Telephone: Meaning, Types, Advantages, Disadvantages, Conclusion

Meaning

A telephone is an instrument that transmit voice over a distance. A person can talk and communicate with another person at distant place with the use of a telephone.

A telephone is a device that converts the human sound into a form that is transmittable through wire or radio technology, and reproduces it at a far away place in an audible format. It is a gadget that you can use to talk to someone who is present at some other place.

A telephone is a voice input-output apparatus. It receives the voice of one person through the microphone, transmit it over long distance in a way that the receiver can listen to the voice through the speaker provided with the telephone.

Nowadays, mobile phones are also widely used as a communicating device.

Types

The various types of telephone includes fixed landlines, cordless telephone, mobile phones, etc.

1. Fixed telephone: A fixed telephone (also land-line telephone, corded telephone.) is one that is connected through a set of wires. It is immobile.

2. Cordless telephone: A cordless telephone (also portable telephone) comes with a wireless handset that uses radio technology to communicate with the base station. The base-station is fixed at a place and the telephone wires are connected to it. These telephones are portable, but within works within very limited distances, typically within the same or few floors from the base-station.

3. Mobile phone: A mobile phone (also cellular phone) is a wireless handset that enables users to make calls and send messages while moving around wide range of geographical areas.

4. A smart phone is a mobile phone that has enhances features comparable with those of a computer. It has smart features such as operating system, web-browser, touchscreen, music-player, etc.

Advantages

Telephone is one the biggest invention of modern science that has eased the life of common people. Further, the use of wireless radio technologies in mobile phones entirely changed the mode of voice and text communication. The advantages of telephones are given below:

• Indispensable part of life: It was the invention of telephone which really opened the way for communication revolution. Nowadays it has become an indispensable part of commercial, industrial and domestic life.
• Communication with distant person: People can communicate to distant people and get instant feedback instant over telephone. For example, a person in India can talk with another person in the United Kingdom over telephone.
• Wireless communication: The invention of mobile phones is of vital importance. It helps the transmission of voice using wireless technologies.
• Saves time and energy: A telephone serves us like an honest servant in all the fields. It saves our valuable time and energy to great extent.
• Business deals over telephone: A telephone has a great advantage to a business person, or to a doctor. A business person can make business deals on telephone. The entire sale and purchase can be done on the telephone.
• Improved communication between doctor and patients: Patients can take the doctor’s appointment over telephone. For a doctor, it is very useful to attend on his patients without losing time.
• Security: In big cities a telephone has its own utility in terms of safety and security. You may call police if there is some need for them.
• Improved parents-teachers-student relationship: If there is a telephone in the school, students can talk to the Principal or teachers to get any information. Messages to distant places can be conveyed in no time through calls, sms, etc. If the telephone is in at parents’s house, the principal or teachers find it easy to contact the parents, and the parents can take information from the teachers about their children.
• Easy travelling: Railway booking, calling a taxi from the stand-all can be done on the telephone. You can also download mobile applications of various taxi-operator and book a taxi from within the application. You will need a smart phone and internet connection for this.
• High-speed internet: Most of the smartphones are enabled with high-speed internet features. Smartphones with internet connections enable users to browse websites, play videos and send emails. You can also make calls over internet and avoid the calling charges. However, data charges may apply in case of internet calls.
• Healthy relationships: Telephone encourages regular voice-communication between friends. It helps keep up healthy relationships with friends.
• Low cost: The cost of voice-communication over telephone and mobile-phones has reduced significantly in the last few years. Thus, even common people can make full use of tele-communication technology.
• Telephone banking: People can make banking transactions over telephone. They can send and receive funds from the comfort of their home or office. Customers can also ask for bank statement and cheque-book by calling the support team of the bank.
• Telephone interviews: Many large and small companies prefer to conduct the initial interview over telephone. The interviewer asks relevant questions and if the answers are satisfactory, the candidate is further invited for the final interview.
• Telephone marketing: One of the biggest advantage of telephone can be seen in the field of marketing. Companies communicate information about new products to their customers. However, companies resorting to telemarketing for promoting products should never make unsolicited calls.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of telephone are given below:

1. A telephone invites enmity and unfriendliness in your neighborhood. The neighbors want to use the telephone for their benefits and you have to pay the bill.
2. You cannot talk if the recipient of the call is unavailable or engaged in talking to someone else.
3. Some of the neighbors are so frank and free that they give your number to their relatives and friends. If you fail to call the neighbor at an odd hour when the phone rings for him, he will become angry and sweetness of neighborhood would change into bitterness. They fail to think of your comfort.
4. When we are forced to attend too many calls over telephone, then our peace is disturbed.
5. People wastes much of their time over useless gossip over the telephone or mobile devices.
6. Telephone is often misused by tele-marketers. Very often, telemarketers makes unsolicited calls and disturbs people during office hours.
7. You need to charge the battery of your mobile phone almost everyday to keep it running.
8. Now-a-days, technology changes very fast. You may need to keep updated the software of your mobile-phones. However, the standard wired telephones are easy to manage and seldom needs up-gradation.
9. We may waste our time in useless gossiping. Hence, we should remain cautious of time while taking to people over phone.
10. Excessive use of telephone may cause headache and negatively affect the health.

Conclusion

In this way we can easily perceive the vital interference of a telephone and mobile phones in our life. Sometimes it looks like a difficult thing to manage. On the other time it helps us in a very difficult time. Its disadvantages are few and small but its advantages and benefits are many.