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41-836: These two-way pager models had thumb keyboards , with a thumbwheel for scrolling its monochrome text display. The first model, the Inter@ctive Pager , was announced on September 18, 1996. Within a year, Yankee Group was estimating that devices like the Inter@ctive Pager were in use by fewer than 400,000 people and expected two-way wireless messaging services to attract 51 million users by 2002. They provided e-mail and WAP services, with limited HTML access provided via third party software such as WolfeTech PocketGenie or GoAmerica browser. They were built for use with two 1G data-only packet switched networks : Mobitex and DataTAC . They did not support Java without

82-705: A dedicated communications link. Automated monitoring and escalation software clients, often used in hospitals, IT departments and alarm companies, tend to prefer direct connections because of the increased reliability. Small paging systems, such as those used in restaurant and retail establishments, often integrate a keyboard and paging system into a single box, reducing both cost and complexity. Paging systems support several popular direct connection protocols, including TAP , TNPP, SNPP and WCTP , as well as proprietary modem- and socket-based protocols. Additionally, organizations often integrate paging systems with their Voice-mail and PBX systems, conceptually attaching pagers to

123-462: A discrete QWERTY keyboard, in the candybar form factor. They developed a predictive text technology called SureType with a QWERTY-like layout, using two keys per button. By using only two letters per button, rather than three letters per button as in T9 using ten-digit keypads, predictive text accuracy could be improved dramatically. The use of a QWERTY-like layout took advantage of people's memory of

164-430: A local base station, or through a telephone number assigned to each individual pager. In the 1990s, pagers became popular among the general public as a cheaper, smaller, and more reliable alternative to mobile phones . Bell System Bellboy radio pagers each used three reed receiver relays, each relay tuned to one of 33 different frequencies, selectively ringing a particular customer when all three relays were activated at

205-443: A message has been successfully delivered to a pager. Because of this, if a one-way pager is turned off or is not receiving a usable signal at the time a message is transmitted, the message will not be received and the sender of the message will not be notified of this fact. In the mid-1990s, some paging companies began offering a service, which allowed a customer to call their pager-number and have numeric messages read back to them. This

246-416: A one-way pager is a passive receiver only (it sends no information back to the base station), its location cannot be tracked. However, this can also be disadvantageous, as a message sent to a pager must be broadcast from every paging transmitter in the pager's service area. Thus, if a pager has nationwide service, a message sent to it could be intercepted by criminals or law enforcement agencies anywhere within

287-490: A paging network and are less subject to these delays. For this reason, older forms of message submission retain their usefulness for disseminating highly-important alerts to users such as emergency services personnel. Common paging protocols include TAP , FLEX , ReFLEX , POCSAG , GOLAY, ERMES and NTT. Past paging protocols include Two-tone and 5/6-tone. In the United States, pagers typically receive signals using

328-435: A paging system which includes one or more fixed transmitters (or in the case of response pagers and two-way pagers, one or more base stations ), as well as a number of pagers carried by mobile users. These systems can range from a restaurant system with a single low power transmitter, to a nationwide system with thousands of high-power base stations. Pagers were developed in the 1950s and 1960s, and became widely used by

369-466: A portable receiver that would usually vibrate, flash, or beep when a table becomes free or when their meal is ready. Pagers have been popular with birdwatchers in Great Britain and Ireland since 1991, with companies Rare Bird Alert and Birdnet Information offering news of rare birds sent to pagers that they sell. Today, companies like Visiplex offer similar solutions for onsite pager systems in

410-496: A single transmitter tower. The system was manufactured by the Reevesound Company and operated by Telanswerphone. In 1960, John Francis Mitchell combined elements of Motorola 's walkie-talkie and automobile radio technologies to create the first transistorized pager, and from that time, paging technology continued to advance and pager adoption among emergency personnel was still popular as of July 2016. In 1962,

451-422: A telephone extension and set up web portals to integrate pagers into other parts of their enterprise. A paging system alerts a pager (or group of pagers) by transmitting information over an RF channel, including an address and message information. This information is formatted using a paging protocol, such as 2-tone, 5/6-tone, GOLAY, POCSAG , FLEX , ERMES , or NTT. Two-way pagers and response pagers typically use

