Portal:Telephones
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...)
Selected article -
Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the divisions Verizon Consumer and Verizon Business, and stopped using the Verizon Wireless name. Verizon is the second-largest wireless carrier in the United States, with 144.8 million subscribers as of December 31, 2023. It currently has the largest network in the United States with their LTE network covering 70% of the United States.
The company is headquartered in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. It was founded in 2000 as a joint venture of American telecommunications firm Bell Atlantic, which would soon become Verizon Communications, and British multinational telecommunications company Vodafone. Verizon Communications became the sole owner in 2014 after buying Vodafone's 45-percent stake in the company.
It operates national 5G and 4G LTE networks covering about 99 percent of the U.S. population, which in the second half of 2020 won or tied for top honors in each category of the RootMetrics RootScore Reports. Verizon Wireless offers mobile phone services through a variety of devices. Its LTE in Rural America Program, with 21 rural wireless carriers participating, covers 2.7 million potential users in 169 rural counties. Verizon Wireless announced in 2015 that it was developing a 5G, or fifth-generation, network. In 2020, 230 million people were able to access Verizon's 5G, or fifth-generation, dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) technology network; by 2022, 200 million people were covered by Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband network. (Full article...)Types of phones -
A feature phone (also spelled featurephone) is a type or class of mobile phone that retains the form factor of earlier generations of mobile telephones, typically with press-button based inputs and a small non-touch display. They tend to use an embedded operating system with a small and simple graphical user interface, unlike large and complex mobile operating systems such as Android from Google or iOS from Apple.
The functions of feature phones are limited compared to smartphones, which integrate the phone with an Internet communications device; following the rise of smartphones, the feature phone has sometimes been referred to by the retronym dumbphone. However, some feature phones can provide functions found in smartphones, including Internet capabilities, apps and mobile games. (Full article...)Selected audio -
2600 hertz (2600 Hz) is a frequency in hertz (cycles per second) that was used in telecommunication signaling in mid-20th century long-distance telephone networks using carrier systems. (Full article...)
List articles
- Comparison of smartphones
- List of best-selling mobile phones
- List of countries by number of broadband Internet subscriptions
- List of countries by number of telephone lines in use
- List of countries by smartphone penetration
- List of country calling codes
- List of iPhone models
- List of mobile network operators
- List of mobile phone brands by country
- List of mobile phone generations
- List of telephone operating companies
Related portals
General images -
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Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone) -
Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone) -
A smartphone displaying the homepage of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone) -
Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone) -
Tooltip 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) -
A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone) -
This 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) -
Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone) -
A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone) -
A 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) -
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A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone) -
Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone) -
Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone) -
Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone) -
Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone) -
A 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)
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Martin 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) -
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Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone) -
The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone) -
Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone) -
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People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone) -
A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone) -
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Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone) -
The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone) -
A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone) -
The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (from Smartphone) -
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone) -
Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone) -
Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone) -
The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone) -
IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone) -
"Device options" menu of Samsung Mobile's TouchWiz user interface as of 2013, accessed by holding the power button for a second (from Smartphone) -
A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone) -
Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone) -
A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone) -
Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone) -
Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone) -
The 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) -
1917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone) -
Android smartphones (from Mobile phone) -
Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone) -
A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone) -
Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone) -
Actor 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) -
Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone) -
1896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone) -
A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone) -
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Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone) -
Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone) -
Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola 8900X-2 to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone) -
Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone) -
Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone) -
Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone) -
The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone) -
Bell prototype telephone stamp(from History of the telephone)
Centennial Issue of 1976 -
Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1-f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
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Selected biography
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...)Selected images
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Wooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked magneto generator -
Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France -
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A historic telephone booth in Skansen, Stockholm -
Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French -
Landline call blocking in use -
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A police box outside Earl's Court tube station in London, built in 1996 and based on the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench design -
A 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. -
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Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany -
A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably) -
Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French -
Apple iPhones -
Historical telephone with the German imperial eagle and the heraldic shield of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty; Vollmer's Mill, Seebach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany -
A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia -
Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886 -
Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania -
A Bell Canada payphone with digital display -
A Western Electric candlestick phone from the 1920s -
Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012 -
Android smartphones -
Track-side emergency brake and emergency telephones at the platform of the metro station Aspern Nord, Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria -
The AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963. -
Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone -
Photograph 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 -
An example of a K6, the most common red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012
Topics
| Types | |
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| Accessories | |
| Connectivity | |
| Calls | |
| Applications | |
| Mobile networks, protocols |
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| General operation | |||||||
| Mobile devices |
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| Mobile specific software |
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| Culture | |||||||
| Environment and health | |||||||
| Law | |||||||
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Cellular network standards | |||||||||
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| 0G radio telephones (1946) | |||||||||
| 1G (1979) |
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| 2G (1991) |
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| 2G transitional (2.5G, 2.75G, 2.9G) |
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| 3G (1998) IMT-2000 (2001) |
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| 3G transitional (3.5G, 3.75G, 3.9G) |
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| 4G (2009) IMT Advanced (2013) |
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| 5G (2018) IMT-2020 (2021) |
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| Related articles | |||||||||
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