Should Pagers be back again?
@Pushhyarag2000 (1416)
India
November 4, 2011 9:27pm CST
Hello myLotters. Remember the handy pagers that appeared in the market for a brief period & disappeared equally fast when cellphones became popular? If one analyzes usage patterns and other factors, there is a good case for pagers to reappear. May sound retrograde but it makes sound practical sense according to me. Here's why:
1. The youth especially college kids use the cellphones largely for texting
2. It is economical to own & maintain a pager
3. Many adults also find it hard and hazardous to use cellphone for long for fear of its adverse effects on ear and brain
4. Many feel by texting, interaction will be focused and pointed
5. There are times when people just want to convey and don't need response back
6. In any case,
Of course high end pagers can have other multimedia features like games, music and even camera etc but the idea is to prevent harm to ear and brain from overuse of cellphones for long hours in talking.
What do you think?
1 person likes this
9 responses
@rivengodwind (369)
• Philippines
5 Nov 11
Well, I don't know if you still remember, but pagers need a third-party call center to send messages to a unit. (By the way, this is it's main drawback.) It's not surprising then that it got replaced a far more superior technology (i.e. cellphones.)
It will also be a hard sell for consumers: why would we buy a text-only gadget when it's easy and cheap to obtain a cellphone (which could do the same thing plus lots more)? The idea of pagers being re-introduced seems interesting but it's not really a viable one. We won't be seeing pagers making a comeback anytime soon.
1 person likes this
@enelym001 (8322)
• Philippines
5 Nov 11
I agree with you, rivengodwind. My friends have to call an operator to send her message to someone if she wants to page a friend. It's a hassle that you still need a telephone to send one - when cellular phones has it all, I wouldn't even think of owning a pager!
1 person likes this
@rivengodwind (369)
• Philippines
5 Nov 11
...and you still need a payphone or a landline to send a message! More hassle! As it is, SMS (i.e. text messaging) had fully replaced pager technology -- there's really no need for it in this day and age.
1 person likes this
@sk66rc (4250)
• United States
5 Nov 11
Well... Doctors carry pagers because they don't want cell phones signals interfering with hospital epuipments... So I guess there's still a need for the pagers... And not all paging service requires 3rd party call center... There are softwares out there that you get directly send them messages yourself... With different tablets out now, it's not all that difficult to do that... Also, text only device can come in handy for young kids... Mom can send a text message to her 7 year old son where to wait for her after school or she's running late & for him to wait for her in principal's office... Doctors can be notified in the middle of surgery without somebody running into surgery room... Doctor who's over seeing 2 operations can be kept up to date without having to pick up a phone once... There are plenty of situations where pagers can come in very handy where cell phones aren't allowed, like hospitals...
@Pushhyarag2000 (1416)
• India
6 Feb 12
Let me explain my idea for the sake f clarity:
A paging device with enhanced capability can be launched to serve & take over that limited sms function of a mobile phone so that people use the pager & sms more and limit the use of calling/talking from mobile to minimize the likely damage to ears & brain from radio waves of mobile network. Such an improved paging device [which can be used to reply to messages unlike the earlier ones which only served as receivers] could come cheap and both youngsters and busy middle level execs may use texting as alternative to lengthy calls.
@bluishrose (2289)
• Philippines
5 Nov 11
Advantages of pagers
-- Its free to send messages compared to text messaging.
-- Pagers favor the oldies who doesn't know how to operate a cellphone. They will just pick up the phone and dial to send a message.
-- Prank messages will be less since its easy to track who sent the message (comparing to prepaid/disposable cellphones)
-- Less risk of being stolen, its handy for children and elders too.
Pagers ain't that bad right?
@kingparker (9673)
• United States
5 Nov 11
I don't know if your idea is right, or simply just a personal opinion but it will be disagreed by many people. I totally disagree with you. I think pager just like dinosaur, they are extincted already, I shouldn't linger on it. Listen to the customers demand, cell phone still be useful, but we can use it in different ways other than texting.
@anusha2128 (886)
• India
5 Nov 11
Buddy, I too agree with your sayings and your feelings. But today, the scene if different and everyone is addicted to cell phones .It is will become to re-introduce the pagers in the present scenario.
@Ollanna11 (371)
• United States
6 Nov 11
Pager Pahlease. I don't think the pager has a chance of ressurection. First of all remember when someone paged you next you had to run to a nearby phone. The cell phone is hear to stay for a while. You can Talk, Text, Browse internet, Take pictures, video, play games, Tools calendar, memo, calculator. Technology advances not retrograde.
@enelym001 (8322)
• Philippines
5 Nov 11
This is one gadget that I have never own or use. One of my friend have it before, but I'm so glad my dad never thought of buying such. It did not last long in the market and it will be useless having it. I still think cellfones are best especially on emergencies. It is easier to talk rather than beeping someone.
Not most of the people use cellfone for long hours and normally use it for sending and receiving messages, so I don't think pagers are still needed
@br3ndy (468)
• Indonesia
5 Nov 11
It could be possible if pagers got produced again with new feature. But i doubt it could win against cell phones. All of the cell phones now has the feature of text messaging already and there are sometimes when we need to talk directly and cant explain a complex and important things that cannot be tell by text message. So if pagers really produced again, i guess i'll still stick with my cell phone ^_^