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492-554: Is a discontinued line of smartphones originally developed by Handspring , which was bought by Palm, Inc. They were then manufactured and maintained by Palm, Inc. Treos had a number of integrated features such as the ability to check the calendar while talking on the phone, dial directly from a list of contacts, and send email messages. The final models included a built-in camera. Treos ran Palm OS , but later models also ran Windows Mobile . The Palm Pre , released in June 2009, replaced

533-440: Is the case with many new technologies, the functionality of the pager shifted from necessary professional use to a social tool integrated in one's personal life. During the rise of the pager, it became the subject of various forms of media, most notably in the 1990s hip-hop scene. Popular artists from the era, including Ice Cube , Method Man , and A Tribe Called Quest , began referencing newly developed mobile technologies such as

574-654: The Bell System , the U.S. telephone monopoly, presented its Bellboy radio paging system at the Seattle World's Fair. Bellboy was the first commercial system for personal paging. It also marked one of the first consumer applications of the transistor (invented by Bell Labs in 1947), for which three Bell Labs inventors received a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956. Solid-state circuitry enabled the Bellboy pager, about

615-529: The FLEX protocol in the 900 MHz band. Commercial paging transmitters typically radiate 1000 watts of effective power , resulting in a much wider coverage area per tower than a mobile phone transmitter, which typically radiates around 0.6 watts per channel. Although 900 MHz FLEX paging networks tend to have stronger in-building coverage than mobile phone networks, commercial paging service providers will work with large institutions to install repeater equipment in

656-1185: The ReFLEX protocol. Modern paging systems typically use multiple base transmitters to modulate the same signal on the same RF channel, a design approach called simulcast . This type of design enables pagers to select the strongest signal from several candidate transmitters using FM capture , thereby improving overall system performance. Simulcast systems often use satellite to distribute identical information to multiple transmitters and GPS at each transmitter to precisely time its modulation relative to other transmitters. The coverage overlap, combined with use of satellite communications, can make paging systems more reliable than terrestrial based cellular networks in some cases, including during natural and human-made disaster. This resilience has led public safety agencies to adopt pagers over cellular and other commercial services for critical messaging. Pagers themselves vary from very cheap and simple beepers, to more complex personal communications equipment, falling into eight main categories. Pagers have certain privacy advantages and disadvantages compared with cellular phones. Since

697-734: The 1980s through the late 1990s and early 2000s. Later in the 21st century, the widespread availability of cellphones and smartphones with text messaging capability has greatly diminished the pager industry. Nevertheless, pagers continue to be used by some emergency services and public safety personnel , because modern pager systems' coverage overlap, combined with use of satellite communications , can make paging systems more reliable than terrestrial based cellular networks in some cases, including during natural and human-made disasters . This resilience has led public safety agencies to adopt pagers over cellular and other commercial services for critical messaging. The first telephone pager system

738-540: The 1990s to conduct commerce, using them to arrange meetings with buyers. Associate superintendent for Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida Gul James Fleming once called them "the most dominant symbol of the drug trade" and schools have previously forbidden students from carrying them because of the ease with which they could be "used to arrange illegal drug sales." Palm Treo The Palm Treo / ˈ t r iː oʊ / (stylized as Trēo)

779-426: The 1990s. While Motorola announced the end of its new pager manufacturing in 2001, pagers remained in use in large hospital complexes. First responders in rural areas with inadequate cellular coverage are often issued pagers . The 2005 London bombings resulted in overload of TETRA systems by the emergency services and showed that pagers, with their absence of necessity to transmit an acknowledgement before showing

820-410: The 7290, typically used a LED backlight, yielding much better screen quality. The color LCD screens used in these series were either reflective or transflective , so these screens yielded better image quality in direct sunlight even with the backlight turned off. Nearly all models in this list were 16 MB models with no Bluetooth . The only model with 32 MB and Bluetooth is the 7290, which

861-630: The UK National Health Service was thought to have been using over 10% of the remaining pagers in the world (130,000), with an annual cost of £6.6 million. Matt Hancock , (then) Secretary of State for Health and Social Care , announced in February 2019 that the 130,000 pagers still in use were to be phased out. NHSX announced plans in May 2020 to replace pagers and bleepers with "more modern communication tools," accelerated by

