The calling party (in some contexts called the "A-Number") is a person who (or device that) initiates a
telephone call
A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network
A telephone network is a telecommunications network that connects telephones, which allows telephone calls between two or more parties, as well as newer features such as fax and interne ...
. The person who, or device that, receives a telephone call is the
called party
The called party (in some contexts called the "B-Number") is a person who (or device that) answers a telephone call. The person who (or device that) initiates a telephone call is the calling party.
In some situations, the called party may number m ...
(or
callee
The called party (in some contexts called the "B-Number") is a person who (or device that) answers a telephone call. The person who (or device that) initiates a telephone call is the calling party.
In some situations, the called party may number m ...
or B-party).
In some countries, it is common
etiquette
Etiquette () is the set of norms of personal behaviour in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviours that accord with the conventions and norms observed and practised by a ...
for a call originator to identify himself first instead of the receiver, when the connection is established.
Modem
A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...
s and
fax machine
Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer o ...
s use different tones when originating or answering a connection, which may be a source of problems for the user.
Telephony
Teletraffic
{{telephony-stub