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== History == {{outdated section | reason=Prevalence of paging systems needs an update |date=February 2023}} [[File:Motorolaradiobeeper.jpg|thumb|right|Original Motorola "Pageboy II" pager, used in New York in the late 1970s.]] The first telephone pager system was patented in 1949 by [[Al Gross (engineer)|Al Gross]].<ref>{{cite web |title=When Pagers and Beepers Were All the Rage |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-pagers-and-beepers-1992315 |website=thoughtco.com}}</ref> Intended for the use of physicians, there was initial resistance to the idea of being permanently on-call, according to Gross.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Kellman |first1=Laurie |last2=Parvini |first2=Sarah |date=Sep 20, 2024 |title=Doctors and first responders are among those who still use pagers |url=https://apnews.com/article/pagers-explosions-lebanon-doctors-security-israel-f35bd0f0e0a57bb5f37c139d1f32926d |access-date=Sep 20, 2024 |website=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> One of the first practical paging services was launched in 1950 for physicians in the New York City area.<ref name=":1" /> Physicians paid US$12 per month and carried a {{convert|200|g|adj=on|0}} pager that would receive phone messages within {{convert|40|km}} of a single transmitter tower. The system was manufactured by the Reevesound Company and operated by Telanswerphone.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ZyEDAAAAMBAJ|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ZyEDAAAAMBAJ/page/n105 104]|quote=popular science 1950 can our jets support.|title=Popular Science|first=Bonnier|last=Corporation|date=1 January 1951|publisher=Bonnier Corporation|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> In 1960, [[John Francis Mitchell]] combined elements of [[Motorola]]'s [[walkie-talkie]] and automobile radio technologies to create the first transistorized pager,<ref name=mitchellbio>{{cite web|url=http://www.brophy.net/PivotX/?p=john-francis-mitchell-biography|title=John F. Mitchell Biography|website=brophy.net}}</ref><ref name=giants>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofthecellphone.com/people/john-mitchell.php|title=The Top Giants in Telephony|website=historyofthecellphone.com|access-date=5 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117052435/http://www.historyofthecellphone.com/people/john-mitchell.php|archive-date=17 January 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=whoinventedcellphone>{{cite web|url=http://www.brophy.net/PivotX/?p=john-francis-mitchell-biography#CELLPHONEINVENTOR|title=Who invented the cell phone?|website=brophy.net}}</ref> and from that time, paging technology continued to advance and pager adoption among emergency personnel was still popular as of July 2016.<ref>[http://www.criticalalertsystems.com/newsroom/UseofPaginginCrisisSituations_V1.pdf ''Use of Pagers in Crisis Situations''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125070241/http://www.criticalalertsystems.com/newsroom/UseofPaginginCrisisSituations_V1.pdf |date=25 January 2011 }} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20110125070241/http://www.criticalalertsystems.com/newsroom/UseofPaginginCrisisSituations_V1.pdf Archive])</ref> In 1962, 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 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. 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 the same time—a precursor of [[DTMF]].<ref name="keller">{{citation | first = A. C. | last = Keller | title = Recent Developments in Bell System Relays – Particularly Sealed Contact and Miniature Relays | url = http://www3.alcatel-lucent.com/bstj/vol43-1964/articles/bstj43-1-15.pdf | publisher = The Bell System Technical Journal | year = 1964 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> 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 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 phone]]s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Perry |first1=Alex |title=Hey Gen Z, this is a pager, and in the '90s they were everywhere |url=https://mashable.com/article/pagers-explained-90s-week |website=[[Mashable]] |access-date=29 September 2023 |date=31 August 2019}}</ref> 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 the 1990s. While Motorola announced the end of its new pager manufacturing in 2001,<ref name=cbctelus>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/telus-may-be-closing-its-pager-network-but-the-beeper-isn-t-dead-yet-1.2929237|title=Why the pager isn't dead yet}}</ref> pagers remained in use in large hospital complexes.<ref name=":0" /> First responders in rural areas with inadequate cellular coverage are often issued pagers{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}. 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 the message, and the related capability to operate on very low signal levels, are not completely outclassed by their successors.