Japan's Final Pager Provider To End Its Service In 2019 (bbc.com)

Tokyo Telemessage, Japan's last pager provider, has announced that it will end service to its 1,500 remaining users in September 2019. It will bring a national end to telecommunication beepers, 50 years after their introduction. The BBC reports: The once-popular devices are able to receive and show wireless messages. Users would then find a phone to call the sender back. Developed in the 1950s and 1960s, they grew in popularity in the 1980s. By 1996, Tokyo Telemessage had 1.2 million subscribers. However, the rise of mobile phones rendered the pager obsolete, and few remain worldwide. Emergency services, however, continue to use the reliable technology -- including in the UK.

Comments

In the US?

[SumDog]

I'm surprised. Are they going out in the US too? I thought E.R. doctors and surgeons would always carry pagers because the messages have guaranteed delivery unlike SMS.

Re: In the US?

[Anonymous Coward]

No. I work as a clinical pharmacist. All the docs and many others, including myself, still carry one. There is no plans to discontinue their use.

Re:In the US?

[LordKronos]

It's actually quite the opposite. Pagers have no guaranteed delivery, because they are a one way service. The pager does not ever communicate back to the tower (or at least the type most doctors carry don't). If the pager is out of range or has a poor signal at the moment the page is broadcast, you are SOL. On the other hand, SMS will at least hold the message until you connect and then make a best effort to get the message to you.

The advantage of pagers is that they work successfully off a much weaker signal and have much broader coverage. And even more importantly, a pager runs off a AA battery that is good for months and can be swapped out with an off the shelf battery in a matter of seconds. You can't say that about any phone.

Re: In the US?

[Anonymous Coward]

You should meet more drug dealers. They carry pagers, but more importantly: they also carry drugs. Between you and me, there's no better way to relax after a tough week at the office than mainlining some H. It's like a full body orgasm that lasts for hours.

Re:In the US?

[spaceyhackerlady]

You can get a two-way pager if you want one. There are pagers that just send in the fact that they've received a message, that it was read, or ones that can compose a message and send it in.

I work for a paging company. Paging is very much a niche product, but a good niche product has always been a license to print money.

...laura

Re:In the US?

[Z00L00K]

Another advantage is that the pager don't have a transmitter which means that it don't cause interference to EKG and EEG equipment.

Some services also see it as an advantage to have a pager since the person having it can't be tracked. This is essential for military personnel and special operations personnel of other kinds.

Re:Page of revenge..

[PPH]

Not that. But when I carried a pager for manufacturing support, I'd have a cron job dial my pager with a factory number and append 9-1-1. Set it to call about 10 minutes into what was going to be a very long and boring staff meeting.

Re:Used to flood call with pagers.

[slashdice]

WTF? He tracked you down and instead of kicking your ass, had oral sex with you... then told you to never call his girlfriend again? That's totally fucked up.

Re:Fake pagers

[jwhyche]

With cell phones, you can no longer get out of meetings, but at least you can play Tetris while the boss drones on and on.

When I got my first smart phone I loaded a app called fake me out of here. I could give my phone a quick shake and a few minutes later it would ring like I had a incoming call. I used this app to get me out of conversations and meetings that I didn't want to be in. Checking google, I see there are several apps that do just that.