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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 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.

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 contain a number of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) chips, include various sensors that can be leveraged by pre-installed and third-party software (such as a magnetometer, a proximity sensor, a barometer, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and more), and support diverse wireless communication protocols (such as LTE, 5G NR, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and satellite navigation). In the mid-2020s, smartphone manufacturers have begun to integrate satellite messaging connectivity and satellite emergency services into devices for use in remote regions where there is no reliable cellular network. (Full article...)

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DTMF dialing

audio output of a DTMF signal.

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Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF) is a telecommunication signaling system using the voice-frequency band over telephone lines between telephone equipment and other communications devices and switching centers. DTMF was first developed in the Bell System in the United States, and became known under the trademark Touch-Tone for use in push-button telephones supplied to telephone customers, starting in 1963. DTMF is standardized as ITU-T Recommendation Q.23. It is also known in the UK as MF4. (Full article...)

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

Image 1A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 2Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 3A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 4Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 51917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 6A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 7Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 8Actor 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 9Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 10Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 11E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 12People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 13Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 14Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 15Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Image 16A 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 17The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
Image 18IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
Image 19A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
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 Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
Image 23Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 24A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 25Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 26This 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 27Tooltip 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 28Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 29Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 30A 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 31Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 32Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1-f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 33A smartphone displaying the homepage of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 34Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 35A Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)
Image 36Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
Image 37Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 38Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 39Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 40The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Image 41The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (from Smartphone)
Image 42"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 43
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 44A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 45A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 46Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Image 47Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 48Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 49A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 50A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 51The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 52Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 53The 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 54Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 55Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 56A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Image 57Martin 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 58The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (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 60Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 611896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 62Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)

Selected biography

Watson, c. 1883

Thomas Augustus Watson (January 18, 1854 – December 13, 1934) was an assistant to Alexander Graham Bell, notably in the invention of the telephone in 1876. (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 W. Rae Young Martin Cooper (inventor) Thomas Cowherd Gardiner Greene Hubbard Anthony Pollok Elisha Gray George Sweigert Pat Fleet John Draper

Selected images

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

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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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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

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