Farley--Mobile Phone History
This week’s reading “Mobile Telephone History” begins with Farley giving the audience his definition of a mobile phone for the purposes of this reading. With a common definition established, Farley is able to go on to explain the origins and current state of mobile phones. He explains that America led the mobile phone movement, and that this was for three reasons: 1) The U.S. was the one super power country that was left physically intact after WWII, 2) Bell Telephone laboratories had enough radio engineers and scientists to make the research possible, and 3) Motorola grew a lot during the war. J.K. Jett, the FCC commissioner of the time, was the first to suggest his idea to reuse frequency; that is, millions of users would be able to use the same channels. Then, in St. Louis, Missouri on June 17, 1946, AT&T and Southwestern Bell were able to create the first mobile radio-telephone service, using radios built by Motorola. Eventually, however, interference between the channels ensued, forcing Mobile Telephone Service (MTS) to reduce its network to three channels. But with the growing popularity of the mobile phone, waiting lists immediately developed in all 25 cities with MTS. In December 1947, D.H. Ring and W.R. Young were able to create the first true cellular radio system for mobile telephony. While phones were being manufactured at a speed to keep up with technological developments and meet popular demand, there weren’t enough channels to accommodate all of the users. Because of this, the Bell System asked the FCC for more channels in 1947. While the FCC did grant Bell System a few more channels that could be designated for cell phone usage, they also granted channels to other companies in 1949. Known as Radio Common Carriers (RCC), these companies now held the possibility to emerge as major competitors for Bell System. A major development occurred on March 1, 1948, when the first operator-less service was developed in Richmond, Indiana. Although many RCCs continued to employ manual service until the 1960s, this was a major and necessary development for the emergence and increasing popularity of mobile phones. Four months later, on July 1, Bell Systems unveiled their transistor, which would allow for phones to become more compact and affordable. While the telephone industry was going through a revolution in the States, much of the rest of the world was very slow to adopt public radiotelephones. Upon gaining their independence again after the war, however, Japan became a major contender in the ever-changing phone industry. While other countries were concerned about quantity, Japan insisted on providing a quality product in the same numbers as other manufacturers. Japan’s quality and quantity mindset would practically lead many companies out of business and would force other manufacturers to reconsider their own production plans. Again, RCCs requested more MHz frequencies for the mobile phone system, but it took the FCC a decade to react. Because of this, research met a standstill for a few of the upcoming years. In 1964, Bell System created the Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS), but the main issue was still not resolved. Networks all over the world were reaching their user capacities. But finally, in 1970, the FCC granted the necessary airwaves for the mobile phone industry to perform to its full potential. In 1969, passengers on the Metroliner were able to try out the first mobile phones, going 160km/h. During that year, Motorola manufactured the first commercial mobile phone, and many companies began creating attaché phones—those that were connected with briefcases. The first North American commercial system began in August 1981 in Mexico City. Nordic Mobile Telephone Network was the first multi-national cellular system and offered roaming. But it still took America years to be able to compete with the quality of Japanese manufacturers. The first United States commercial cellular service was developed on October 12, 1983 in Chicago by Ameritech. But while America was focusing on analog service, which seemed to be working just fine, Europe was preparing for a digital future. America did not want to embrace a system in which their analog users would be unable to participate, but they ultimately realized that they, too, needed to embrace this upcoming digital error. America thus created their dual system, on which analog and digital users would be able to function. In Europe, GSM was created, a single network that united all of Europe. GSM appeared in the U.S. in 1995. Today, the CDMA networks have emerged into existence, which has enhanced the mobile experience in terms of data transfer, clarity, and message sending. This reading was very interesting to me because I had no idea the idea of mobile phones has been around for such a long time. I still remember my mom’s first cell phone back in the mid-90’s, which was practically the size of a brick and had a five inch long antenna. The thought of how much cell phones have developed from then to now makes it hard for me to even imagine what could happen in the next fifteen years. At the end of this reading, Farley poses an interesting question: what will future phones look like? It’s hard to fully imagine, but I am sure we will continue to watch them get smaller and more functional.