Phone books have white, blue and yellow pages. The white pages list people with phones by last name. The blue pages contain numbers of city services, government services and public services. Businesses and professional services are listed in a special classified directory-the Yellow Pages.
It is generally very easy to find a public telephone in the developed countries. Public phones are located in bus and railroad stations, airports, stores, hotels, restaurants, gasoline stations, on numerous street corners and in most office buildings. From a corner pay-call, you pick up the phone, listen for a dial tone (a buzzing sound), deposits a coin or coins (depending on the cost in the area) and then dial the number.
A person-to-person call can only be accepted by the particular person you are calling. Thus, if that person is not there, you will not be charged. However, person-to-person and collect calls are more expensive than calls dialed directly because they involve the additional labor cost of an operator. The person being called pays for a " collect" call rather than by the person making the call. If you make a long distance call and get a wrong number, call the operator and explain what happened. This means that you can make the call again to the right number without having to pay more money; or you can have the phone company mail you a credit coupon that has the same value as the phone call.

電話簿有白頁、藍頁和黃頁。白頁刊登用戶個人的電話號碼，是按姓氏排列的。藍頁刊登市政機構、政府機構和公共服務的電話號碼。黃頁是商業和專業機構的分類電話號碼。
想在發達國家找到一部公用電話是非常容易的。公用電話經常安裝在以下場所：公共汽車站、火車站、飛機場、商店、旅館、飯店、加油站、許多街角以及大多數的寫字樓。 在街角的付費電話亭，你拿起電話，聽到撥號聲音（嗡嗡聲），投入硬幣（數量視地區而定），然后撥號。
叫人電話只能是你叫的那個人接聽。所以，如果那個人不在，你就不需付費。叫人電話和對方付費的電話較自撥電話要貴一些，因為接線員得付出額外勞動。在對方付費的電話中，交錢的是接聽電話的人而非打電話的人。 如果你打長途時撥錯了電話號碼，可以給接線員打電話解釋一下情況，你就可以再打正確的號碼而不用另外付費；你也可以讓電話公司寄給你退回電話費用的付款證。

telephone booth ；telephone box；telephone kiosk 電話間
telephone exchange 電話局
telephone, phone 電話,電話機
manual telephone 人工電話
automatic telephone 自動電話
desk phone 臺式電話
wall phone 墻上電話
touch phone 按鍵式電話
dial phone 撥盤式電話
interior phone 內線電話
outside phone 外線電話
special line 專線電話
emergency call 緊急電話
hot line 熱線電話
toll-free call; 800 number 免費電話
interphone 內部電話,對講機
combined set; mobile phone 手機
beeper 尋呼機；BP機
receiver, earpiece 聽筒
hook 聽筒掛叉
dial 號碼盤
hammer 槌
switch 開關,斷路器
plug 銷
counter, meter 計數器
circuit 電路
frequency 音頻
connection, connexion 連接
disconnection, discon-nexion 斷開
selector 選擇器
switchboard 交換臺
telephone network 電話網
extension 分機
line 電話線
cable 電纜
telephone operator, operator 話務員
token 代金牌,代幣
telephone subscriber 電話用戶
telephone call, ring 打電話
long-distance call, trunk call 長途電話
local call 市內電話
reverse-charge call 受話人付款的電話
telephoned telegram 電話電報
directory inquiries 地址簿
telephone directory, telephone book 電話號簿
to dial a number 撥號
area code, code number 地區代碼
ring 電話鈴響
dialing tone 撥號音
engaged tone 占線音
to telephone, to call (up), to ring up，to
make a phone call 通話,給......打電話
to lift the telephone, to pick up the telephone 接電話
put me through to... 我想找...
to hold on 別掛上
to hang up 掛上電話
call accounting system 電話自動記費系統
credit card call 信用卡付費電話
magnetic card telephone 磁卡電話