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Where Have All the Pagers Gone?
Posted by
kdawson
on Tue Nov 11, 2008 02:40 AM
from the long-time-paging dept.
from the long-time-paging dept.
oddRaisin writes "After recently sleeping through a page for work, I decided to change my paging device from my BlackBerry (which is quiet and has a pathetic vibrate mode) to an actual pager. After looking at the websites of Cingular, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, I'm left scratching my head and wondering where all the pagers went. I can't find them or any mention of them. Pagers of yore offered some great features that reflected the serious nature of being paged. They were loud. They had good vibrate modes. They continued to alert after a page until you acknowledged them. I didn't have to differentiate between a text from a friend and a page from work. Now that pagers seem to have become passé, what are other people doing to fill this niche? Are some phones better pagers than others? Are there still paging service providers out there?"
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Where have all the pagers gone? (Score:5, Funny)
Look out - they're right behind you!
Skytel (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Skytel (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Skytel (Score:4, Informative)
You must have missed the part where the OP said that they were already using their Blackberry as a pager, but were ditching it because it "is quiet and has a pathetic vibrate mode".
He's complaining that the volume isn't loud enough, and that the vibration isn't sufficient.
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Motorola (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Motorola (Score:5, Funny)
I've known employees who have dropped them in the toilet and they still functioned afterwards
Oh well. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!
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Re:Motorola (Score:5, Funny)
There is no escaping from field service, from New Jersey, or from Motorola pagers.
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Try American Messaging (Score:4, Funny)
http://www.americanmessaging.net/paging/index.asp [americanmessaging.net]
I believe verizon sold/spun off their paging service to American Messaging. We use still use pagers for notifications.
On the plus side, not only are they reliable, but my pager gives me some serious street cred, Every thinks I'm a drug dealer, or still living in 8th grade.
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Re:Where have all the pagers gone? (Score:5, Funny)
The eighties wanted them back.
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Re:Where have all the pagers gone? (Score:5, Funny)
The eighties wanted them back.
They want their joke back too.
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I've got to say, I agree with this post (Score:5, Interesting)
With a pager, someone notified me of their desire to speak to me, I wrap up whatever I'm doing, and I call them. If it's really urgent, they put a 911 at the end and I move a little quicker. I really do miss them... I can't be the only one... right... right?!
Ted Kaczynski paged (Score:5, Funny)
He wants his manifesto back.
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I miss my pager all the time. (Score:5, Interesting)
A cell phone is basically a consumer device. A pager was fundamentally a business device. The differences were legion. What I miss most is having a service where the clients were given the number of a human-staffed service and those operators then keyed in the message. Clients were also told that vague messages would get slower responses than specific ones. If they wanted my attention at 9:00 p.m. on a busy night then a "call us" message would leave then sh*t out of luck. They wanted attention, they had to manage to describe coherently and specifically why they needed my attention to an operator who knew neither of us and knew less about computers than the average modern grandma.
"I need him" ."
"Is that what I should write, sir?"
"Um, uh, um, no. Say, um, that, um, it's important."
"So I should say 'call, it's important?'"
"Um, no, um . .
It took only a few iterations to train clients to articulate the issue *before* hitting my number on speeddial.
"The archive server is down."
"Stories sent to blues are getting bounced."
Anybody who has done consulting will understand that this completely changed the dynamic. Among other things, this requirement to specify the problem got rid of a huge percent of the normal degree of blame game b.s. afterwards. It also taught clients that they had to reign in their panic if they wanted me to call. And sometimes by forcing them to define the problem, that act alone got them to fix the frackin' problem themselves and not waste my time at all. When I *did* get a page I could take a few minutes and think through the message and gather my thoughts about my response before having to be on the phone with them.
I'm not a consultant anymore but, gawd, if I were, I just don't know how I would do it without that glorious gatekeeper, the pager.
