Science quiz: Pick up the phone

1 / 6 |
Visual: Name the historic antitrust lawsuit that resulted in the breakup of the entity denoted by this famous logo, with significant implications for telecommunications in the US.

2 / 6 |
An engineer named August Kruckow first used the ____ ____ in 1908. Later, it became the name of the signal that a telephone exchange sent to a telephone when a user lifted its receiver before dialling. Fill in the blanks.

3 / 6 |
When you press the buttons on a touch-tone phone, each number sends a unique combination of two sound frequencies down the line. What four-letter abbreviation describes this system of tones that lets phones and automated menus recognise which keys you pressed?

4 / 6 |
When you make an international phone call, your voice is often converted into flashes of light that race through slender strands of glass laid across the world’s ocean floors. What is the common name for these light-carrying cables that form the backbone of global telecommunication?

5 / 6 |
On a phone call, you and your friend can talk at the same time and still hear each other, unlike with a walkie-talkie where you must take turns. What is the technical term for this ability to carry speech in both directions at once, which also ensures you don’t hear your own voice back?

6 / 6 |
Before messaging apps became common, people used a simple phone service to send written notes limited to 160 characters, often typed on a numeric keypad, and originally transmitted on mobile networks’ signalling channels. What three-letter abbreviation is this texting system known by?