Portal:Telephones
Wikipedia portal for content related to Telephones / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Alt_Telefon.jpg/640px-Alt_Telefon.jpg)
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...)
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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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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/Cell_tower_aerial.jpg/640px-Cell_tower_aerial.jpg)
A cell site, cell phone tower, cell base tower, or cellular base station is a cellular-enabled mobile device site where antennas and electronic communications equipment are placed (typically on a radio mast, tower, or other raised structure) to create a cell, or adjacent cells, in a cellular network. The raised structure typically supports antenna and one or more sets of transmitter/receivers transceivers, digital signal processors, control electronics, a GPS receiver for timing (for CDMA2000/IS-95 or GSM systems), primary and backup electrical power sources, and sheltering.[third-party source needed]
Multiple cellular providers often save money by mounting their antennas on a common shared mast; since separate systems use different frequencies, antennas can be located close together without interfering with each other. Some provider companies operate multiple cellular networks and similarly use colocated base stations for two or more cellular networks, (CDMA2000 or GSM, for example).
Cell sites are sometimes required to be inconspicuous; they can be blended with the surrounding area or mounted on buildings or advertising towers. Preserved treescapes can often hide cell towers inside an artificial or preserved tree. These installations are generally referred to as concealed cell sites or stealth cell sites. (Full article...)Types of phones - show another
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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
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- 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 telecommunications companies
Related portals
General images - show new batch
- Image 1A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
- Image 2A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
- Image 6Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
- Image 8A 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 9The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
- Image 10Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 11Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
- Image 12The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
- Image 13Martin 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 14The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
- Image 15Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 17Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
- Image 18Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
- Image 19Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
- Image 21A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
- Image 23Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
- Image 241917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
- Image 26Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 27Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
- Image 29Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
- Image 30The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
- Image 31Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1-f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
- Image 33Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 34"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 36A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
- Image 37Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
- Image 38This 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 39Actor 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 40The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (from Smartphone)
- Image 41Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 42Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
- Image 43The 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 46Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
- Image 49Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
- Image 50Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
- Image 51Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
- Image 52A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
- Image 53Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
- 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 56Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
- Image 57A 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 58People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
- Image 59Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 61Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
- Image 62A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Selected biography
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Portrait_elisha_gray.jpg/220px-Portrait_elisha_gray.jpg)
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...)Selected images
- Image 1Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
- 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 3Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886
- Image 4An Italian gettone telefonico (telephone token) from 1945, which was used in Italian phone booths
- Image 5Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania
- Image 6Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
- Image 8A historic telephone booth in Skansen, Stockholm
- Image 9Track-side emergency brake and emergency telephones at the platform of the metro station Aspern Nord, Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria
- Image 10Push-button telephone
- Image 11Apple iPhones
- Image 12Photograph 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 13A 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 15Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone
- Image 16The AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963.
- Image 17Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany
- Image 18Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012
- Image 19Wooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked magneto generator
- Image 20An example of a K6, the most common red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012
- Image 21Android smartphones
- Image 22A cordless phone
- Image 23Foldable smartphones
- Image 24A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia
- Image 25A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably)
- Image 26Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France
- Image 27Historical telephone with the German imperial eagle and the heraldic shield of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty; Vollmer's Mill, Seebach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
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Telephones in the news
- 20 July 2024 –
- The government of Equatorial Guinea suspends internet and telephone services on the separatist island of Annobón, with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization condemning the suspension. (Agencia NOVA)
- 19 July 2024 – 2024 Bangladesh quota reform movement
- The government of Bangladesh cut off internet, mobile phone, and TV broadcast services in the country, instituting a media blackout. (France 24)
- 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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