The History of the Mobile, Wireless and Cellular Phone

Mobile Phone Service: The basic concept of the Mobile phone began in 1947, when researchers looked at crude mobile (car) phones. AT&T proposed that the FCC allocate a large number of radio-spectrum frequencies so that widespread Mobile Telephone service would become feasible, and AT&T would have an incentive to research the new technology. We can partially blame the FCC for the gap between the initial concept of Mobile Phone service and its availability to the public. The FCC decided to limit the amount of frequencies available then. The limitations they imposed gave us only twenty-three phone conversations simultaneously in the same service area. Not a market incentive for research. Mostly, these frequencies were used for emergency services such as police, fire or medical emergency.

Wireless: Finally, the FCC reconsidered its position in 1968. To open the airwaves, they gave permission by saying, "if the technology will work better and build a better mobile, or now Wireless service, they would increase the frequencies allocation, freeing the system for more Wireless phones. AT&T and Bell Labs proposed a wireless system to the FCC of many small, low-powered broadcast towers, each covering a 'cell' a few miles in radius and collectively covering a larger area. Each tower would use only a few of the total frequencies allocated to the system. As the phones traveled across the area, calls would be passed from tower to tower. Even though this service was truly the start of cellular technology, the term back then was ÒwirelessÓ. And yes, Mobile Phone was still used, and its place in our vocabulary has remained.

Cellular Phone Service: It's called 'cellular' because the system uses many base stations to divide a service area, in your city, into multiple 'cells'. Cellular calls are transferred from base station to base station as a user travels from cell to cell. A cell phone is a type of two-way radio. It was realized that by using small cells (range of service area), with frequency reuse, they could increase the traffic capacity of mobile phones substantially. However, at that time the technology to do so was nonexistent.

The first man to actually create a portable handset for this new use was Dr Martin Cooper, a former general manager for the Systems Division at Motorola. He is considered the inventor of the first modern portable handset. Cooper made the first call on a portable cell phone in April 1973. He made the call to his rival, Joel Engel, Head of Research at Bell Laboratories. Bell Laboratories introduced the idea of cellular communications in 1947 with the police car technology. However, Motorola was the first to incorporate the technology into portable device that was designed for outside the use of the automobile. By 1977, AT&T and Bell Labs had constructed a prototype cellular system. A year later, public trials of the new system were started in Chicago with over 2000 trial customers. In 1979, in a separate venture, the first commercial cellular telephone system began operation in Tokyo. In 1981, Motorola and American Radio telephone started a second U.S. cellular radio-telephone system test in the Washington/Baltimore area. By 1982, the slow-moving FCC finally authorized commercial cellular service for the USA. A year later, the first American commercial analog cellular service, or AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service), was made available in Chicago by Ameritech, the local Bell phone company in that part of the United States.

Despite the incredible demand, it took cellular phone service 37 years to become commercially available in the United States. Consumer demand quickly outpaced the 1982 system standards. By 1987, cellular telephone subscribers exceeded one million and flooded these already crowded airwaves.

Today it is estimated that the United States alone has over 200 million cellular users. China has estimated that by 2007 it will have over 300 million. The total use for 2004, for revenue generated worldwide, was over 570 billion dollars. In March of 2005, cellular users in the United States out numbered the land lines you have in your home and businesses. We now transmit high speed data, video, and text messages at the rate of 8 billion messages a day.

The future is here. Your pocket size wrist radio and TV screen, from the old Dick Tracy cartoons, is here and more. Get ready for an enormous jump in technology in the next few years. As our world grows smaller, Cellular Technology will become the only way we communicate. This communication will soon become worldwide.

We here at Cellular International want you help you make international calling more affordable. We do that by giving you a host of new technology and features. We offer our Text message Callback TextCall, and our Internet ready WebCall service. These features provide communication with the entire world at the touch of a key.

Thank you very much for joining the Cellular International family of users worldwide.

Clifford R. Evens
President

CellularInternational.com

Learn More:

• Cellular International Calling Plans
• Cellular International Calling Rates
• International Cell Phones
• International Calling Using Dial-Around on a Home Phone or Cell Phone
• International Calling on a Home Phone vs. Cell Phone