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Pager services to end Tuesday in Japan after 50 years
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Yubaru
Ahh the old pagers, nostalgic memories! Getting paged by the office, then making the excuses that I could find a pay phone, when I was out goofing off!
10.406:
zichi
Had to use one for years for my work then one of those first mobile phone the size and weight of a brick. Didn't realise the pagers were still running.
Tom
Puri Kura and those HS girl call centers. Hated the loose sock movement though.
3RENSHO
What is "HS girl call centres"?
Mark_McCracken
"Pager"? I think the phrase is "Pocket Bell".
garypen
In the US, the official term has always been "pager".
The slang term was "beeper". Where did they use "pocket bell"?
commanteer
zichi
Some of the older technologies need to be kept in service like FAX and SW radio. What happens in a major disaster and there's no mobile or internets services but still have landlines then FAX is needed. Just like SW radio broadcasts on what is happening when people are cut off.
Even Morse Code is still used today.
garypen
Apparently, pagers are still in widespread use in the medical professions in both the US and UK.
zichi
I think only within the hospital and its grounds. Still a good use there for them.
NCIS Reruns
I've been here long enough to remember that the origin of the practice of enjo kosai (compensated dating, i.e., teenage prostitiution) was traced to the DialQ2 service offered by NTT.
lostrune2
Ah, the pager - the sign of coolness in school that you're important enough that people would page you, lol
Ah, someone else remember calling it
3RENSHO
"In the US, the official term has always been "pager".
The official term (snicker)... we are not in America!
bass4funk
In the US, it’s Pager.
mmwkdw
Big mistake. Since Smart phones such as iPhones dont have a concept of Urgent messages that need attention and responding to.
zichi
Smartphones have instant notifications also smart watches.
mmwkdw
@zichi - being an "iPhone" owner, I can tell you with 100% certainty, that urgent messages can slip by unnoticed.
And as a former pager holder, ... those pager alerts were not something that you could miss (unless you were not carrying your pager).
zichi
mmwkdw
just what important notifications and how many do you actually get that need the instant attention. The smartphone makes a ringtone and when you open your iPhone your notifications are on the screen. Or you can access from the screen.
Last time I had a pager was when I was working in London in the early 1990's has an office building engineer for BT. The problem with the pager is that you had to go and find a phone to need with the pager.
With a smartphone you don't need to do that.
iPhone/smartphone better than a pager.
nothisrealname
I'm surprised that it has continued until now. Still, it is nostalgic. I remember pagers fondly.
CaptDingleheimer
Some physicians in the US still use pagers.
Not sure why...
haloerika
Why hospitals still use pagers. https://www.thehealthy.com/healthcare/doctors/hospital-pagers/
kokoro7
Ethnocentrically speaking, yes, they're called "pager" in the US.
In Japan, they were called ポケベル。
BackpackingNepal
Good ol' 90s. Better safe Method.
But too bad there isn't Great Japanese Innovation anymore, since last 20 years.
Tawkeeo
@BackpackingNepal
Here we go again with the same damn "Japan doesn't innovate no more" thing...
TARA TAN KITAOKA
50 years later ???.
Kentarogaijin
End of an era..
mike1492
Hmm. I just signed for another two years. Should I ask for refund?
garypen
They are called pagers in Japan, as well. At least by the company providing the service that is mentioned in the above article: http://www.teleme.co.jp/
You'll notice they refer to the devices as ページャー. Perhaps "pocket bell" was the slang term, much like "beeper" in the US?