Telephone

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For other uses, see Telephone (disambiguation).

"Phone" redirects here. For other uses, see Phone (disambiguation).

For the handheld personal computer, see Smartphone.

A rotary dial telephone, c. 1940s

AT&T push button telephone made by Western Electric, model 2500 DMG black, 1980

A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a

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. This instrument was further
developed by many others, and became rapidly indispensable in business, government, and in
households.

The essential elements of a telephone are a microphone (transmitter) to speak into and an
earphone (receiver) which reproduces the voice in a distant location.[1] In addition, most
telephones contain a ringer to announce an incoming telephone call, and a dial or keypad to enter
a telephone number when initiating a call to another telephone. The receiver and transmitter are
usually built into a handset which is held up to the ear and mouth during conversation. The dial
may be located either on the handset or on a base unit to which the handset is connected. The
transmitter converts the sound waves to electrical signals which are sent through a telephone
network to the receiving telephone, which converts the signals into audible sound in the receiver
or sometimes a loudspeaker. Telephones are duplex devices, meaning they permit transmission
in both directions simultaneously.

The first telephones were directly connected to each other from one customer's office or
residence to another customer's location. Being impractical beyond just a few customers, these
systems were quickly replaced by manually operated centrally located switchboards. These
exchanges were soon connected together, eventually forming an automated, worldwide public
switched telephone network. For greater mobility, various radio systems were developed for
transmission between mobile stations on ships and automobiles in the mid-20th century. Hand-
held mobile phones were introduced for personal service starting in 1973. In later decades their
analog cellular system evolved into digital networks with greater capability and lower cost.

Convergence has given most modern cell phones capabilities far beyond simple voice
conversation. Most are smartphones, integrating all mobile communication and many computing
needs.

Contents
 1 Basic principles
 2 Details of operation
 3 History
o 3.1 Timeline of early development
 4 Early commercial instruments
 5 Digital telephones and voice over IP
 6 Mobile telephony
 7 Characteristic icons and symbols
 8 See also
  9 References
 10 Further reading
 11 External links

Basic principles

Schematic of a landline telephone installation

A traditional landline telephone system, also known as plain old telephone service (POTS),
commonly carries both control and audio signals on the same twisted pair (C in diagram) of
insulated wires, the telephone line. The control and signaling equipment consists of three
components, the ringer, the hookswitch, and a dial. The ringer, or beeper, light or other device
(A7), alerts the user to incoming calls. The hookswitch signals to the central office that the user
has picked up the handset to either answer a call or initiate a call. A dial, if present, is used by the
subscriber to transmit a telephone number to the central office when initiating a call. Until the
1960s dials used almost exclusively the rotary technology, which was replaced by dual-tone
multi-frequency signaling (DTMF) with pushbutton telephones (A4).

A major expense of wire-line telephone service is the outside wire plant. Telephones transmit
both the incoming and outgoing speech signals on a single pair of wires. A twisted pair line
rejects electromagnetic interference (EMI) and crosstalk better than a single wire or an untwisted
pair. The strong outgoing speech signal from the microphone (transmitter) does not overpower
the weaker incoming speaker (receiver) signal with sidetone because a hybrid coil (A3) and other
components compensate the imbalance. The junction box (B) arrests lightning (B2) and adjusts
the line's resistance (B1) to maximize the signal power for the line length. Telephones have
similar adjustments for inside line lengths (A8). The line voltages are negative compared to
earth, to reduce galvanic corrosion. Negative voltage attracts positive metal ions toward the
wires.

Details of operation
Further information: Telephone call

The landline telephone contains a switchhook (A4) and an alerting device, usually a ringer (A7),
that remains connected to the phone line whenever the phone is "on hook" (i.e. the switch (A4) is
open), and other components which are connected when the phone is "off hook". The off-hook
components include a transmitter (microphone, A2), a receiver (speaker, A1), and other circuits
for dialing, filtering (A3), and amplification.