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Re:I miss my pager all the time. (Score:5, Interesting)
Truth is, I've been planning to get one of those Voyager-type phones with the less tiny QWERTY keyboard sometime in about a month. Or maybe a Nokia N810. Or iPhone. Last month I bought an HP 2133. Add to that my internet phone and I'm *hoping* that some time this spring I'll be able to build some interlocking system using all three that manages to do an almost passable job of providing the kind of gatekeeper and message pre-sorter functions that I took for granted long about '95.
One of my oldest friends and I periodically argue about this kind of thing and I've long been saying that we're going to see the return of the human secretary. My friend used to argue fiercely for technological fixes like agents and groupware but as the years pass he's coming around.
Personally I think that much of what we're talking about here is about judgement. And in a world of accelerating change, there will always be a lag for entrepreneurs in trying to make any expert system understand the nuances that a typical fifties secretary could handle just fine before her coffee with half of her attention. Some of this will probably be outsourced to people in places like India but I'm betting that groups like physically disabled workers or those looking for telecommuting options right here in the developed world will work out just fine for most of us who really need it.
Frankly, I don't know about y'all but I'm trying out a new assistant on Wednesday. I've been a geek for going on thirty years and afaic some jobs are just not best addressed with technology.
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Re:I've got to say, I agree with this post (Score:4, Funny)
loved my pager watch
I could look down, even from a podium, and read a message while continuing whatever
service was supposedly complimentary for a year but never seemed to shut off
but then my dog bit into it
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Re:I've got to say, I agree with this post (Score:5, Informative)
If you don't pick up you've got to listen to some damn message - and you're sitting wondering about the content of the message until you listen to it.
I almost never pick up my cellphone anymore... I leave it on silent. My voicemail goes here [phonetag.com], and if I feel like it I can check the transcription email on my phone. No tedious sorting or listening because I can read ten times faster than people can talk.
The transcription service works extremely well, and is pretty cheap. Sorry to sound like an ad but I was in the EXACT position as you and I am much happier now.
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Re:Try YouMail... (Score:5, Interesting)
My voicemail goes something like this:
Voicemail is just a gimmick to get you to use more minutes than you really should, at no expense to the carrier since they don't actually have to connect the call to anyone. It's 100% profit.
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Re:Try YouMail... (Score:4, Informative)
http://sameritech.wordpress.com/2007/03/26/cell-phone-voicemail-dont-be-tricked-into-using-your-anytime-minutes/ [wordpress.com]
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Re:Try YouMail... (Score:5, Interesting)
Many do. Maybe not in the US (could be, you seem to know), but in many other countries where there is no such thing as "IN" calls, you just pay the call.
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Re:Try YouMail... (Score:5, Funny)
Wait... do you PAY to RECEIVE text messages? Soon you'll tell us you charge for incoming calls as well. Oh... you live in the US. I'm truly sorry.
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Re:Try YouMail... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1213633044.87 [eubusiness.com]
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Re:Try YouMail... (Score:4, Interesting)
If you send them frequently, you should consider an unlimited plan. I pay $30/month for unlimited messaging with an AT&T family plan. This includes text, mms, and IM (we don't really do much besides text) Here's how my messaging broke down last month:
My wife - 389
My 17yo - 1958
My 15yo - 11039
My 10yo - 40
Me - 163
13,589 text messages for $30. Less than 1/4 of a cent per message. I'm sure some of those were counted twice, but at that price, I don't really care. That isn't even the highest I've seen. The 15yo has had over 20000 by herself in one month.
Layne
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Re:Try YouMail... (Score:4, Interesting)
1 Month (30 * 24 * 60) = 43200 minutes.
20,000 text averages out to 1 text every 2.16 minutes.
If you take away eight hours out of the day for sleep/activities where they could not text then it translates into 1 text every minute and 26 seconds!
They wonder why kids now have such short attention spans, I'm guessing that it might have to do with the fact that they have to stop what they are doing (on average) every minute or so to send a text. Anyway, I'm sure we all as kids did something that previous generations though was absurd, so I'm not criticizing. I just think its interesting to see what "those crazy kids" do, and it makes you wonder what will be the next latest and greatest thing...
FWIW I'm 26 and hate to text. I do however use them occasionally, but I still prefer to call or email.