<ref name="london ambulance 7 july review">{{cite web|url=http://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/news/news_archive/response_to_london_assembly_7.aspx|title=London Ambulance Service – Response to London Assembly 7 July Review Committee report|website=londonambulance.nhs.uk|date=7 December 2009 }}</ref> 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. [[File:Pagertec_Smart_Stack_Pro,_Groningen_(2019)_02.jpg|thumb|A restaurant pager alerting customers to collect their order]] Restaurant pagers remain in wide use since the 2000s. Customers are given a portable receiver that would usually vibrate, flash, or beep when a table becomes free or when their meal is ready.<ref name="restaurant-pagers"/> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/realdata/RBA_Pager_Upgrade.asp|title=Rare Bird Alert — Upgrade to the X3 Pager Today}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.birdinformation.co.uk/index.php/products-services/birdnet-pager|title=BirdNet Pager}}</ref> Today, companies like Visiplex offer similar solutions for onsite pager systems in the medical, education and commercial sectors. ===Decline=== [[File:Pagers.jpg|thumb|Pagers in Canada, 2024]] By early 2002, pager usage was rapidly declining in places like North America due to the proliferation of cellular telephones.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/11/technology/the-bell-is-tolling-for-the-beeper.html?pagewanted=2 | archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20150527210223/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/11/technology/the-bell-is-tolling-for-the-beeper.html?pagewanted=2 | archive-date=27 May 2015 | title=The Bell is Tolling for the Beeper | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=11 April 2002 | last1=Selingo | first1=Jeffrey }}</ref> The U.S. paging industry generated $2.1 billion in revenue in 2008, down from $6.2 billion in 2003.<ref name="paging industry market size">[http://www.anythingresearch.com/industry/Paging.htm AnythingResearch.com report on Paging Industry market size] 2003 and 2008 research data used with permission</ref> In Canada, 161,500 Canadians paid $18.5 million for pager service in 2013. [[Telus Communications]], one of the three major mobile carriers, announced the end to its Canadian pager service as of 31 March 2015, but rivals [[Bell Telephone Company|Bell]], Rogers and [[PageNet]] intend to continue service.<ref name=cbctelus/> In 2017 the UK [[National Health Service]] was thought to have been using over 10% of the remaining pagers in the world (130,000),<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/09/old-technology-nhs-uses-10-of-worlds-pagers-at-annual-cost-of-66m|title=Old technology: NHS uses 10% of world's pagers at annual cost of £6.6m|newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=9 September 2017}}</ref> with an annual cost of £6.6 million.<ref>{{cite news |title=NHS still reliant on 'archaic' fax machines |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44805849 |access-date=12 July 2018 |publisher=BBC News |date=12 July 2018}}</ref> [[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.<ref>{{cite news |title=NHS told to ditch 'outdated' pagers |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47332415 |access-date=23 February 2019 |publisher=BBC |date=23 February 2019}}</ref> [[NHSX]] announced plans in May 2020 to replace pagers and bleepers with "more modern communication tools," accelerated by the pressure placed on the service by the [[COVID-19 pandemic in England]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Pandemic spurs NHS to 'urgently' speed up elimination of pagers |url=https://www.hsj.co.uk/technology-and-innovation/pandemic-spurs-nhs-to-urgently-speed-up-elimination-of-pagers/7027593.article? |access-date=28 June 2020 |publisher=Health Service Journal |date=11 May 2020}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |title=New procurement framework helps phase out archaic pagers |url=https://www.buildingbetterhealthcare.com/news/article_page/New_procurement_framework_helps_phase_out_archaic_pagers/168536/cn164706 |access-date=19 September 2020 |publisher=Building Better Healthcare |date=3 August 2020}}</ref> In Japan, more than ten million pagers were active in 1996.<ref name = "Japan Today, 2019" /> On 1 October 2019, Japan's last paging service provider shut down radio signals and terminated its service.<ref name = "Japan Today, 2019" >{{cite web | url = https://japantoday.com/category/tech/Pager-services-to-end-Tuesday-in-Japan-after-50-years | title = Pager services to end Tuesday in Japan after 50 years | access-date = 1 October 2019 | date = 30 September 2019 | website = [[Japan Today]] | language = en | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191001193801/https://japantoday.com/category/tech/Pager-services-to-end-Tuesday-in-Japan-after-50-years | archive-date = 1 October 2019}}</ref> In Russia, the last paging provider was closed in November 2021.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://4pda.to/2023/09/07/417896/v_rossii_prekraschaetsya_podderzhka_pejdzhingovoj_svyazi/ | title=В России прекращается поддержка пейджинговой связи }}</ref>
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