Pagers vs. cell phones

Steve Lenaghan wrote:
>
> Holy cow, where did you come from. Not to flame you much but I gather
> you don't work in the messaging industry or if you do you haven't been
> there long.
>
> My qualifications: 35 years in the telecom industry, 20 of that in the
> messaging sector. Been senior tech at Collins Rockwell, Bell Canada and
> CBC.
>
> Scotty Fitzgerald wrote:
>
> >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, witho
ut wires in a human readable form.
> >
> >
> Voice Pagers ARE pagers. I would suspect that Motorola would take you
> to task on your definition.
> Pagers are the generic definition, beepers are a subset. And pagers can
> carry no information, that's what a beeper is called.
>
> >Why was this faq written and who was it written for?
> >
> >To increase awareness of the use of Pagers, and to provide a central repository of knowledge to aid Pager users in getting the most from this technology.
> >
> >This faq was written primarily for people using personally owned pagers, but I am willing to expand for other kinds of users.
> >
> I would suggest you consult with some real experts before doing this again.
>
> >What are the advantages of Pagers?
> >
> >Here are the major advantages. It is less intrusive than telephones, you decide when and if you call somebody.
> >Safer to be beeped while driving than to take a phone call.
> >
> Not so. It is just as distracting to look as the pager as the cell
> phone. Unless of course you have a voice pager, then the is no visual
> distraction.

Pagers are easier to look at .... less information to memorize.

> >Safer in environments such as hospitals and construction zones.
> >
> No for the same reason. In hospitals cell phones are not allowed,
> mention that..

You just did!

> >Better penetration of buildings. News and email availability allow savvy users to "be a little online
> >all the time." Much less expensive, can lower cellphone bill by screening through pager also.
> >
> Pager penetration is often worse that cell phones in that most carriers
> have only one transmitter per location whereas cell sites are almost
> endless.
>
> >If I have to carry a cellphone, isn't it a waste to carry a pager also?!
> >A lot of people carry both Cellphone and Pagers. Some people find that in their area they are not always in cellphone range and carry the pager as a backup.

