History Of Cell Phones Is A Short One

What started out as two-way communications with police cruisers and taxicabs has morphed into one of the most popular means of communications available, despite the brief history of cell phones in the United States. From the first portable phone that was installed in a vehicle to the miniature ones than are smaller than the palm of your hand, the history of cell phones tracks the technology of radio wave communications.

In the beginning mobile phone were installed into vehicles and only those of substantial financial means could afford to have them installed. Later, they were equipped with a plug for the vehicle’s cigarette lighter and were known as bag phones and could be carried from car to car. This early step in the history of cell phones drove the industry to evolve into phone that could be carried in your pocket.

An engineer at Bell labs first came up with the idea of providing towers to carry the signals from telephones and the squares in which they were placed, called cells, required the user to remain within the cell from which the call originated or lose the signal. It was not until 1970 that the history of cell phones took another step with the invention of the call hand off system allowing a call to be transferred from cell to cell without loss of signal.

Frequencies Designated by FCC

The history of cell phones took another major step in 1982 when the Federal Communications Commission designated a frequency range for the exclusive use of cellular phones. The generation of phones at this time, were analog and extremely large and bulky. They have been likened to holding a brink to your ear but their progression to smaller units was not made until the early 1990s, when frequencies for digital cellular service as earmarked.

Part of the history of cell phones was highlighted as early as 1954 when Humphrey Bogart placed a call from the back of his limousine in the movie Sabrina as businessman Linus Larrabee. During the 1960s and 1970s, phones were used in conjunction with ham radio for wireless calls around the globe, but due to security reasons, business was not conducted on these calls.

Today’s generation of cellular phones have advanced the history of cell phones by enabling them to receive streaming video and audio and the reduced size of electronic components allow them to be used as miniature computers enabled with text applications as well as voice transmissions.