In E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, what does the alien repeatedly ask to do?

In E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the stranded alien repeatedly asks to “phone home.”

E.T. is separated from his own species when a group of extraterrestrial visitors leaves Earth without him. Elliott, a boy living in suburban California, discovers and hides him, and the two develop a close emotional connection.

Steven Spielberg directed the 1982 film from a screenplay by Melissa Mathison. The phrase became the movie's defining quotation because it expresses E.T.'s simple goal in language that a child can understand. It also became a widely recognized shorthand for contacting home.

The film's homemade communication device uses household electronics and scientific equipment, but “phone home” is not the name of a specific machine. The phrase is the request E.T. makes, while the device is assembled by Elliott and his friends to help send the message.