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Radiotelephone versus mobile telephone, cellular
English dictionaries describe the term as a compound word formed from the words radio and telephone, and used to describe a wireless telephone. There is no Radiotelephone entry in Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and no radiotelephone index entries appear or in the present-day Yellow Pages index of AT&T telephone directories.
In the US, mobile telephone was more commonly used to refer to a wireless, full duplex radio technology predating late 1980s cellular systems and used to place telephone calls.
The connection between analog, older mobile telephone technologies and radiotelephone is described in the article Mobile radio telephone, which splits radiotelephone into two words. The term is used to describe the earliest generation of wireless mobile telephone technologies.
Since the advent of cellular telephones, similar technologies such as GSM and PCS are often referred to collectively by non-technical persons as "cell phones," regardless of the underlying technology. There is no cellular telephone entry in Standard Industry Codes (SIC) but two cellular index entries appear in the present-day Yellow Pages index of AT&T telephone directories.
Radiotelephone versus radiophone
A case for historic US usage of the similar word Radiophone exists in the 1960s. This term is used to describe push-to-talk two-way radio systems and equipment.
There may be confusion between the similar words radiophone and radiotelephone. A historic case of radiotelephone being used for two-way radio was not found. However, since the 1930s the Federal Communications Commission has issued various commercial "radiotelephone operator" licenses and permits to qualified applicants. These allow them to install, service, and maintain voice-only radio transmitter systems for use on ships and aircraft. (Until deregulation in the 1990s they were also required for commercial domestic radio and television broadcast systems. Because of treaty obligations they are still required for engineers of international shortwave broadcast stations.) The certificate currently issued is the General radiotelephone operator license.
Radiotelephone versus phone
The word phone has a long precedent beginning with early US wireless voice systems. The term means analog voice as opposed to early binary communications known as telegraph or Morse Code. This would include systems fitting into the category of two-way radio or one-way voice broadcasts such as coastal maritime weather. The term is still popular in the Amateur Radio community and in US Federal Communications Commission regulations.
Technology
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