Pagers may be better than cell phones

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote:
>
> In article <[email protected]>,
> "pemalu" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I already have a cell phone that can receive pages at no extra charge and I
> > don't have to try to find a working pay phone to return a page. Why spend
> > extra money for something that my phone can do already?
>
> Frequently you can receive pages in places where your cell phone would
> never work.
>
> That's a nice flexibility to have.

More flexibility...

I've got a Motorola PF 1500 Alphanumeric (2-way) pager with Verizon Wireless
service. If I'm in a meeting, or any other place where it's impossible, or
INCONSIDERATE (A not-so subtle hint for the cell phone users who insist upon
talking in inappropriate venues!), and I'm paged, all I have to do is send
a "canned" response to the caller, or type in a custom response on the
alphanumeric keyboard.

In addition, if the pager is ever out-of-range, and I'm paged, the system
stores messages for me and alerts me when I'm back in-range.

Larry

---

› See More: Pagers may be better than cell phones

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> "pemalu" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>> Frequently you can receive pages in places where your cell phone
>>> would never work.
>>>
>>> That's a nice flexibility to have.
>>
>> I suppose if I traveled a lot, that would be useful.
>
> Not even that. There are holes in Nextel service, for example, even
> in large cities.
>
> I've seen pagers receiving pages in basements where cell phones have
> no service.

Where I live, I found dead spots with Cingular, but so far, not with Verizon
except inside some buildings.

>
> Summary: Serious on-call folks have pagers _and_ cellphones.
>
Unless you live in an area like I do, which is a mix of urban and suburban,
and the pager carriers have abandoned the upkeep of the infrastructure. My
VZW works quite well, whereas my pagers only worked in certain 'hot spots'
in my house. Different carriers, different model pagers. Same story.

The cell phone providers are more concerned about dead spots than paging
companies.

Stan wrote:
>
> >
> > Summary: Serious on-call folks have pagers _and_ cellphones.
> >
> Unless you live in an area like I do, which is a mix of urban and suburban,
> and the pager carriers have abandoned the upkeep of the infrastructure. My
> VZW works quite well, whereas my pagers only worked in certain 'hot spots'
> in my house. Different carriers, different model pagers. Same story.
>
> The cell phone providers are more concerned about dead spots than paging
> companies.

Mainly because cell phones have more dead spots than pagers!

Larry

In message <<[email protected]>> "Stan"
<[email protected]> did ramble:

>The cell phone providers are more concerned about dead spots than paging
>companies.

Which is weird since cell phones typically have voicemail, and will hold
SMS and voicemail messages until the cellphone comes back, whereas with
a pager, the page is completely lost if it occurs when the pager is out
of range.

--
I'm only a pigment of my imagination.

In message <<[email protected]>> "L David Matheny"
<[email protected]> did ramble:

>> I use a pager in a very simple yet effective way. Our office voicemail
>> system has an outcall feature that will notify you if you have messages.
>>
>I do that with my Nokia cell phone using the ATTWS paging number.

Unfortunately you have to be able to configure your voicemail system to
dial a custom string in order for this solution to work.

A lot of voicemail systems only let you input your pager number, then
simply listen for one or more beeps and dial the voicemail access number
or the mailbox number or some other predefined string. Works great on a
pager with a dedicated number, but not for a cellphone.

I can't have it dial my cellphone voicemail's access number followed by
#mycellphone#1<something>## which is what would be required to have a
voicemail system "page" my cellphone.
--
I'm only a pigment of my imagination.

In alt.cellular DevilsPGD <[email protected]> wrote:

> Which is weird since cell phones typically have voicemail, and will hold
> SMS and voicemail messages until the cellphone comes back, whereas with
> a pager, the page is completely lost if it occurs when the pager is out
> of range.

Unless you use a pager that has ReFlex service. It's a ping-pong type
deal...Of course it costs more then your standard pager and service, but
you will receive your pages when you get in coverage. When I used to
have a pager I went with Reflex from two different companies. I ened up
with Metrocall when I turned off the pager and my landline phone and
went completely wireless in 2001.

In article <[email protected]>,
Lawrence Glasser <[email protected]> wrote:

> Mainly because cell phones have more dead spots than pagers!

It would be nice if ANY carrier had an honest coverage map that showed
them. They are all ignoring their own "Consumer Code".

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:elmop->
> Not even that. There are holes in Nextel service, for example, even in
> large cities.

That is an understatement... Why do you think the most common thing you hear
when calling a nextel customer is "please wait while we try to locate the
nextel subscriber" and then voice mail?


>
> I've seen pagers receiving pages in basements where cell phones have no
> service.
>

"Mark E. Daniel" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In alt.cellular DevilsPGD <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Unless you use a pager that has ReFlex service. It's a ping-pong type
> deal...Of course it costs more then your standard pager and service, but
> you will receive your pages when you get in coverage. When I used to
> have a pager I went with Reflex from two different companies. I ened up
> with Metrocall when I turned off the pager and my landline phone and
> went completely wireless in 2001.

I had a trial of one of those just when paging was starting to really
decline. The best system in my region has 15 transmitters. The 2 way company
only had 2 , 2 way sites to service the Reflex pagers. So most of the time
the display would say something like "standby" or "waiting". Both providers
were bought by Metrocall about the time Metrocall went into bankruptcy.

