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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Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was an inventor, scientist, and engineer who received numerous honors and tributes during his life, and new awards were subsequently named for him posthumously. (Full article...)

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A tin can phone is a type of acoustic (non-electrical) speech-transmitting device made up of two tin cans, paper cups or similarly shaped items attached to either end of a taut string or wire.

It is a particular case of mechanical telephony, where sound (i.e., vibrations in the air) is converted into vibrations along a liquid or solid medium. These vibrations are transmitted through the medium (string) and then converted back to sound. (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 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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Example of a North American Off-hook tone

Listen to an off-hook tone from North America.

High Tone

Some central office switches in the United States, notably older GTD-5 EAX systems, utilize a single frequency tone, 480 Hz, known as High Tone for this purpose. Listen to an older 480Hz off-hook tone.

Problems playing these files? See media help.

The off-hook tone (also off-hook warning, howling tone, or howler tone) is a telephony signal for alerting a user that the telephone has been left off-hook without use for an extended period, effectively disabling the telephone line. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 2Tooltip 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 3Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 4Martin 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 5Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 6
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 7The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
Image 8This 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 9The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 101917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 11Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Image 12Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 13"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 14E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 15Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 16A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 17A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 18A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 19Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 20IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
Image 21An Android smartphone displaying the Main Page of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 22Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 23A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 24Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 25Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 26A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 27A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
Image 28A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 29Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 30Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 31People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 32Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 33Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 34Oppo Find X6 features software-based tuning co-developed with Hasselblad (from Smartphone)
Image 35Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Image 36Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 37Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 38Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 39The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
Image 40Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 41Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
Image 42Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 43A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 44A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 45Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 46A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 47Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 48Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1–f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
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 50The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 51Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 52The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Image 53Inserted memory and SIM cards (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 Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)
Image 561896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 57A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Image 58The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 59Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 60Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 61A 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 62Xiaomi 13 Ultra featured a Leica Summicron camera system (from Smartphone)

Selected biography

William Rae Young, Jr. (October 30, 1915 – March 7, 2008) was one of the Bell Labs engineers that invented the cell phone.

The history of cellular phone technology began on December 11, 1947 with a Bell Labs internal memo written by Douglas H. Ring describing the idea of Rae Young of the hexagonal cell concept for a cellular mobile telephone system. (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 Martin Cooper (inventor) Thomas Cowherd Gardiner Greene Hubbard Anthony Pollok Thomas A. Watson Elisha Gray George Sweigert Pat Fleet John Draper

Selected images

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

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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

Works about mobile phones

Mobile phones by year of introduction

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Stubs : E x p a n d telephone stub articles: Telephony stubs • Mobile phone stubs • Telephone number stubs

WikiProjects

WikiProject Telecommunications
Bell System task force

WikiProject Electronics

Telephones in the news

29 October 2024 –: Four people are injured after a derailed tram crashes into a phone and computer shop in central Oslo, Norway. (Euronews)
15 October 2024 – Philippines–United Arab Emirates relations: Following a phone call with Emirati president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Philippine president Bongbong Marcos confirms that 143 Filipinos in the United Arab Emirates have been pardoned by the Emirati government. (Philippine News Agency)

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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