On a telephone

Telephone

The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...

, the handset is a device the user holds to the ear to hear the audio sound. Modern-day handsets usually contain the phone's microphone

Microphone

A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...

 as well, but in early telephones the microphone was mounted directly on the telephone itself, which often was attached to a wall at a convenient height for talking. Handsets on such telephones were called receivers, a term that is often applied to modern-day handsets, also.

Until the advent of the cordless telephone

Cordless telephone

A cordless telephone or portable telephone is a telephone with a wireless handset that communicates via radio waves with a base station connected to a fixed telephone line, usually within a limited range of its base station...

, the handset was usually wired to the base unit, typically by rather flexible tinsel wire

Tinsel wire

Tinsel wire is a form of low voltage electrical wire used when maximum mechanical flexibility is required. It is commonly found in cords used for telephones, especially the handset cords, and in headphones. Because of its extreme flexibility it is much more resistant to failing as a result of metal...

.

A cordless telephone uses a radio transceiver

Transceiver

A transceiver is a device comprising both a transmitter and a receiver which are combined and share common circuitry or a single housing. When no circuitry is common between transmit and receive functions, the device is a transmitter-receiver. The term originated in the early 1920s...

 for its handset, and a radio transceiver, wired to the telephone line

Telephone line

A telephone line or telephone circuit is a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system...

, for a base station

Base station

The term base station can be used in the context of land surveying and wireless communications.- Land surveying :In the context of external land surveying, a base station is a GPS receiver at an accurately-known fixed location which is used to derive correction information for nearby portable GPS...

. In a mobile telephone, the entire unit is usually a radio transceiver that communicates through an outdoor base station located at a cell site

Cell site

A cell site is a term used to describe a site where antennas and electronic communications equipment are placed, usually on a radio mast, tower or other high place, to create a cell in a cellular network...

. Some mobile telephones that can be carried in cars, trucks, and buses look exactly like household telephones, except that their bases are usually screwed or bolted to the interior of the vehicle.

See also: Headset (telephone/computer)

Headset (telephone/computer)

A headset is headphones combined with a microphone, or one headphone with a microphone. Headsets provide the equivalent functionality of a telephone handset with hands-free operation. Headsets typically have only one speaker like a telephone, but also come with speakers for both ears...

.