In article <[email protected]>, wctom1
@pacbell.net says...
> Cellphones are banned in many hospital areas, so pagers are de rigeur
> for hospital workers.

Another case like at the gas station and aboard airplanes--zero
confirmed problems but we're going to CYA.....

>
> So...I have to lug around both a cellphone and a pager. I bet there is a
> market for a dual-use phone with individual pager and cell-phone
> circuitries.

Several years ago the Cellular Buyers Guide actually listed such an
animal--totally different ciruits. A lotta people at the time were
taping pagers to their phones (before the days of tiny phones).
Apparently it never flew.

The main problem I had getting rid of my pager was that several devices
had to be able to page me and they had a limited amount of digits to
work with so the clumsy page access number Cingular uses wouldn't work
(required too many digits). And before anyone says you can page through
the voicemail menu--DEVICES can't do that since the phone would ring and
if I answered the call it would never get to VM. Maybe there are some
people out there that can hear a string of tones in their ear and be
able to recognize a code string (oh server#3 is down!!) but not me. I
only solved the problem by using a one-number service with a dedicated
number and a single digit menu to access the numeric page function.
Works fine but I'd like to see the cellular carriers offer a seperate
phone number that goes straight to the numeric paging prompt. It could
be another $4/month charge for them.

--
Jud
Dallas TX USA

Please invert everything left of the @ to reply wrote:

[....]

> 4) Paging infrastructure is more robust. Paging (and 2-way messaging using
> Blackberries and Palm Sevens) worked continually despite the collapse of
> the WTC. It took weeks to get the cellular net back up. Talk to anyone who
> worked at Ground Zero, and they will tell you pagers, and paging-based
> systems such as old Blackberries and Palm Sevens saved their butts.

Considering there were two cellular call processing centers located at
the WTC, several weeks doesn't surprise me a bit. If the paging system
had been there, that system would've been offline too.


--
jer email reply - I am not a 'ten' ICQ = 35253273
"All that we do is touched with ocean, yet we remain on the shore of
what we know." -- Richard Wilbur

Ray wrote:

> I use a pager in a very simple yet effective way. Our office voicemail
> system has an outcall feature that will notify you if you have messages.
>
> Having it call my cell phone is a nuisance because it causes the phone
> to ring rather than just notify me. Digital paging on a cellphone is a
> worthless feature as far as I'm concerned. I always turn the prompt off
> that suggest that people leave a callback number on the cell phone. If
> they call my cell phone, they can just leave a voicemail message. By
> the way, with Sprint, you can turn all of the prompts off, which I have
> done.

By the way, you can turn all those prompts off with Cingular, too, which
I haven't done because forcing people to sit through all that gibberish
makes them think I'm a really important busy person.

>
> The pager is set for simple tone paging, meaning that when the outcall
> feature makes the call, it just beeps or vibrates the pager. Nobody
> else knows my pager number so it always means that I have calls waiting.
> It costs me $5 per month for tone paging service. You can do the same
> thing with digital paging, but it takes some extra programming on the
> voicemail system. The problem is, some of the paging companies either
> don't offer tone paging or don't understand what it is. I dropped Arch
> Paging and with the local provider for this reason.
>
> Low tech, but it works great for me.
>


--
jer email reply - I am not a 'ten' ICQ = 35253273
"All that we do is touched with ocean, yet we remain on the shore of
what we know." -- Richard Wilbur

In article <rmarkoff-415120.06232216052004
@news06.east.earthlink.net>, [email protected] says...
> It would be nice if ANY carrier had an honest coverage map that showed=20
> them. They are all ignoring their own "Consumer Code".
>=20

There's never going to be the kind of map you expect, Phill. That=20
kind of detail is physically impossible to provide *or* guarantee.

Too many variables able to induce drastic, and possibly short-lived,=20
problems in very tiny areas.

--=20
R=D8=DF
O/Siris
I work for Sprint PCS
I *don't* speak for them

I had a pager and cell phone(s) for years. I dropped the pager a couple
years ago for a few reasons:
1. I need a large coverage area (NE US) with no gaps. This precludes the
satellite services, as there are HUGE gaps between cities. Cell phone is
much, much better coverage for very wide areas or national.
2. Pager technology has not evolved at all. Pager transmitter companies
have discontinued producing equipment, and most pager operators are
maintaining their old equipment or buying used equipment at auction. It is a
dying technology.
3. Missed pages were just plain missed. Missed cell calls route to
voicemail which is delivered when I got back into coverage. True, there is a
pager service that does this, too, but it costs nearly as much as basic cell
service.
4. My "superwide regional" pager coverage cost me about 12.00 a month when
I quit. Basic cell service for the same area costs about 25.00 a month.
5. Every single page still results in a cell phone call from my end to
return the page. Waste of time.
6. My cell phone is now about the same size as my beeper was. Battery life
is no longer an issue, either. My cell phone can vibrate like my beeper did,
etc..
Sorry, pagers are a dying technology. There is no advantage to them at all
for me, and probably not for anyone else fairly soon.
"PagerGuy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> From newsgroup: news:tnn.comm.pager
>
> What is a Pager or Beeper?
>
>
> You probably have some idea since you are reading this, but a
> definition is always a good way to be sure that we are talking about
> the same things. A Pager is any device that carries numeric or
> alphanumeric information, but not voice information, without wires in
> a human readable form.
>
> Isn't this a dead technology?
>
>
> No, there are still advances being made in this technology! There are
> .