• Question: how does a phone call another phone?

    Asked by leigha1234 to Shane, Karen on 20 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Karen McCarthy

      Karen McCarthy answered on 20 Nov 2013:

      Phones have come a long way since the early days of invention, but still operate under the same basic principles! Phone transmit sound waves through wires, which may then pass from your home to a concentrator, which basically merges and digitalises your voice, along with many others nearby, and transmits them along fibre cables.

      Mobile phones act differently, almost like two-way radios. They send electromagnetic microwaves from base station to base station. The waves are sent through antennas. This is called wireless communication.

    • Photo: Shane Mc Guinness

      Shane Mc Guinness answered on 21 Nov 2013:

      Wow there, sound waves aren’t transmitted through wires!
      What actually happens is that the sound waves of your voice are turned into electrical signals which are then sent along copper wires.

      Modern mobile phones convert your voice into microwaves which are beamed to the nearest antenna.

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