Speed dial is a function available on many
telephone
A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...
systems allowing the user to place a call by pressing a reduced number of keys. This function is particularly useful for phone users who dial certain numbers on a regular basis.
In most cases, the user stores these numbers in the phone's memory for future use. The speed dial numbers are usually accessed by pressing a pre-determined key or keys on the phone, followed by a one or two-digit code which the user assigns to each number; however for ease of use, on many systems a call may be placed by pressing and holding one key on the numeric keypad.
Speed dialing is also available via Custom Calling features from the Telephone Company's Central Office. The numbers are programmed by the subscriber through the standard telephone dial, and speed dial calls are placed by dialing simply the digit and waiting a few seconds on a standard rotary dial phone and an older 10 key Touch Tone phone, or by dialing the number and the # key to instantly connect the call on a modern 12 key Touch Tone phone.
Most
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
s have a
contact list
A contact list is a collection of screen names. It is a commonplace feature of instant messaging, Email clients, online games and mobile phones. It has various trademarked and proprietary names in different contexts.
Contacts lists' windows s ...
feature which provides similar abilities although most have an instant call button which only requires one click.
History
The capability for speed dial historically dates at least as far back as the
Number One Electronic Switching System
The Number One Electronic Switching System (1ESS) was the first large-scale stored program control (SPC) telephone exchange or electronic switching system in the Bell System. It was manufactured by Western Electric and first placed into servi ...
(1ESS) in 1965. Other early "instant dialers" dating back to 1972 also included punched card machines and magnetic tape machines.
Metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS)
integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...
(IC) telephone technology enabled speed dialing on
push-button telephone
The push-button telephone is a telephone that has buttons or keys for dialing a telephone number, in contrast to having a rotary dial as in earlier telephone instruments.
Western Electric experimented as early as 1941 with methods of using mech ...
s in the early 1970s.
MOS memory
Semiconductor memory is a digital electronic semiconductor device used for digital data storage, such as computer memory. It typically refers to devices in which data is stored within metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) memory cells on a sili ...
chips were used to store
phone numbers
A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices f ...
, which could then be used for speed dialing at the push of a button.
This was demonstrated by the British companies
Pye TMC,
Marconi-Elliott and
GEC in 1970.
Between 1971 and 1973, the American company
Bell Laboratories
Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984),
then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996)
and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007),
is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...
develop a push-button MOS telephone called the "Touch-O-Matic" phone, which could store up to 32 phone numbers. This was made possible by the low cost, low power requirements, small size and high reliability of
MOS transistor
The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which d ...
s, over 15,000 of which were contained on ten IC chips, including one chip for logic, one for the dial interface, and eight for memory.
See also
*
Abbreviated dialing
Abbreviated dialing is the use of a very short digit sequence to reach specific telephone numbers, such as those of public services. The purpose of such numbers is to be universal, short, and easy to remember. Typically they are two or three digits ...
*
Speed calling
Speed calling service allows telephone subscribers to assign one or two digit speed calling codes, by dialing a change speed calling list access code, a feature code, and a new telephone number. Thereafter, the subscribers need only use the ass ...
*
Auto dialer
An automatic dialer (also spelled auto dialer, auto-dialer, and autodialer) is an electronic device or software that automatically dials telephone numbers. Once the call has been answered, the autodialer either plays a recorded message or connec ...
References
Telephone numbers
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