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902-512: The United States, pagers using the commercial FM band receive a subcarrier, called the Subsidiary Communications Authority , of a broadcast station. On-site paging systems in hospitals, unlike wide area paging systems, are local area services. Hospitals commonly use on-site paging for communication with staff and increasingly for contacting waiting patients when their appointment is due. These offer waiting patients

943-591: The computer keyboard, since each button was roughly relative to each key. At the same time, the size of the BlackBerry could be dramatically reduced, as keyboards only needed to be 5-buttons wide rather than 10-buttons wide. These BlackBerries became more popular with the mass market as they became similarly sized to competing consumer-market cellphones. These models were among the first BlackBerry models to be aggressively marketed to consumers, rather than to businesses. RIM continued to manufacture QWERTY models, to give

984-503: The event that service is not available in needed areas of the subscribing institution's buildings. This is especially critical in hospital settings where emergency staff must be able to reliably receive pages to respond to patient needs. Unlike mobile phones, most one-way pagers do not display any information about whether a signal is being received or about the strength of the received signal. Since one-way pagers do not contain transmitters, one-way paging networks have no way to track whether

1025-611: The last paging provider was closed in November 2021. Many paging network operators now allow numeric and textual pages to be submitted to the paging networks via email. A significant convenience for users given the widespread adoption of email, and commonalities in delivery assurances . This can result in pager messages being delayed or lost. Older forms of message submission using the Telelocator Alphanumeric Protocol involve modem connections directly to

1066-574: The market a choice between the traditional QWERTY thumb keyboard, and the compressed SureType keyboard. Beginning with the 8700-series models in 2006, RIM began to aggressively add consumer features to BlackBerry models, in an aim to capture more of the consumer market from competitors such as Treo and Motorola Q . In this progression of models, the additions include better quality screens, more memory, built-in chat software, first cameraphone, microSD memory card slot, built-in mapping software, and other consumer-specific features. The BlackBerry Pearl 8100

1107-518: The medical, education and commercial sectors. By early 2002, pager usage was rapidly declining in places like North America. The U.S. paging industry generated $ 2.1 billion in revenue in 2008, down from $ 6.2 billion in 2003. In Canada, 161,500 Canadians paid $ 18.5 million for pager service in 2013. Telus , one of the three major mobile carriers, announced the end to its Canadian pager service as of 31 March 2015, but rivals Bell , Rogers and PageNet intend to continue service. In 2017

1148-425: The message, and the related capability to operate on very low signal levels, are not completely outclassed by their successors. Volunteer firefighters, EMS paramedics and rescue squad members usually carry pagers to alert them of emergency call outs for their department. These pagers receive a special tone from a fire department radio frequency. Restaurant pagers remain in wide use since the 2000s. Customers are given

1189-577: The nationwide service area. On September 17, 2024, a massive attack against Hezbollah members in Lebanon and Syria was allegedly committed by Israel, who simultaneously detonated pagers that they were using. Lebanese Health authorities confirmed at least nine deaths and over 3,000 injuries as a result of the explosions. In February 2024, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had told the group's members to use pagers instead of cell phones, claiming that Israel had infiltrated their mobile phone network. As

1230-838: The opportunity to leave the waiting area, but still be contacted. Paging systems are operated by commercial carriers, often as a subscription service and they are also operated directly by end users as private systems. Commercial carrier systems tend to cover a larger geographical area than private systems, while private systems tend to cover their limited area more thoroughly and deliver messages faster than commercial systems. In all systems, clients send messages to pagers, an activity commonly referred to as paging . System operators often assign unique phone numbers or email addresses to pagers (and pre-defined groups of pagers), enabling clients to page by telephone call, e-mail and SMS. Paging systems also support various types of direct connection protocols, which sacrifice global addressing and accessibility for

