Corded Telephones Use Wires
The basic premise of traditional telephone service concerns converting sounds into electrical signals and sending those signals to another party some distance away. While cordless, cellular and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephones accomplish this task in different ways, a traditional corded telephone uses a set of two wires to conduct the electrical signals. These signals must be received by the phone from the telephone network, then sent to the speaker (or received from the microphone) in the handset. To facilitate the transfer of the signals to the handset, a corded telephone uses two wires known as a "cable pair" to relay the signal from the phone base to the handset.
Telephone Cords Are Shielded
While the electrical signals that drive telecommunication may be relayed for many miles between to parties, the most vulnerable part of the signal's journey occurs between the telephone base and the handset. The proximity of the handset to sources of outside interference--things like hairdryers, radios, even electronic gadgets--makes the signal more susceptible to line noise and distortion.
In addition, frequent movement by the user, which may range from simply switching the handset between ears to walking carelessly around the room, increases the likelihood that the cable pair connecting the handset to the telephone base will become worn and break. To help quell both issues, telephone manufacturers apply heavy shielding to telephone cables. This shielding serves the dual purpose of both protecting the cable pair from interference and adding some elasticity to the cable.
Shielding Is Intentionally Curly
The shielding used by manufacturers of telephone handset cords is intentionally designed to be very curly. Fully extended, a telephone cable is quite long, usually at least four, six, or eight feet in length. By conditioning the thick shielding on the cable pair to curl up on its own, the lengthy handset cord can be compacted to a size that is easy to store and does not get in the user's way.
This intentionally curled design gives rise to the industry name for the cord--the "Curly Cord--and creates the pigtail-like design familiar to modern telephone users. When a user fully extends the cord, though, or switches the handset from ear to ear frequently, the cord's natural tendency to return to its curled-up state often catches other parts of the cord during the recoil process. The result is a tangled nest of double-curled curly cord.
Tags: cable pair, electrical signals, base handset, corded telephone, corded telephone uses, telephone base