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Re:Try YouMail... (Score:4, Funny)
Then again, those prices were in euro and not dollars for a reason.
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Re:I've got to say, I agree with this post (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes... Problem with Texting is that you have no control over delivery times. A Pager message is guaranteed to be delivered within 5 minutes (at least, here in Holland). SMS and other texting options don't have that guarantee. We tried using sms for relaying snmp alerts outside business hours. It sometimes took 2 hours for us to be notified that a servers was down. So we took the pager back in service.
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Re:I've got to say, I agree with this post (Score:5, Informative)
Moreover, SMS messages are often *never* delivered; making SMS messaging impossible for use in an environment where the message MUST be delivered.
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Re:I've got to say, I agree with this post (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah, that's the other part. Unlike e-mail, you don't even get notified weeks later that it never made it. The funny thing is that it usually costs more money to send a text message than email. They really do need to redesign the SMS protocol to take into account both priority and receipts.
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Re:I've got to say, I agree with this post (Score:4, Informative)
Many phones give you the ability to request to be notified when the SMS is delivered. I believe this is end to end delivery, not just to the SMSC. Of course, this feature may not work across networks.
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Slide rules (Score:5, Funny)
Why, the same place all the slide rules went, of course.
--Q
Hospitals. (Score:5, Interesting)
Custom Ringtones (Score:4, Informative)
Custom Ringtones are you friend here.
When I use to be on call I setup a ringtone for calls from the overnight answering service. Reveille was usually my choice as bugles blaring full blast usually woke me up from even my worst alcohol induced slumbers. With the Blackberry I know you can set these rules to override your sound profile. So you could set your profile to silent and avoid all other calls\txts but the custom rules would still come through.
Man I miss my BlackBerry....stupid WinMo pos smartphone, Oh well I'm not on call anymore :D so it isn't as bad.
I carry one... (Score:5, Funny)
Not gone, just more niche (Score:5, Informative)
Pagers definitely have not gone, they just have become unpopular among consumers as two-way messaging replaced it. Hospitals and the US Government use one-way pagers still a lot. Our company was apparently taken over by another larger one, http://www.usamobility.com/ [usamobility.com]
Nokia 6310i? (Score:5, Informative)
My nokia 6310i has a "pager" mode, when you receive an SMS, it keeps beeping as loud as it can until you do something.
Very annoying, but can also be very useful.
Frank
Battery Life (Score:4, Insightful)
You also didn't have to recharge your pager once a night. I remember two AA batteries going for months in my old pager.
No problem - we can help (Score:5, Funny)
She graciously has offered to send you her pager. Just post your address in response to this post. We will even, as a public service, pay for shipping.
I can attest to the fact the unit is plenty loud. As a bonus, you will get plenty of pages for problems that an engineer should never be called for and should have been handled by customer support.
Where have all the pagers gone... (Score:4, Funny)
Wrong number (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sometimes tempted to text back "Double dumbass on you" or something else inflammatory -- then sit back and watch the 6 o'clock news. But that would be evil.
Things a pager doesn't solve... (Score:4, Insightful)
You could do that just as easily by not giving your work phone cell phone number to friends.
Some background (Score:5, Informative)
I'm not a pager guy, but have used them and know pager guys. Also, have played with old pager gear as a staring point for some ham radio projects.
Pagers used high power (300 watt) transmitters, and if you wanted to cover a decent area, several of them, synchronized to prevent distorted signals in the area where their coverage patterns overlapped. They were known for their tendency to interfere with other systems, no matter how well they were maintained. It was an expensive way to make not much money.
Profit margins were low, and churn was always a problem. Companies went in and out of business, larger companies consolidated the smaller companies, but, in the end, Nextel and cellular technology gave you two-way communication at essentially the same monthly rate.
Basically, paging companies were made economically obsolete by advances in technology.
There are "micro" paging systems still in use at restaurants, hospitals and companies, but the high power transmitters on the hill are pretty much gone, replaced with cell sites.
