While a palaphone superficially resembles a terrestrial cell phone, there are a few notable differences. For one, the correspondence magic they use is completely insensitive to distance, so there are no cell towers, nor do there need to be for the device to operate. Instead, connectivity between palaphones is determined by prior contact. Once a palaphone is brought into contact with an existing palaphone network, it gains access to all other palaphones in that network; its connectivity remains the same even if it is transported to another planet. Most palaphones are linked to a network before they are sold, so that they can be used immediately to call anyone. It is possible to create palaphones that are not part of a network, that can only call (or be called from) a second palaphone that constitutes its matching pair.
Because palaphones send information via an extra-dimensional space where spatial position has no meaning, it is difficult to interdict messages sent by palaphone. However, there are ways around this. One is to use aura flutter, a property of magical devices that create or process sound. As the palaphone responds to variations in air pressure, its magical aura changes at the same frequency. Detecting these variations allows one to listen in on conversations happening over the palaphone one monitors the aura from. The drawback of this is that one must be close to one of the palaphones involved in the conversation (transmissions across intervening space cannot be interdicted), and moreover one must be closer to the palaphone involved than to palaphones involved in other conversations, as aura flutter detection cannot distinguish one palaphone from another.