1271-519: The pager. A Tribe Called Quest's single "Skypager" directly speaks of the importance of such a wireless communication device, with group member Q-Tip stating that the Skypager "serves an important communicative function for a young professional with a full calendar". Three 6 Mafia 's "2-Way Freak," Sir Mix-A-Lot 's " Beepers " and " Bug a Boo " from Destiny's Child also make reference to pagers. Illicit drug dealers used pagers to great effect during

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1312-631: The pressure placed on the service by the COVID-19 pandemic in England . In August 2020, a new procurement framework for clinical communications was launched which was intended to phase out pagers by the end of 2021, replacing them with "dedicated clinical-facing communication and tasks management tools" from 25 approved suppliers. In Japan, more than ten million pagers were active in 1996. On 1 October 2019, Japan's last paging service provider shut down radio signals and terminated its service. In Russia,

1353-534: The same time—a precursor of DTMF . The ReFLEX protocol was developed in the mid-1990s. As prices for mobile phones declined, small form factor phones like the Motorola StarTAC and the Nokia Series 40 line came on the market, cellular connectivity expanded, and digital phones adopted text messaging , most pager customers outside of specialist fields migrated to mobile phones toward the end of

1394-524: The size of a small TV remote device, to fit into a customer's pocket or purse, quite a feat at that time. The Bellboy was a terminal that notified the user when someone was trying to call them. When the person received an audible signal (a buzz) on the pager, the user found a telephone and called the service center, which informed the user of the caller's message. In the mid-1980s, tone and voice radio paging became popular among emergency responders and professionals. Tone and voice pagers were activated either by

1435-430: The use of a Java Virtual Machine add-on. Most of these models were the first BlackBerry models that had a built-in mobile phone , were the first models that natively ran Java , and transmitted data over the normal 2G cellular network. RIM began to advertise these devices as email-capable mobile phones rather than as two-way pagers. At this time, the primary market was still businesses rather than consumers. The 5810

1476-498: Was launched in 2003 with 6210 entering the influential Time All Time 100 Gadgets list. span=3| ||rowspan=3|large monochrome 160×160 pixel ||900/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS||rowspan=3|integrated phone In 2003, the monochrome models were revised to include a color screen, while retaining the same form factor and casing. Early color models, such as the 7230, typically used a dim electroluminescent backlight , leading to an initial reputation of poor image quality. Later color models, such as

1517-488: Was patented in 1949 by Alfred J. Gross . Intended for the use of physicians, there was initial resistance to the idea of being permanently on-call, according to Gross. One of the first practical paging services was launched in 1950 for physicians in the New York City area. Physicians paid US$ 12 per month and carried a 200-gram (7 oz) pager that would receive phone messages within 40 kilometres (25 mi) of

1558-475: Was released on March 4, 2002. An aberration in this list, the 5790, was released at a much later date as a niche model in 2004 after many color BlackBerry models were out. This non-phone BlackBerry was made available due to the demand for a Java-based model that could run on the Mobitex data-only network. The 5810/5820 shared the same physical casing and keyboard layout as the earlier 957 device. The 6000 series

1599-633: Was the first BlackBerry without a trackwheel , which was replaced by a miniature trackball to enable full 4-way and mouse-style navigation on a BlackBerry. The look of the new trackball gave the "Pearl" its name. The 9000 series was launched in 2008. Pager A pager , also known as a beeper or bleeper , is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays alphanumeric or voice messages. One-way pagers can only receive messages, while response pagers and two-way pagers can also acknowledge, reply to, and originate messages using an internal transmitter. Pagers operate as part of

1640-408: Was the last model released in the early BlackBerry form factor, and was the first BlackBerry model with Bluetooth . The 7290 was also the first quad-band BlackBerry. An aberration in this list is the 7270, the first Wi-Fi BlackBerry, released later. It is built into the old form factor in the same vein as the 7200 series. RIM expanded the market by introducing the first BlackBerry models without

1681-589: Was useful for times when the pager was off or out of the coverage area, as it would know what pages were sent to the subscriber even if the subscriber never actually received the page. Other radio bands used for pagers include the 400 MHz band, the VHF band and the FM commercial broadcast band (88–108&MHz). Other paging protocols used in the VHF, 400 MHz UHF and 900 MHz bands include POCSAG and ERMES. In Canada and

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