Portal:Telephones

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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...)

The Samsung Galaxy Z series are foldable smartphones.

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 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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Telephony (/təˈlɛfəni/ tə-LEF-ə-nee) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunications services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is intimately linked to the invention and development of the telephone.

Telephony is commonly referred to as the construction or operation of telephones and telephonic systems and as a system of telecommunications in which telephonic equipment is employed in the transmission of speech or other sound between points, with or without the use of wires. The term is also used frequently to refer to computer hardware, software, and computer network systems, that perform functions traditionally performed by telephone equipment. In this context the technology is specifically referred to as Internet telephony, or voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). (Full article...)

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A golden telephone presented in 1957 to Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.

A golden telephone is a rotary telephone made of or plated with gold. It is popularly associated with opulent decadence, representing power, wealth and elitism. Golden telephone sets were notably presented to Pope Pius XI in 1930 and to the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1957. (Full article...)

List of phone types
Payphone Courtesy telephone 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 Reis telephone Cordless telephone Shoe phone Field telephone IBM Simon Mobile radio telephone Foldable smartphone Modular smartphone Prepaid mobile phone

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2600 Hz

A 2600 Hz tone (LOUD)

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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...)

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

Image 1Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 2The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 3Tooltip 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 4Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 5Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1–f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 6A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 7Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 8A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
Image 9Xiaomi 13 Ultra featured a Leica Summicron camera system (from Smartphone)
Image 10Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 11The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Image 12A 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 13Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 14Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 15Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 16Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 17A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Image 18E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 19A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 20Innocenzo Manzetti considered the idea of a telephone in 1844 (from History of the telephone)
Image 21Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 22Antonio Meucci, 1849, developing a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 23The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
Image 24A Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)
Image 25The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has an artificial intelligence-powered feature (from Smartphone)
Image 26IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
Image 27Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 28Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 29Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 301896 telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 31Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 32Replica 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 33Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
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 36A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 37A 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 38The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 7, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 39Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 40A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 41Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 42A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 43Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 44"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 45Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 46Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 47Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 48Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Image 49Actor 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 50Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 51Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 52The 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 53A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 54The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 55A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 56Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 57Reis's telephone around 1861, first device called telephone (from History of the telephone)
Image 58People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 59A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 60A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 61
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 62Oppo Find X6 features software-based tuning co-developed with Hasselblad (from Smartphone)
Image 63Martin 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 64Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Image 65This 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)

Selected biography

Anthony Pollok (c. 1829 – July 4, 1898) was an American patent attorney who, with Marcellus Bailey, helped prepare Alexander Graham Bell's patents for the telephone and related inventions. (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 Thomas A. Watson Elisha Gray George Sweigert Pat Fleet John Draper

Selected images

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

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Telephones in the news

4 August 2025 – 2022 Brazilian coup plot: Brazilian Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes issues a house arrest order for former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is standing trial for allegedly plotting a coup, and bans him from receiving visits and using a cell phone either directly or through third parties. (Reuters)

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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