I do not agree with that at all. Pagers are better.
> >
> These are stupid people. These days a digital cell phone is a pager. I
> have yet to see a pager that was in range when a cell phone wasnt.
>
> >Is basic operation that simple?
> >
> >There is one other thing. The Asterisk on the touch tone keyboard puts a dash in between the numbers, and you can hit the number sign key to tell the system that your done pitzing around and they can send the page.
> >
> >
> Not always true. Often those characters will dump your message. Most
> carriers are quirky, check first.
>
> >What about text messages?
> >
> >Oh yeah, somebody logs into your pager companie's webpage, clicks "send a message" or something like that. Keys in your pager number, and their message, and it appears on your pager moments later.
> >
> >Or, they can use the email address your pager company gives you.
> >
> >[of course, this is for pagers that handle text....]
> >
> >How can I make people page me instead of leaving a message on my answering machine?
> >
> >Use call forwarding from your phone company. The person should know what to do when they hear those pager beeps pick up, but some pager companies are now adding a synthesised voice that says "at the tone, please leave a numeric message" before the beep
s.
> >
> >How can I make people send me text pages?
> >
> >Your email program should have a function to set a "reply-to address." This address when set, makes an answer to your email go to that address regardless of the address in the "from." Field.
> >
> >By setting this address to your beeper's address, you can cause replies to your email to be converted into text pages.
> >
> >How can I get notified of somebody leaving me a voicemail on my pager?
> >
> >Some legacy equipment, like Radio Shack's TAD-268 can beep you after taking a message (I heard this is a knockoff of a phone called the "Freedom Phone," but have not had verification yet). Maybe you can find one on EBAY. Also, Panasonic makes a two lin
e business voice mail that can do the same thing. It is called the "kx-tvs50" and the "kx-tvs90." Also, some programs turn your computer into a voicemail that beeps you when it takes a message, one is available at
> >www.imptec.com.
> >
> >Also, your phone company, if you contract with them to handle your voicemail on your home line, can probably beep you. Your pager company can do this also, as well as many corporate email systems.
> >
> >
> Of course you could have it done professionally. Your local answering
> service will answer with a live voice, ensure the accuracy of the
> message and send it direct to your text pager or Cell SMS. The
> easiest way to plug up your pager's memory is to let people e-mail it.
> There is no way e-mail text can send "bring home milk" and nothing else.
>
> >If I am out of range and an email goes to my pager don't I lose it?! How can I protect myself from lost emails?
> >
> >Your ISP may be willing to set up a seperate email address that copies to your pager. If they can't, you may be able to join a web co-op like troublepeach.com which can set up addresses like that for you.
> >
> >You can do it yourself if you have a domain that you control through a common interface called "cpanel" [if you have this kind of webhost, you know who you are.] Heres the skinny with cpanel controlled webhost accounts. Set up a pop3 account for email,
then set up a email forwarder FOR THE SAME USERNAME and set that to your pagers email address. When this special email address is in the reply-to, your email reply will be deposited in both the pop3 email account, as well
> >as forwarded to your pager. Even better is if you have an email program that can scan multiple pop accounts!
> >
> >If I toss my email address around the web, won't I get spammed on my pager, and charged for that message from my pager company?
> >
> >It's a risk. You can set up yourself up with a email forwarding service that gives you an email address like "[email protected]" which you can set to forward to your pager's email address. Then if your paging email address leaks out, you can kill the forward
ing account. Same thing can be done with webhost services and cpanel.
> >
> >Please be advised that some email forwarders have compromised addresses that spammers can get their hands on.
> >
> >
> Another solution is to force your e-mail program to forward your
> messages to your pager. BUT you have to be on line 100% and have your
> mail checked quite often.
>
> >Are there any mailing lists for pager people?
> >
> >Yes, there a few dozen on yahoo email groups. Heres the link...
> >
> >http://groups.yahoo.com/dir/1602367881
> >
> >You can also go to groups.yahoo.com and type in your kind of pager, like "T900" into the search box.
> >
> >What about usenet?
> >
> >Yes, we have a newsgroup, tnn.comm.pager. Also, there are pager newsgroups in other languages and places, like Russian or German.
> >
> >What about the web?
> >
> >A more technical webpage is available at http://www.braddye.com/
> >
> >And a forum is available at http://kickme.to/wirelessworld
> >
> >there is a periodical at http://www.wirelessweek.com.
> >
> >All three of these sources carry advertising.
> >
> Caution. A lot of these sites are frequented by uninformed types,ask
> for qualifiactions before you read any advice, mine included.
>
> Steve L.

I will!

---

› See More: Pagers vs. cell phones

See notes

Don Whitehall wrote:

>>Not so. It is just as distracting to look as the pager as the cell
>>phone. Unless of course you have a voice pager, then the is no visual
>>distraction.
>>
>>
>Pagers are easier to look at .... less information to memorize.
>
The whole beauty of the non- voice pager is that the information stays
put. Unless you erase it by mistake. Of course Motorola has the voice
pager with a memory.

>>>If I have to carry a cellphone, isn't it a waste to carry a pager also?!
>>>A lot of people carry both Cellphone and Pagers. Some people find that in their area they are not always in cellphone range and carry the pager as a backup.
>>>
>>>
>
>I do not agree with that at all. Pagers are better.
>
I have NEVER seen a place where a pager outperforms a cell with the
exception of areas like hospitals where cells are banned.

Today with virtually all new digital phones having SMS the line between
pager and cell becomes a little blurred. Consider also that SMS works
anywhere in digital coverage I can now page into areas that don't have
conventional paging. Also since SMS paging requires a handshake before
sending I am more assured my customer will get his message. I have
converted a lot of my customers off their pagers and reduced my
inventory and maintenance load. Being in Canada where both major
carriers have extensive coverage I can page my customers for the cost of
the call to the carrier's switch. Our paging is integrated into our
call center program and sends a more compact message that if we went the
e-mail route. SMS also has the advantage of paging on the control
channel so the message will go no matter how bad channel congestion.

However group call is not an easy task for SMS but easy for pagers since
we can quickly program multiple units to have the same cap-code. Most
will actually accommodate multiple codes which is an asset.

For a time we had a voice pager out for a customer. When you are blind
all the fancy toys don't help.

I only carry a text pager, no cell phone. But it I have my call center
take my messages and short of having my servers crash, they never need
me that badly.

Steve L.

Just a note for those in tnn.comm.pager, somebody copied my faq and
posted it to alt.cellular and some other subgroups. Something I never
intended to happen. If you want to see a lively thread of 100 posts
you can point your newsreader over there for more. I would not have
noticed except for a heads-up emailed to me.

