I suppose most people in the USA and other “advanced” countries have cellular technology. Those wonderful gadgets that we call “cell phones” seem to be almost indispensable in today’s world. They are seen in use on buses, subways, automobiles, offices and most other places we go. Although not new, I still feel strange when I hear someone talking to what appears to be “thin air” and then realize that there is a “Bluetooth” device in their ear. But just what is a cell phone and where did they start?
The origin could be traced back to two-way radios, also known as mobile rigs, used in taxicabs, police cruisers, ambulances, and the like. These provided communication, but were not mobile phones or cell phones because they were not normally connected to the telephone network. Users could not dial phone numbers from these devices.
In 1910 Lars Magnus Ericsson installed a telephone in his car, although this was not a radio telephone or cell phone, he could, travelling across the country, stop at a place where telephone lines were accessible and using a pair of long electric wires, connect to the national telephone network.
Radio telephony was first used on first-class passenger trains between Berlin and Hamburg in Europe. They were also introduced on passenger airplanes for air traffic security as well as in tanks and other places. In 1946 soviet engineers G. Shapiro and I. Zaharchenko successfully tested their version of a radio mobile phone mounted inside a car. The device could connect to the local telephone network with a range of up to 20 kilometers.
In December 1947, Douglas H. Ring and W. Rae Young, two Bell Labs engineers, proposed hexagonal cells for mobile phones in vehicles. Since the technology did not exist then and the frequencies had not yet been allocated. Cellular technology was undeveloped until the 1960s.
The first person to have a mobile phone in the United Kingdom was reputedly Prince Philip, who had a system fitted into the trunk of his Aston Martin in 1957. The first fully automatic mobile phone system, called MTA (Mobile Telephone system A), was developed by Ericsson and commercially released in Sweden in 1956. This was the first system that did not require any kind of manual control in base stations, but was a bit heavy with a weight of 40 kg (90 lb). I’m not sure I would call that “mobile, but I imagine it was cutting edge. An upgraded version with transistors, weighing 9 kg (20 lb), was introduced in 1965. 
Technology continued to march onward, as it usually does, and we find ourselves with cell phones that can text message, “surf the web” and many other things that would amaze the pioneers of this wonderful technology. We now have cell towers that connect us with each other while we are driving down the road, accessories that fit into our ear for privacy and hands free operation, cell phones that are small enough to fit in a small pocket and other gadgets that we “simply can’t live without”. We’ve come a long way!
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this. If you need cellular phone service or just want to compare services and phones to see what is available, please visit our sponsors or our other sites. County Station USA Mall can provide you with links to our vendors as well as other products that you might be interested in.
Regards,
Frank
