RELIC: Pager

Words by Jose Alvarez

The pager was a low-tech alternative to the more expensive cell phones in their heyday. Pagers (or beepers) were wireless telecommunication devices that receive alphanumeric or voice messages. There were two types of pagers: one-way pagers that could only receive messages, or response pagers and two-way pagers that can acknowledge, reply to, and send messages utilizing an internal transmitter. Pagers are largely operated using one or more fixed transmitters or base stations. Today, pagers are still being used in restaurants to tell you when your table is ready.

Alfred J. Gross, a pioneer in mobile wireless communication, patented the pager in 1949. Gross' other inventions included an early version of the walkie-talkie, Citizens' Band (CB) radio, and the cordless telephone. One of the first pager systems was developed in 1950 for physicians in New York City. Physicians would pay US$ 12 a month (US$ 125.10 in 2019 dollars) for these pagers that would receive phone messages within 40 kilometers of a tower. This system was made by the Reevesound Company, while Telanswerphone operated the service. Ten years later, John Francis Mitchell (who would later help invent the cell phone) utilized technology from the walkie-talkie and car radio to create a transistorized pager.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) did not approve of public pager use until 1958. Motorola coined the term "pager" by 1959. In 1962, Bell System (known as "Ma Bell" in the United States) presented its pagers at the Seattle World's Fair, building on a previous invention of theirs, the transistor. Thanks to this development, it was now possible to fit a communications device into someone's pocket — a very breakthrough idea for the 1960s. The Motorola Pageboy I came out in 1964 and was considered the first commercial pager. It couldn't store messages and had no display, but it was portable and used tones to notify the user what they should do.

Throughout the 1970s, pagers could now relay audio messages. There was more information provided through the audio message being in a pager. Pagers reached their peak by the late 1980s and early 1990s, allowing anyone to communicate with everyone immediately. Motorola was at the head of the pager revolution. By the beginning of the 1980s, 3.2 million pagers were in use. This number skyrocketed to 22 million by the beginning of the 1990s and 61 million by 1994. By 1996, Research in Motion (now Blackberry) invented a pager with a full keyboard and graphical display.

Motorola ceased manufacturing pagers in 2001 as cell phones began to take their place. However, pagers found niche markets, such as restaurants. Pagers are also still used in emergency situations because they combine with satellites. This means during natural and man-made disasters, pagers can reach individuals when cell phone services are knocked offline. In fact, as late as 2008, the paging industry still generated US$ 2.1 billion in revenue, and Canadian telecommunication companies still offer paging services today. Despite looking like a very low-tech device, the pager has hung in there for over half a century.