Anyhow, Steve, your comment "holy cow, where did you come from,"
originally looked odd on tcp (tnn.comm.pager) because I did have the
regulars there looking at the "work in progress" on my webpage.
Nobody had any objections so I went ahead. I don't pretend to be an
expert, I am a user. I went from pager to tracphone to sprint to
pager+tracphone. sprint was the most costly experience, and since I
am a typed word kind of guy, I prefer the pager.

I live in the tri state area and here, the pager works in places the
cell does not, and vice-versa. However, I like typed messages better
so I make my choices, you know? I will continue working on the faq
and will incorporate what I think is the best to all responses I
receive from it. Eventually, I hope the guys at MIT will approve the
faq for the *.answers newsgroups, then I will crosspost to tcp and the
*.answers groups. This is an effort to a)help people who prefer
pagers to maximize their satisfaction and b)remind the usenet
community that tcp is actually here. I think you will like this too
as higher visability for tcp will help your home newsgroups, the
alt.cellular hierarchy, recieve less OT posts.

The thing that surprised me the most on the long thread over there in
alt.cellular was the desire to compare the latest cell phone
technology to the oldest in pager technology. This struck me as
evidence that there may be a "true believer" syndrome going on. While
some people pointed this out by bringing our discussion on verbose
paging technology, nobody mentioned the upgrade to flex 2.7. A
significant upgrade which will allow pagers to roam country-wide.
While the larger message size on modern alpha pagers was mentioned (as
compared to 160 digits for SMS,) Nobody mentioned that alpha pagers
for quite some time have all had two-font selections which really
help. I have 20-20 vision myself and found the text display on
cellphones problematical. Flex 2.7 will allow the network to control,
and vary at will, the size of the messages blocks which will greatly
enhance this technology in regards to mobile email applications.

Misinformation note: The rights to produce new equipment were
purchased by Percomm. They are making both tower equipment and new
pagers.

The only other thing I want to say is that I was surpised that there
was not more discussion of message control for internet-to-pager
through geeky means, such as a full usage of email headers. I hope to
see other people put up more technology-minded tips for those of use
who are interested in one of themes of the faq, which is "to be a
little online all the time."

Scotty Fitzgerald


On Wed, 19 May 2004 11:58:08 -0500, Steve Lenaghan <[email protected]>
wrote:

>See notes
>
>Don Whitehall wrote:
>
>>>Not so. It is just as distracting to look as the pager as the cell
>>>phone. Unless of course you have a voice pager, then the is no visual
>>>distraction.
>>>
>>>
>>Pagers are easier to look at .... less information to memorize.
>>
>The whole beauty of the non- voice pager is that the information stays
>put. Unless you erase it by mistake. Of course Motorola has the voice
>pager with a memory.
>
>>>>If I have to carry a cellphone, isn't it a waste to carry a pager also?!
>>>>A lot of people carry both Cellphone and Pagers. Some people find that in their area they are not always in cellphone range and carry the pager as a backup.
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>I do not agree with that at all. Pagers are better.
>>
>I have NEVER seen a place where a pager outperforms a cell with the
>exception of areas like hospitals where cells are banned.
>
>Today with virtually all new digital phones having SMS the line between
>pager and cell becomes a little blurred. Consider also that SMS works
>anywhere in digital coverage I can now page into areas that don't have
>conventional paging. Also since SMS paging requires a handshake before
>sending I am more assured my customer will get his message. I have
>converted a lot of my customers off their pagers and reduced my
>inventory and maintenance load. Being in Canada where both major
>carriers have extensive coverage I can page my customers for the cost of
>the call to the carrier's switch. Our paging is integrated into our
>call center program and sends a more compact message that if we went the
>e-mail route. SMS also has the advantage of paging on the control
>channel so the message will go no matter how bad channel congestion.
>
>However group call is not an easy task for SMS but easy for pagers since
>we can quickly program multiple units to have the same cap-code. Most
>will actually accommodate multiple codes which is an asset.
>
>For a time we had a voice pager out for a customer. When you are blind
>all the fancy toys don't help.
>
>I only carry a text pager, no cell phone. But it I have my call center
>take my messages and short of having my servers crash, they never need
>me that badly.
>
>Steve L.
>