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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The Western Electric No. 2500, a typical American 12-button phone of the 1970s and early 80s

A push-button telephone is a telephone that has buttons or keys for dialing a telephone number, in contrast to a rotary dial used in earlier telephones.

Western Electric experimented as early as 1941 with methods of using mechanically activated reeds to produce two tones for each of the ten digits and by the late 1940s such technology was field-tested in a No. 5 Crossbar switching system in Pennsylvania. The technology at that time proved unreliable and it was not until after the invention of the transistor that push-button technology became practical.

The Bell System selected Findlay, Ohio as the first city in the U.S. for marketing tests of touch-tone service and Ohio Bell began installing push-button telephones in Findlay homes starting on 1 November 1960. The next market was in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, starting on 1 February 1961. (Full article...)

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The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at Macworld 2007, and launched later that year. Since then, Apple has annually released new iPhone models and iOS versions; the latest models being the iPhone 17, the higher-end iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, the thinner iPhone Air, and the entry-level iPhone 17e. As of July 2025, more than 3 billion iPhones have been sold. Apple has been the largest vendor of mobile phones since 2023.

The original iPhone was the first mobile phone to use multi-touch technology. Throughout its history, the iPhone has gained larger, higher-resolution displays, video-recording functionality, waterproofing, and many accessibility features. Up to the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, iPhones had a single button on the front panel, with the iPhone 5s and later integrating a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Since the iPhone X, models have switched to a nearly bezel-less front screen design with Face ID facial recognition in place of Touch ID for authentication, and increased use of gestures in place of the home button for navigation.

The iPhone, which operates using Apple's proprietary iOS software, is one of the two major smartphone platforms in the world, alongside Android. The first-generation iPhone was described by Steve Jobs as a "revolution" for the mobile phone industry. The iPhone has been credited with popularizing the slate smartphone form factor, and with creating a large market for smartphone apps, or "app economy"; laying the foundation for the boom of the market for mobile devices. In addition to the apps that come pre-installed on iOS, there are nearly 2 million apps available for download from Apple's mobile distribution marketplace, the App Store, as of August 2024^[update]. (Full article...)

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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 1A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 2Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 3A 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 4Tooltip 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 5Reis's telephone around 1861, first device called telephone (from History of the telephone)
Image 6Innocenzo Manzetti considered the idea of a telephone in 1844 (from History of the telephone)
Image 7Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 8Blackview A60 Andoid Go mobile phone smartphone cell phone showing the front-facing camera is put in notch display (from Smartphone)
Image 9The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 7, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 10The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 11A 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 12Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 13Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 14A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 15Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 16Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 17Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 18Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010 (from Smartphone)
Image 19Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 20Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people (from Mobile phone)
Image 21Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 22Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1–f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 23Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 24A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 25Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 26Actor 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 27A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 281917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 29Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 30Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 31A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 32
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 33Receiver schematic, c.1906 (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 35A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 36Replica 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 37Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 38The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 39Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 40A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 41A young woman speaking on a mobile phone in Copenhagen, 2025 (from Mobile phone)
Image 42A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 43Martin 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 44E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 45Mobile payment system (from Smartphone)
Image 46Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 47A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 48Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 49A pedestrian looking down at their smartphone while crossing a road (from Mobile phone)
Image 50Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 51Antonio Meucci, 1849, developing a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 52The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has an artificial intelligence-powered feature. (from Smartphone)
Image 531896 telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 54Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 55A Nexus 6, an Android smartphone, displaying the Main Page of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 56Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)

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Watson, c. 1883

Thomas Augustus Watson (January 18, 1854 – December 13, 1934) was an American inventor and assistant to Alexander Graham Bell in the invention of the telephone in 1876. Afterwards, he founded the Fore River Ship and Engine Building Company, which became a major shipyard during World War II. (Full article...)

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

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Telephones in the news

14 April 2026 – Anglophone Crisis, Pastoral visits of Pope Leo XIV: Ambazonian militant groups announce a temporary ceasefire in Cameroon after nearly a decade of conflict in anticipation of Pope Leo XIV's visit on April 15. (Vatican News)
12 April 2026 – 2026 Hungarian parliamentary election: Hungarians vote to elect all 199 members of the National Assembly. The incumbent prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who was seeking a fifth consecutive term in office, concedes defeat and calls Tisza Party leader Péter Magyar on the telephone to congratulate him on his victory. The pro-European Tisza Party wins two-thirds of the seats in Hungary's legislature. The turnout is the highest since the fall of communism, at 77.8%. (BBC) (The Guardian)