How to Make a Telephone Call ~ 1951 US Bureau of Indian Affairs (Patreon)

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Silent.

Originally a public domain film from the Library of Congress Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_call

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network between the called party and the calling party...

First telephone call

The first telephone call was made on March 10, 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell. Bell demonstrated his ability to "talk with electricity" by transmitting a call to his assistant, Thomas Watson. The first words transmitted were "Mr Watson, come here. I want to see you."

This event has been called Bell's "greatest success", as it demonstrated the first successful use of the telephone. Although it was his greatest success, he refused to have one in his own home because it was something he invented by mistake and saw it as a distraction from his main studies...

A typical phone call using a traditional phone is placed by picking the phone handset up off the base and holding the handset so that the hearing end is next to the user's ear and the speaking end is within range of the mouth. The caller then rotary dials or presses buttons for the phone number needed to complete the call, and the call is routed to the phone which has that number. The second phone makes a ringing noise to alert its owner, while the user of the first phone hears a ringing noise in its earpiece. If the second phone is picked up, then the operators of the two units are able to talk to one another through them. If the phone is not picked up, the operator of the first phone continues to hear a ringing noise until they hang up their own phone.

One of the main struggles for Alexander Graham Bell and his team was to prove to non-English speakers that this new phenomenon "worked in their language." It was a concept that was hard for people to understand at first.

In addition to the traditional method of placing a telephone call, new technologies allow different methods for initiating a telephone call, such as voice dialing. Voice over IP technology allows calls to be made through a PC, using a service like Skype. Other services, such as toll-free dial-around enable callers to initiate a telephone call through a third party without exchanging phone numbers. Originally, no phone calls could be made without first talking to the Switchboard operator. Using 21st century mobile phones does not require the use of an operator to complete a phone call.

The use of headsets is becoming more common for placing or receiving a call. Headsets can either come with a cord or be wireless.

A special number can be dialed for operator assistance, which may be different for local vs. long-distance or international calls...