History of Cell Phones
Considering the history of cell phones, it is a wonder that they were
not on the market until recently, especially since innovators knew about
cell technology as early as 1947. At that time, they were using basic mobile
car phones, and realized that if they used small cells to communicate information,
they could increase traffic on the mobiles. Through these cells, the call
could be transferred from station to station, and knowing this, they could
have made cell phones and immediately put them on the market. However,
the history of cell phones is a long a complicated one, mainly involving
as many obstacles as advances.
Cell phones operate basically like two way radios. The FCC (Federal Trade
Commission) did not allow innovators to use more frequency which would
have allowed cell phones to reach the market in large numbers. Since the
FCC limited these frequencies, only 23 people were able to make calls in
any one general area. The history of cell phones was going to be a slow
one, and only by relaxing regulations was there going to be any progress.
Finally, in 1968, the FCC allowed cell phones more frequency, and the
signals were passed through tall towers. Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola
made the first official call in the history of cellphones in 1973, and
in 1977, AT&T and Bell did a mass test of many cell phones in a large
area. The history of cell phones was finally reaching a happy conclusion,
as the first cell phones appeared on the market in 1982. However, there
was more demand than there was bandwidth, and the same overcrowding occurring
in 1987. It wasn’t until the 1990s, the decade in the history of
cell phones which saw the most progress, that cell phones became almost
universally available, and today, no hand seems complete without a cell
phone.
