Portal:Telephones

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The Telephones Portal

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.

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 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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Caller ID spoofing is a spoofing attack which causes the telephone network's Caller ID to indicate to the receiver of a call that the originator of the call is a station other than the true originating station. This can lead to a display showing a phone number different from that of the telephone from which the call was placed.

The term is commonly used to describe situations in which the motivation is considered malicious by the originator.

One effect of the widespread availability of Caller ID spoofing is that, as AARP published in 2019, "you can no longer trust call ID." (Full article...)

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A prepaid mobile device, also known as a pay-as-you-go (PAYG), pay-as-you-talk, pay and go, go-phone, prepay or burner phone, is a mobile device such as a phone for which credit is purchased in advance of service use. The purchased credit is used to pay for telecommunications services at the point the service is accessed or consumed. If there is no credit, then access is denied by the cellular network or Intelligent Network. Users can top up their credit at any time using a variety of payment mechanisms. ("Pay-as-you-go", "PAYG", and similar terms are also used for other non-telecommunications services paid for by advance deposit.)

The alternative billing method (and what is commonly referred to as a mobile contract) is the postpaid mobile phone, where a user enters into a long-term contract (lasting 12, 18, or 24 months) or short-term contract (also commonly referred to as a rolling contract or a 30-day contract) and billing arrangement with a mobile phone operator (mobile virtual network operator or mobile network operator). (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 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

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UK, Ireland, and NZ audible ringing tone

A ringing tone from the United Kingdom, Ireland, and New Zealand

Australian ringing tone

Australia audible ringing tone

European ringing tone

A European ringing tone per ETSI standard

Japanese ringing tone

French ringing tone

A French ringing tone

North American ringing tone

Audible ringing tone from North America

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Ringing tone (audible ringing, also ringback tone) is a signaling tone in telecommunication that is heard by the originator of a telephone call while the destination terminal is alerting the receiving party. The tone is typically a repeated cadence similar to a traditional power ringing signal (ringtone), but is usually not played synchronously. Various telecommunication groups, such as the Bell System and the General Post Office (GPO) developed standards, in part taken over by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and other standards bodies. With modern cell phone and smartphone technology ringing tone can be customized and even used for advertising. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 2Martin 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 3Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1-f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 4Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 5This 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 6A Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)
Image 7A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 8Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 9Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 10Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola 8900X-2 to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 11A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 12Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 13A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 14A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 15Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 16Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 17Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 18A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 19The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 20A 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 21Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 22Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 23
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 24The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Image 25The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (from Smartphone)
Image 26"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 27Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 28Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Image 29The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 30Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 31Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 32A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 33A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
Image 34Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 35The 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 36Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 37Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 38The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
Image 39People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 40Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
Image 41Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 42The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 431917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 44A smartphone displaying the homepage of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 45Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 46Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 47A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 48The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
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 50Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 51A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 52Actor 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 53Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Image 54Tooltip 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 55A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Image 561896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 57IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
Image 58Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 59A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 60Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 61E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 62Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)

Selected biography

Meucci in 1878

Antonio Santi Giuseppe Meucci (/meɪˈuːtʃi/ may-OO-chee, Italian: [anˈtɔːnjo meˈuttʃi]; 13 April 1808 – 18 October 1889) was an Italian inventor and an associate of Giuseppe Garibaldi, a major political figure in the history of Italy. Meucci is best known for developing a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone.

Meucci set up a form of voice-communication link in his Staten Island, New York, home that connected the second-floor bedroom to his laboratory. He submitted a patent caveat for his telephonic device to the U.S. Patent Office in 1871, but there was no mention of electromagnetic transmission of vocal sound in his caveat. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for the electromagnetic transmission of vocal sound by undulatory electric current. Despite the longstanding general crediting of Bell with the accomplishment, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities supported celebrations of Meucci's 200th birthday in 2008 using the title "Inventore del telefono" (Inventor of the telephone). The U.S. House of Representatives in a resolution in 2002 also acknowledged Meucci's work in the invention of the telephone, although the U.S. Senate did not join the resolution and the interpretation of the resolution is disputed. (Full article...)

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

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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