Portal:Telephones

The Telephones Portal

A telephone, colloquially referred to as a 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 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 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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The red telephone box is a telephone kiosk for a public telephone designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect responsible for Liverpool Cathedral.

The telephone box is a familiar sight on the streets of the United Kingdom, its associated Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories and Malta. Despite a reduction in their numbers in recent years, the traditional British red telephone kiosk can still be seen in many places throughout the UK, and in current or former British colonies around the world. The colour red was chosen to make them easy to spot.

From 1926 onwards, the fascias of the kiosks were emblazoned with a prominent crown, representing the British government. The red phone box is often seen as a British cultural icon throughout the world. In 2006, the K2 telephone box was voted one of Britain's top 10 design icons, which included the Mini, Supermarine Spitfire, London tube map, World Wide Web, Concorde and the AEC Routemaster bus. In 2009, the K2 was selected by the Royal Mail for their "British Design Classics" commemorative postage stamp issue. (Full article...)

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A courtesy telephone is a telephone located in airport terminals, large train stations, hotel lobbies, and other places where many travellers are expected, which is used to relay messages to a specific person.

It is typically used in connection with a public address system announcement of the style "Gwen Cooper, please pick up the nearest white courtesy telephone." Courtesy telephones may have a distinctive color, which is traditionally white in US airports, and most have no dialing capabilities but rather are simple ringdown stations to reach an operator or other fixed number. Some double as emergency telephones, having buttons by which a user can distinguish between emergency use and inquiry.

Customers can use a courtesy phone to seek information, such as where to find further transport or a person trying to meet them. Some courtesy phones provide a direct line to a number of advertised businesses, such as motels or taxis. They may be located near baggage claim, ticketing areas, and security checkpoints. (Full article...)

List of phone types
Payphone 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 Prepaid mobile phone

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USA Red Boxing Tone

The .25 USD tone sequence.

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A red box is a phreaking device that generates tones to simulate inserting coins in pay phones, thus fooling the system into completing free calls. In the United States, a nickel is represented by one tone, a dime by two, and a quarter by a set of five. Any device capable of playing back recorded sounds can potentially be used as a red box. Commonly used devices include modified Radio Shack tone dialers, personal MP3 players, and audio-recording greeting cards. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Antonio Meucci, 1854, developed a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 2A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 3The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
Image 4Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 5Oppo Find X6 features software-based tuning co-developed with Hasselblad (from Smartphone)
Image 6The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 7, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 7A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 8Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 9Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 10Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 11Actor 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 12Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 13A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 14Tooltip 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 151896 telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 16A Nexus 6, an Android smartphone, displaying the Main Page of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 17Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 18The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Image 19Xiaomi 13 Ultra featured a Leica Summicron camera system (from Smartphone)
Image 20The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction in 2007, the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
Image 21A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 22Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 23The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 24Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 25Replica 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 26A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Image 27Martin 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 281917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 29A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (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 31
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 32Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 33Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Image 34Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 35Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 36Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 37Reis's telephone around 1861, first device called telephone (from History of the telephone)
Image 38A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 39Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 40Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 41A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 42Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1–f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 43A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 44Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 45Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 46A 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 47Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 48A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 49E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 50The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 51Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 52IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
Image 53A Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)
Image 54The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has an artificial intelligence-powered feature (from Smartphone)
Image 55Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 56Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 57Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 58"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 59A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
Image 60Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Image 61People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 62This 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 63Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 64Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)

Selected biography

Elisha Gray (August 2, 1835 – January 21, 1901) was an American electrical engineer who co-founded the Western Electric Manufacturing Company. Gray is best known for his development of a telephone prototype in 1876 in Highland Park, Illinois. Some recent authors have argued that Gray should be considered the true inventor of the telephone because Alexander Graham Bell allegedly stole the idea of the liquid transmitter from him. Although Gray had been using liquid transmitters in his telephone experiments for more than two years previously, Bell's telephone patent was upheld in numerous court decisions.

Gray is also considered to be the father of the modern music synthesizer, and was granted over 70 patents for his inventions. He was one of the founders of Graybar, purchasing a controlling interest in the company shortly after its inception. (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 Thomas A. Watson George Sweigert Pat Fleet John Draper

Selected images

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

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Telephones in the news

12 April 2025 – Tariffs in the second Trump administration: U.S. president Donald Trump's administration exempts smartphones and computers from all "reciprocal" tariffs, including the base 10% on all countries and the 125% levies imposed on Chinese imports. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller states that a separate 20% tariff on Chinese imports remains in effect for the products. (BBC News)

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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