Portal:Telephones

The Telephones Portal

A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables 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 allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones (landline phones). This radio frequency link connects to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, providing access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Modern mobile telephony relies on a cellular network architecture, which is why mobile phones are often referred to as 'cell phones' in North America. (Full article...)

A smartphone is a 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. Smartphones are distinguished from older-design feature phones by their more advanced hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, access to the internet, business applications, mobile payments, and multimedia functionality, including music, video, gaming, radio, and television. (Full article...)

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Verizon New England, Inc. is a Bell Operating Company that once covered most of New England but now only serves most of Massachusetts and all of Rhode Island. It was formerly the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, more commonly known as New England Telephone, which for seven decades served most of the New England area of the United States as a part of the original AT&T. New England Telephone's original coverage area included Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont as well as Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Verizon has sold off service in the northern three states, which as of 2020 were served by Consolidated Communications.

After the Bell System divestiture from AT&T, New England Telephone merged with New York Telephone to form NYNEX in 1984. NYNEX was acquired by Bell Atlantic in 1997. In 2000, Bell Atlantic bought GTE and changed its own name to Verizon. New England Telephone was then renamed Verizon New England. (Full article...)

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A smartphone is a 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. Smartphones are distinguished from older-design feature phones by their more advanced hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, access to the internet, business applications, mobile payments, and multimedia functionality, including music, video, gaming, radio, and television.

Smartphones typically feature metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) chips, various sensors, and support for multiple wireless communication protocols. Examples of smartphone sensors include accelerometers, barometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers; they can be used by both pre-installed and third-party software to enhance functionality. Wireless communication standards supported by smartphones include LTE, 5G NR, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and satellite navigation. By the mid-2020s, manufacturers began integrating satellite messaging and emergency services, expanding their utility in remote areas without reliable cellular coverage. Smartphones have largely replaced personal digital assistant (PDA) devices, handheld/palm-sized PCs, portable media players (PMP), point-and-shoot cameras, camcorders, and, to a lesser extent, handheld video game consoles, e-reader devices, pocket calculators, and GPS tracking units.

Following the rising popularity of the iPhone in the late 2000s, the majority of smartphones have featured thin, slate-like form factors with large, capacitive touch screens with support for multi-touch gestures rather than physical keyboards. Most modern smartphones have the ability for users to download or purchase additional applications from a centralized app store. They often have support for cloud storage and cloud synchronization, and virtual assistants. Since the early 2010s, improved hardware and faster wireless communication have bolstered the growth of the smartphone industry. As of 2014^[update], over a billion smartphones are sold globally every year. In 2019 alone, 1.54 billion smartphone units were shipped worldwide. As of 2020^[update], 75.05 percent of the world population were smartphone users. (Full article...)

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Example of a North American dial tone

Listen to a dial tone from North America of 350 Hz + 440 Hz.

Example of a UK/British dial tone

Listen to a dial tone from the United Kingdom of 350 Hz + 450 Hz.

Example of a current European dial tone

Listen to a European dial tone of 425 Hz

Example of a French dial tone

Listen to a French dial tone of 440 Hz

Example of a Japanese dial tone

Listen to a Japanese dial tone of 400 Hz

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A dial tone (dialling tone in the UK) is a telephony signal sent by a telephone exchange or private branch exchange (PBX) to a terminating device, such as a telephone, when an off-hook condition is detected. It indicates that the exchange is working and is ready to initiate a telephone call. The tone stops when the first dialed digit is recognized. If no digits are forthcoming, the partial dial procedure is invoked, often eliciting a special information tone and an intercept message, followed by the off-hook tone, requiring the caller to hang up and redial. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 2Replica of the telettrofono at Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci of Milan, Italy, invented by Antonio Meucci and credited by several sources as the first telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 3A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Image 4A Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)
Image 5Reis's telephone around 1861, first device called telephone (from History of the telephone)
Image 6The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 7A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 8Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 9The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 7, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 10Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 11Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 12Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 13Tooltip 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 14Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 15Xiaomi 13 Ultra featured a Leica Summicron camera system (from Smartphone)
Image 16A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 17A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 18A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 19Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Image 20A Nexus 6, an Android smartphone, displaying the Main Page of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 211896 telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 22The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Image 23Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 24Actor 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 25This 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 26Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 27A smartphone touchscreen (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 29People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 30The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
Image 31Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 32Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 33Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 34The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction in 2007, the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
Image 35Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 36The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has an artificial intelligence-powered feature (from Smartphone)
Image 37"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 38IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
Image 39The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 40Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 41A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 42Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 43Antonio Meucci, 1854, developed a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 44A 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 45Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 46Oppo Find X6 features software-based tuning co-developed with Hasselblad (from Smartphone)
Image 47Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 48A 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 49Martin 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 50
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 51Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Image 52Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 53Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 54Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 55A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 56Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1–f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 57Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 58Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 59A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 60A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
Image 61Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 621917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 63E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 64A New York City driver holding two phones (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.

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

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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)
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