A mobile or cellular telephone is a long-range, portable
electronic device for personal telecommunications over long distances. In
addition to the standard voice function of a telephone, current mobile phones
can support many additional services such as SMS for text messaging, email,
packet switching for access to the Internet, and MMS for sending and receiving
photos and video. Most current mobile phones connect to a cellular network of
base stations (cell sites), which is in turn interconnected to the public
switched telephone network (PSTN) (the exception are satellite phones).
Mobile phones are distinct from cordless telephones, which generally operate
only within a limited range of a specific base station. Technically, the term
mobile phone includes such devices as satellite phones and pre-cellular mobile
phones such as those operating via MTS which do not have a cellular network,
whereas the related term cell(ular) phone does not. In practice, the two terms
are used nearly interchangeably.
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