The place a telephone call, the calling party picks up the telephone's handset, thereby operating a
lever which closes the hook switch (A4). This powers the telephone by connecting the
transmission hybrid transformer, as well as the transmitter (microphone) and receiver (speaker)
to the line. In this off-hook state, the telephone circuitry has a low resistance of typically than
300 ohms, which causes the flow of direct current (DC) in the line (C) from the telephone
exchange. The exchange detects this current, attaches a digit receiver circuit to the line, and
sends dial tone to indicate its readiness. On a modern push-button telephone, the caller then
presses the number keys to send the telephone number of the destination, the called party. The
keys control a tone generator circuit (not shown) that sends DTMF tones to the exchange. A
rotary-dial telephone uses pulse dialing, sending electrical pulses, that the exchange counts to
decode each digit of the telephone number. If the called party's line is available, the terminating
exchange applies an intermittent alternating current (AC) ringing signal of 40 to 90 volts to alert
the called party of the incoming call. If the called party's line is in use, however, the exchange
returns a busy signal to the calling party. If the called party's line is in use but subscribes to call
waiting service, the exchange sends an intermittent audible tone to the called party to indicate
another call.

The electromechanical ringer of a telephone (A7) is connected to the line through a capacitor
(A6), which blocks direct current and passes the alternating current of the ringing power. The
telephone draws no current when it is on hook, while a DC voltage is continually applied to the
line. Exchange circuitry (D2) can send an alternating current down the line to activate the ringer
and announce an incoming call. In manual service exchange areas, before dial service was
installed, telephones had hand-cranked magneto generators to generate a ringing voltage back to
the exchange or any other telephone on the same line. When a landline telephone is inactive (on
hook), the circuitry at the telephone exchange detects the absence of direct current to indicate
that the line is not in use.[2] When a party initiates a call to this line, the exchange sends the
ringing signal. When the called party picks up the handset, they actuate a double-circuit
switchhook (not shown) which may simultaneously disconnects the alerting device and connects
the audio circuitry to the line. This, in turn, draws direct current through the line, confirming that
the called phone is now active. The exchange circuitry turns off the ring signal, and both
telephones are now active and connected through the exchange. The parties may now converse
as long as both phones remain off hook. When a party hangs up, placing the handset back on the
cradle or hook, direct current ceases in that line, signaling the exchange to disconnect the call.

Calls to parties beyond the local exchange are carried over trunk lines which establish
connections between exchanges. In modern telephone networks, fiber-optic cable and digital
technology are often employed in such connections. Satellite technology may be used for
communication over very long distances.

In most landline telephones, the transmitter and receiver (microphone and speaker) are located in
the handset, although in a speakerphone these components may be located in the base or in a
separate enclosure. Powered by the line, the microphone (A2) produces a modulated electric
current which varies its frequency and amplitude in response to the sound waves arriving at its
diaphragm. The resulting current is transmitted along the telephone line to the local exchange
then on to the other phone (via the local exchange or via a larger network), where it passes
through the coil of the receiver (A3). The varying current in the coil produces a corresponding
movement of the receiver's diaphragm, reproducing the original sound waves present at the
transmitter.

Along with the microphone and speaker, additional circuitry is incorporated to prevent the
incoming speaker signal and the outgoing microphone signal from interfering with each other.
This is accomplished through a hybrid coil (A3). The incoming audio signal passes through a
resistor (A8) and the primary winding of the coil (A3) which passes it to the speaker (A1). Since
the current path A8 – A3 has a far lower impedance than the microphone (A2), virtually all of
the incoming signal passes through it and bypasses the microphone.

At the same time the DC voltage across the line causes a DC current which is split between the
resistor-coil (A8-A3) branch and the microphone-coil (A2-A3) branch. The DC current through
the resistor-coil branch has no effect on the incoming audio signal. But the DC current passing
through the microphone is turned into AC (in response to voice sounds) which then passes
through only the upper branch of the coil's (A3) primary winding, which has far fewer turns than
the lower primary winding. This causes a small portion of the microphone output to be fed back
to the speaker, while the rest of the AC goes out through the phone line.

A lineman's handset is a telephone designed for testing the telephone network, and may be
attached directly to aerial lines and other infrastructure components.