphone displaying the homepage of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 3Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 4A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 5Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 6People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 7The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 8Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
Image 9Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 10Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 11E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 12Tooltip 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 13A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
Image 14The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 15The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Image 16A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 17A 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 18Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 19Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Image 20"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 21Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 22A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 231896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 24Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 25Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 26A Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)
Image 27Modern Apple iPhone. This phone is considered a smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 28A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 29Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 30The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (from Smartphone)
Image 311917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 32The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 33
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 34The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
Image 35Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 36Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 37Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 38A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 39Actor 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 40The 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 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 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 43The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
Image 44A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 45A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Image 46Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 47Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola 8900X-2 to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 48Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 49Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Image 50IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
Image 51Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1-f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 52Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 53A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 54Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 55Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 56Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 57Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 58Martin 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 59Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 60This 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 61A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 62A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)

Selected biography

Douglas H. Ring (March 28, 1907 in Montana – September 8, 2000 in Red Bank, New Jersey) was one of the Bell Labs engineers that invented the cell phone. The history of cellular phone technology began on December 11, 1947 with an internal memo written by Douglas H. Ring in which he proposed development of a cellular telephone system by AT&T.

Although Martin Cooper of Motorola is considered the inventor of the first handheld cellular telephone and the first person to demonstrate to reporters a handheld cell phone call, Cooper's April 1973 call used cellular telephone technology invented and developed by Bell Labs engineers. (Full article...)

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

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Telephones in the news

14 March 2024 – Russia–United Kingdom relations: A Royal Air Force plane carrying UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and several journalists has its GPS signals jammed while flying near Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. Mobile phone signals were also jammed during the flight. The Russian military is suspected of being behind the jamming. (BBC News)

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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