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A pager is an electronic device used to
contact people via a paging network. It pre-dates mobile phone
technology, but similarly uses radio transmissions to communicate
between a control/call centres and the recipient. Many of
today's pagers use the FLEX on-air protocol.
Early pagers only provided an audio notification,
a bleep or series of bleeps, to indicate that you had been
paged. The paged party then had to telephone the control/call
centre to collect the message either from an operator or an
early voice mail device. Later pagers used text messages to
provide the recipient with more information.
Later models included the ability to send
messages in a two-way fashion and even included the ability
to send email. This is known as two-way paging.
Pagers subscriptions have been on the decline
since the widespread availability of mobile phones and their
ability to send SMS based text messaging which duplicates
the paging function. There has been a gradual consolidation
of text messaging, SMS and paging with email traffic and methods.
However, this use of the Internet to carry text messaging
traffic is subject to unpredictable delays due to router and
switch traffic. Older forms of text messaging using TAP protocol
involve modem connections directly to a paging network, and
are less subject to these delays. For this reason, older forms
of paging retain their usefulness for distributing alerts
to large numbers of users at the same time; those groups would
include emergency services personnel.
Pagers are still in use today in places
where mobile phones typically cannot reach users. A good example
is deep within a hospital complex where cellular coverage
can be problematic. In most situations hospitals will contract
out or purchase and maintain the equipment needed to provide
this extra RF coverage. It is critical that quality signal
reach all of the hospital campus areas so that its emergency
staff can respond to patients' needs.
Common paging protocols include: TAP, FLEX,
ReFLEX, POCSAG, Golay and NTT. Past paging protocols include:
Two-tone and 5/6-tone.
Pager technology is now being used in irrigation
control systems and for traffic signals.
Pagers usually have very simple ring tones
and some include a vibrating alert.
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