How did pagers work and how were they in anyway useful back in

>>60670942
>how were they in anyway useful back in the day?

You have to be at least 30 to post here.

I only had a Motorola Pronto numeric pager. Alphanumeric was too rich for me.

>>60670949
Just fucking end your life

>>60670942
They really only saw use with emergency people - firefighters (lots are volunteers) and doctors for example.

>>60670942
My dad had one. He said that you must call an operator, said a message and then it was send to the pager.
I used it. Not for messages, the line was dead long ago. But it had some functions, like a alarm with a impressive vibrator that actually waked me up, lol.
Also I did some jokes. People thinked that I was electrocuting them but it was only the vibrator.
Not sure where it is now.

>>60670942
Extremely-low-bandwidth one-way signal (initial '50s design were just tri-tone multifrequency with 33 frequencies for 35k users, only message was a ping) meant high coverage and low build-out requirements plus cheap devices. Two-way devices came far later, but were still low-bandwidth and cheap to build as even a 1200bps signal was more than enough for short text signals.

Teens had them because they were cheap and the service was cheap.

The firefighter brigade in my hometown still uses them for emergency alert.
>Germany

Because of the high coverage, and because they're their own lower-usage and lower-bandwidth-requirement network, emergency services still use them to be able to contact responders even if they're out of cell service areas, and to avoid service congestion during emergencies.

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>>60670942
>how were they in anyway useful back in the day?
Back then, mobile devices were huge. For someone who was a doctor or a fireman, carrying an old mobile phone was not convenient, but a pager was light and easy.

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Youngfag here. Did people actually use number codes. I don't know how widespread they were.

>>60670942
High coverage, low cost. It's cheaper for a company to provide pagers to their employees than cell phones. Some people flip their shit if they have to use their personal cell phone for work and/or union stipulations.

I work at a hospital and many employees (including myself) have pagers. Parts of the hospital are underground; pages still transmit w/o issue while cell phones struggle to maintain a signal. Numerical pages can be sent via telephone. Alphanumeric pages can be sent via email, some software packages, and the operator. The pagers are also tied into some IT systems (ticketing system, monitoring software, etc.)

Teenagers used to have them because cell phones were too expensive at the time. We would send numerical pages via land lines. The recepient would later followup on a land line. Some pagers had the ability to send pre-programmed messages like "Call me later", "Play basketball?", etc.

If you are really interested, buy a RTL-SDR and decode the pager signals around your area.

>>60670942

Had one but in Europe that used different system than in US.

There where several ways to send a message. There was pager phone number where you could dial in only numeric message, full text email address/web frontend and actual operator that took messages for you.

Single AA battery lasted for 2 weeks. Coverage was second to none since mine used RDS data channel on FM broadcast channels.

It had some other functionality like synced clock, alarm and shit like that.

No send functionality. Used mine with hacked Benefon NMT car phone, I could only dial out but couldn't receive call so pager kinda filled in that functionality.

>>60671328
>They really only saw use with emergency people
I never knew that tens of millions of Japanese teenagers were secretly working for the emergency services. Seems the stories were true after all!!

>>60670949
How's retirement?

>>60674515
There are millions of tentacle emergencies in Japan every year. Everyone has to be vigilant.

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>>60670949
Isn't it time for your walk, grandpa?

>>60671857
>Some people flip their shit if they have to use their personal cell phone for work and/or union stipulations
Which is completely sane.

>>60671486
alot the waiters have them here in bongistan but reecently they all seem to be getting that £40 kindle you can buy in multipacks

>>60670949
Even if he was 30, that would put him being born in 1987.
He would have been a child when pagers were still widely used.

Never had a pager but my first cell phone was a bag phone that was previously my dad's... and this was 2002. Didn't get a real cell til a couple years later in my senior year of high school.
I still don't have a smart phone.

>>60671585
indeed we did. my friends and i had complicated number codes that we could use to set up group get-togethers.

>>60670942
they were useful back then.
it was super cheap and let you stay in touch with people. you would call an operator to send the message. you could then call back (on a payphone) whoever beeped you.

>>60670942
>Why did teenagers have them back then?
great for contacting your dope dealer

>>60678909
*911

friend of mine works at a national lab where theyre not allowed to have cell phones, so they are issued pagers.

>>60671585
yes
no
maybe
CLUBBING