Portal:Telephones

The Telephones Portal

A telephone, commonly shortened to 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 wireless 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 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. (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 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 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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Multi-frequency dialing

These multi-frequency tones were generated by automated switching equipment. The blue box was designed to replicate these tones.

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A blue box is an electronic device that produces tones used to generate the in-band signaling tones formerly used within the North American long-distance telephone network to send line status and called number information over voice circuits. During that period, charges associated with long-distance calling were commonplace and could be significant, depending on the time, duration and destination of the call. A blue box device allowed for circumventing these charges by enabling an illicit user, referred to as a "phreaker", to place long-distance calls, without using the network's user facilities, that would be billed to another number or dismissed entirely by the telecom company's billing system as an incomplete call. A number of similar "color boxes" were also created to control other aspects of the phone network. (Full article...)

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

Image 1The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 7, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 2Innocenzo Manzetti considered the idea of a telephone in 1844 (from History of the telephone)
Image 3Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 4Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 5E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 6A 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 7Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 8
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 9Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 10Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 11Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 12Antonio Meucci, 1849, developing a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone. (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 14The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 15Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 16Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 171896 telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 18A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 19A 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 20Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 21A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 22A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 23Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 24Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 25A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 26Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1–f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 27A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 28Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 29A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 30Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 31A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 32Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 33The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 34A Nexus 6, an Android smartphone, displaying the Main Page of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 351917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 36Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 37Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 38Blackview A60 Andoid Go mobile phone smartphone cell phone showing the front-facing camera is put in notch display (from Smartphone)
Image 39Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 40Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 41A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 42Replica 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 43Actor 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 44Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 45Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 46A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 47People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 48Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
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 50Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 51Tooltip 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 52Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 53The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has an artificial intelligence-powered feature (from Smartphone)
Image 54Reis's telephone around 1861, first device called telephone (from History of the telephone)

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Innocenzo Vincenzo Bartolomeo Luigi Carlo Manzetti (Italian pronunciation: [innoˈtʃɛntso manˈdzetti]; 17 March 1826 – 15 March 1877) was an Italian inventor born in Aosta. Following his primary school studies he went to the Jesuit-run Saint Bénin Boarding School and then on to Turin where he was awarded a diploma in land surveying before returning to Aosta. (Full article...)

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Selected images

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

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Telephones in the news

1 December 2025 – Mass surveillance in India: India's Ministry of Communications orders smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Sanchar Saathi, a government-run cybersecurity app on all new devices within 90 days and to push the app onto older models through a software update. The ministry says the app is essential in "curbing misuse of telecom resources for cyber frauds and ensuring telecom cyber security". (AP)

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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