Oh, btw... (Score:5, Insightful)
Did anyone stop to ask the cell phone haters if they had such devices "back in their days"?
It's ok to be adverse to cell phones, it's ok to long for the pager days, but the pager functionality is *completely integrated* in the cell phone system, so are they asking that we "burn them all", or are they really whining about not being able to transition?
My phone has a silent mode. It has the option to disconnect an incoming call. It has the option to tell my service provider to never, ever, forward a call to voicemail *whatsoever*!
If I'm busy, I can pretty much tell from the preview of the text message alone, whether I need to read and see if something needs my attention, and if not, the combination of that and caller ID provides even more clue...
But sure, if you want, you can always try to cram a cell phone size display into the strangely crippled device that a pager is, and see if you can market it. If no one has done it before, I don't know, but I wouldn't invest in anything of the sort...
Bottom line: If you need the limitations of a pager, your phone *and you* in combination are up to the task easily, but instead, you can just whine as me in this comment, and then go blaming someone else for your failure to RTFM...
Re:Why don't you get a second cellphone? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Pagers? I havn't seen those...er, ever (Score:5, Funny)
in case I catch the stupid
Too late.
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Re:The 80s called (Score:5, Informative)
The battery on a pager lasts for weeks. On some models, months. Pagers don't transmit, so they can be used in high sensitivity areas. They're very cheap to run.
Pagers are still popular - in places like Hospitals they're still mandatory as mobile phones are banned (still, although that's (slowly) changing).
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Pagers are great (Score:5, Informative)
Pretty much all doctors still use them. Why?
1) great reception - I often get pages way inside buildings, where cellphones have no hope of working
2) Less intrusive. I get the info, but can respond to it when I choose. I guess you could call screen, but don't always know when to do that.
3) batteries last for several months
4) Loud common ring tones, strong vibrate mode. Pagers tend to have common ring tones, which different phones do not.Easier to differentiate in a noisy setting if your pager is going off.
Sure they are an older tech, and not "cool", but they are still very useful, and better than a phone in many cases.
My hospital uses Unication text pagers - google it.
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Re:Pagers are great (Score:4, Interesting)
The major hospital where I work is still tied to pagers. They have a well-developed and flexible infrastructure built around them: calling a pager directly, numeric paging, text paging, etc. We like our pagers so much that, when we heard Motorola was discontinuing the model we use, we bought up all the available stock and stashed it away.
That stash won't last forever, though, so the communications guys are testing out replacement technologies, like cellphones and VOIP. They have yet to find something that provides the same kind of flexibility and ubiquitous service.
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Re:Pagers are great (Score:5, Informative)
Pretty much all doctors where I live still use them.
Fixed that for you. I haven't seen a pager here in ages.
You must not be in hospitals much. Every hospital I work in I see pagers in use. For most of the reasons stated by the original poster.
3) batteries last for several months
Cell phone batteries often last a couple years, considering I've never owned a cell phone that didn't come with a charger.
The fact he was making is that batteries in a pager don't run out as fast as cell phone. No need to replace the single battery (in most pagers) but once a month sometimes and no need to remember to put it on a charger every night.
4) Loud common ring tones, strong vibrate mode. Pagers tend to have common ring tones, which different phones do not. Easier to differentiate in a noisy setting if your pager is going off.
Fail. Almost every cell phone will allow you to install your own ring tone, but I've never had a pager with that ability.
Once again you assume too much. He was referring to more unique tones of the pager compared to the obnoxious ring tone choices on cell phones. The vibrate mode on most cell phones is very weak. At least weaker than they need to be in certain environments.
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Re:Pagers are great (Score:5, Informative)
All of the major hospitals in this area still require doctors to have pagers.
Pagers can be used in info sensitive, and interference sensitive areas. I've never seen a no pager zone. Hospitals can't have phones because the interference (google GSM interference) problems with monitors, and with the HIPPA problems with people being able to photo sensitive info.
I'm not sure what he's talking about on call screening.
On batteries, he's saying a single AA battery will last months. No charging. My BBCurve will go a day or two without a charge. My old moto pager would eat a battery every 2 months.
