Editing Pager (section)

== Design ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2009}}
[[File:Timex Datalink Beepwear Pro.jpg|thumb|Timex Datalink Beepwear Pro: a wearable pager/watch featuring alphanumeric paging capability. Part of the [[Timex Datalink]] family of watches]]

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 [[Email#Tracking of sent mail|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 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 service]]s personnel.

Common paging protocols include [[Telelocator Alphanumeric Protocol|TAP]], [[FLEX (protocol)|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 the [[FLEX (protocol)|FLEX protocol]] in the 900&nbsp;MHz band. Commercial paging transmitters typically radiate 1000 watts of [[EIRP|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 {{nowrap|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 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 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 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&nbsp;MHz band, the [[VHF]] band and the FM commercial broadcast band (88–108&MHz). Other paging protocols used in the VHF, 400&nbsp;MHz [[UHF]] and 900&nbsp;MHz bands include [[POCSAG]] and ERMES. In Canada and the United States, pagers that use 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 the opportunity to leave the waiting area, but still be contacted.