Portal:Telephones

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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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Wide Area Telephone Service (WATS) was a flat-rate long-distance service for customer dial-type telecommunications in the service areas of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP).

The service was between a given customer phone (also known as a "station") and stations within specified geographic rate areas, employing a single telephone line between the customer location and the serving central office. Each access line could be arranged for outward (OUT-WATS) or inward (IN-WATS) service, or both.

WATS was introduced by the Bell System in 1961 as a long-distance flat-rate plan by which a business could obtain a special line with an included number of hours ('measured time' or 'full-time') of long-distance calling to a specified area. These lines were most often connected to private branch exchanges in large businesses. WATS lines were the basis for the first direct-dial toll-free 1-800-numbers (intrastate in 1966, interstate in 1967); by 1976, WATS brought AT&T Corporation a billion dollars in annual revenue ($5.35 billion in 2023 dollars) (Full article...)

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A phablet (/ˈfæblət/, /-lɪt/) is a mobile device combining or straddling the size formats of smartphones and tablets. The word is a blend word of phone and tablet. The term is largely unused by the late 2010s, since average PDA sizes eventually morphed into small tablet sizes, up to 6.9 inches (180 mm), with wider aspect ratios. (Full article...)

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Example of Last-call return from Verizon Home Phone Service

Listen to last-call return (with a fake NANP number, 987-654-3210), voiced by Pat Fleet.

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Last-call return, automatic recall, or (on PBX and centrex service) camp-on, is a telecommunication feature offered by telephony service providers to subscribers to provide the subscriber with the telephone number, and sometimes the time, of the last caller. The service may also offer the facility to place a call to the calling party. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 2A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 3Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 4Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
Image 5The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Image 6Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 7Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1-f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 8A Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)
Image 9A smartphone displaying the homepage of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 10Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 11Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 12The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
Image 13Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 14A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 15People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 16The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
Image 17Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Image 18Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 19A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 20Actor 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 21Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 22A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Image 23This 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 24A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 25Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 26A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 27The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (from Smartphone)
Image 28Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 29The 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 30"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 31A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 32Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 33Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 34The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 35IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
Image 36Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 37Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 38A 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 39The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 40A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 41
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 42Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 43Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Image 44Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 45Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 46Martin 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 47The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 48Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 49Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 50Tooltip 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 51Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 52Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 531896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 541917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 55Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 56A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
Image 57Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 58E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 59A 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 60A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 61A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 62Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)

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...)

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

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Telephones in the news

2 July 2024 –: Floods in northern Myanmar trap thousands of people in their homes and cause power outages and disruptions to telephone services. (Barron's)

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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