Not sure the point on ringtones.
As far as reception, a pager needs MUCH less of a signal for it to receive it's itty bitty page. A cell phone needs to maintain a strong signal because it's required for a decent 2 way call.
I can see the point of a pager as a sysadmin. I've been suffering through with a blackberry as well, having monitors send SMS. The blackberry isn't loud (a pager in the house used to wake me up no matter WHERE I left it.) If I ever mute the phone because I went somewhere quite, I have to remember to turn it back on. I've missed SMS's because of ATT, never used to miss anything from the paging service. I've gotten pages when I was miles out in the Gulf of Mexico fishing, long after I lost cell reception.
Until the phone companies make true paging a feature (pages aren't subject to the settings of calls, SMS, apps, etc) they will not be the same.
Now, as far as why this is asked on slashdot? Google for pager service, tons of info. If that doesn't help find anyone local, then go to the nearest hospital, find a random doctor with a pager and ask them if they know who it's through. A lot of the time the pager is branded, or will at least have a sticker on it with the company it's from.
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Re:Pagers are great (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:The 80s called (Score:5, Informative)
Look out for Symbian phones. Most Nokia N or E-series phones have many different applications available that allow you to do all sorts of things with SMS. From spam filtering to conversation management and more.
I use a Nokia E90 and find that its probably the most powerful cellphone I have ever used. I have an iTouch and can't imagine trying to use it for anything beyond music/video and the occasional browsing. If the browser on my E90 isn't enough, I can use an application called Joiku Spot to share the HSDPA connection on the E90 with the iTouch via wifi, or just connect to a PC/Laptop via Bluetooth, USB or even InfraRed and use HSDPA that way.
The E-Series phones all offer a free application from Nokia called MfE (Mail for Exchange) that allows you to access Exchange 2000 through to 2007. There are other companies out there offering their own versions that offer even more feature than the basic MfE from Nokia.
There are Blackberry client for the Nokia E series phones so if you currently have push services from Blackberry, you can continue to use them on your Nokia. Probably the most significant difference would be the cameras. N-Series tend to have better cameras at higher resolutions (anywhere up to 8MP) where as the E-series average 3.2MP cameras.
Many of the phones have built in GPS and include Nokia Maps, but it also works equally well with Google Maps for Mobile. Right down to turn by turn route assistance using the GPS.
Symbian based cell phones have been around since 2001 when Nokia released the first 7650. The Symbian platform is a direct descendant of the old Psion devices. It is mature. It is stable. It has years of user feedback. It just works. There is a very large application base available for it out there.
Oh, and the best feature for me has been the version of Python Nokia released for their E and N-series phones along with an API that allows you to hook in to nearly every aspect of the phone, from the GPS, camera, OpenGL, through to pulling data from the calendar or the messaging platforms among others.
The most paranoid, yet strangely compelling, Python script I like is one that works as a kind of panic button. You load the app and it immediately takes a photo of whatever the camera is aimed at, sends a MMS message (or email, or SMS) with your current location from the cell tower while it waits till it has a GPS lock and includes that photo if possible. Once it has GPS lock, it will send GPS coords via SMS every X (edit the script to set, defaults to 180) seconds and then will also call a designated number to play back a pre-recorded message, then use text-to-speech to give the GPS coordinates on that call. It can then call emergency services and play that same message for them. If it can't get GPS lock (say you're in a building or whatever) then it will just use cell towers it can detect so that there is at least some method of tracing you.
All from a python script running on a cellphone. You can find it on the Nokia developer forums wiki. Because its a script, you can modify it to suit your needs and location if you want. Nokia's Python API is so straight forward that you can easily add features of your own.
You could probably even write a Python script to manage your SMS messages exactly as you want them to be dealt with if you know even a small amount of Python.
Good places to start are community sites like allaboutsymbian.com or my-symbian.com. Or you can check out the S60.com blogs and sites.
There are a lot of devices from Nokia now. E-series are targetted more at Enterprise users where as the N-series are more consumer market devices, but can still do everything an E-series device can do.
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