History of Cellphone
History of Cell Phones
The history of mobile phones records the development of interconnection between the public switched telephone systems to radio transceivers. From the earliest days of transmitting speech by radio, connection of the radio system to the telephone network had obvious benefits of eliminating the wires. Early systems used bulky, high power consuming equipment and supported only a few conversations at a time, with required manual set-up of the interconnection. Today cellular technology and microprocessor control systems allow automatic and pervasive use of mobile phones for voice and data.
The transmission of speech by radio has a long and varied history going back to Reginald Fessenden's invention and shore-to-ship demonstration of radio telephony, through the Second World War with military use of radio telephony links. Mobile telephones for automobiles became available from some telephone companies in the 1950s. Hand-held radio transceivers have been available since the Second World War. Mobile phone history is often divided into generations (first, second, third and so on) to mark significant step changes in capabilities as the technology improved over the years.
Pioneers of Radio telephony
By 1930, telephone customers in the United States could place a call to a passenger on a liner in the Atlantic Ocean. Air time charges were quite high, at $7(1930)/minute (about $92.50/minute in 2011 dollars). In areas with Marine VHF radio and a shore station, it is still possible to arrange a call from the public telephone network to a ship, still using manual call set-up and the services of a human marine radio operator.
However it was the 1940s onwards that saw the seeds of technological development which would eventually produce the mobile phone that we know today. Motorola developed a backpacked two-way radio, the Walkie-Talkie and a large hand-held two-way radio for the US military. This battery powered "Handie-Talkie" (HT) was about the size of
The history of mobile phones records the development of interconnection between the public switched telephone systems to radio transceivers. From the earliest days of transmitting speech by radio, connection of the radio system to the telephone network had obvious benefits of eliminating the wires. Early systems used bulky, high power consuming equipment and supported only a few conversations at a time, with required manual set-up of the interconnection. Today cellular technology and microprocessor control systems allow automatic and pervasive use of mobile phones for voice and data.
The transmission of speech by radio has a long and varied history going back to Reginald Fessenden's invention and shore-to-ship demonstration of radio telephony, through the Second World War with military use of radio telephony links. Mobile telephones for automobiles became available from some telephone companies in the 1950s. Hand-held radio transceivers have been available since the Second World War. Mobile phone history is often divided into generations (first, second, third and so on) to mark significant step changes in capabilities as the technology improved over the years.
Pioneers of Radio telephony
By 1930, telephone customers in the United States could place a call to a passenger on a liner in the Atlantic Ocean. Air time charges were quite high, at $7(1930)/minute (about $92.50/minute in 2011 dollars). In areas with Marine VHF radio and a shore station, it is still possible to arrange a call from the public telephone network to a ship, still using manual call set-up and the services of a human marine radio operator.
However it was the 1940s onwards that saw the seeds of technological development which would eventually produce the mobile phone that we know today. Motorola developed a backpacked two-way radio, the Walkie-Talkie and a large hand-held two-way radio for the US military. This battery powered "Handie-Talkie" (HT) was about the size of