Two-Way Pagers

Thursday, January 1st, 2009 at 7:53 am

While Europe focused on SMS and connecting the PC via GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), the pager has been the alternative of choice in the United States Recently, the pager has become increasingly similar to the PDA. The difference is that pagers focus on services like e-mail and the calendar rather than on the use of an Internet connection and a browser. When we look at recent versions of two-way pagers, we find two devices that have increased their functionality along with the introduction of new PDAs. The two most common examples of two-way pagers are the BlackBerry from RIM (www.rim.com) and the Timeport from Motorola (www.motorola.com). The reason for the expected growth for these devices is twofold: their functional similarities to the Palm, and their capability to connect even in remote locations.

To understand how the BlackBerry and the Timeport work, it is useful to look at how the network communication works. The pager was initially built on Mobitex network, but has now been extended to several different networks. The technical description is as follows:

Mobitex is a packet-switched, narrowband PCS network, designed for widearea wireless data communications.

In plain English, this means that the network provides slow data communication with good coverage. This type of communication is used for trucks and all sorts of equipment that is reliant upon good coverage. Mobitex has existed in both Europe and the United States for more than 10 years, but its breakthrough for personal use was primarily due to the pager. In the late 1990s, the BlackBerry made it even more widespread with its ease of use and growing network coverage. Two-way pagers are not meant for Web browsing; they are more appropriate for services such as maintaining calendars, keeping lists of contacts, and exchanging e-mail via the device. Because the functionality of viewing attachments is rather limited and the connection speed is slow, there are clear restrictions on the size of e-mails.

Taken From : Enterprise Guide to Gaining Business Value from Mobile Technologies