Portal:Telephones

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Telephones Portal

A rotary dial telephone, c. 1940s

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mobile phones, due to technological convergence
.

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

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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...
)

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GPS navigation, and support for various communication methods, including voice calls, text messaging, and internet-based messaging apps. (Full article...
)

Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. The term phreak is a sensational spelling of the word freak with the ph- from phone, and may also refer to the use of various audio frequencies to manipulate a phone system. Phreak, phreaker, or phone phreak are names used for and by individuals who participate in phreaking.

The term first referred to groups who had reverse engineered the system of tones used to route long-distance calls. By re-creating these tones, phreaks could switch calls from the phone handset, allowing free calls to be made around the world. To ease the creation of these tones, electronic tone generators known as blue boxes became a staple of the phreaker community. This community included future Apple Inc. cofounders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

The blue box era came to an end with the ever-increasing use of computerized phone systems which allowed telecommunication companies to discontinue the use of in-band signaling for call routing purposes. Instead, dialing information was sent on a separate channel which was inaccessible to the telecom customer. By the 1980s, most of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in the US and Western Europe had adopted the SS7 system which uses out-of-band signaling for call control (and which is still in use to this day). Phreaking has since become closely linked with computer hacking. (Full article...)

Types of phones - show another

Front face of the latest flagship model, the iPhone 15 Pro

The iPhone is a line of smartphones produced by Apple Inc. that use Apple's own iOS mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007. Since then, Apple has annually released new iPhone models and iOS updates. As of November 1, 2018, more than 2.2 billion iPhones had been sold.

The iPhone was the first mobile phone to use

bezel-less front screen design with Face ID facial recognition, and app switching activated by gestures. Touch ID is still used for the budget iPhone SE
series.

The iPhone is one of the two largest smartphone
App Store contained more than 2.2 million applications for the iPhone. (Full article...
)

Selected audio - show another

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Radio Shack tone dialers, personal MP3 players, and audio-recording greeting cards. (Full article...
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Related portals

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

Selected biography

Fleet in studio, August, 2008

voice actress. Widely recognized for the tens of thousands of recordings she has made for US telephone companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, the former Bell System companies, and others since 1981, she is still most recognized as the person who says "AT&T" in the company's sound trademark
, which played prior to any operator assisted or credit card paid call, and on answer when calling AT&T customer service numbers.

She is also the voice for most "
1-800-CALL-ATT (225-5288) and through international AT&T access numbers such as USADirect. (Full article...
)

Selected images

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

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