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 between the called party and the calling party.
First telephone call
The first telephone call was made on March 10, 1876, by Alexander Graham Bell. Bell demonstrated his ability to "ta ...
. The person who, or device that, receives a telephone call is the
called party (or
callee 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 modulating one or more c ...
s and
fax machines use different tones when originating or answering a connection, which may be a source of problems for the user.
Telephony
Teletraffic
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