Advancements in pagers over the past several years are incredible and today's pagers are not simply "beepers" anymore, evolving over the years to more sophisticated devices which allows consumers choices as to the functions they would like in a pager. Motorola conducted a study which showed almost 75 percent of all communications needed to be one-way, things like, "I'm running late," "Pick up milk on the way home," or "The meeting time has been changed to 3:30."  The pagers of today are capable of confirmed delivery even with basic one-way communication, which is all that is needed for many people.  In addition, pagers with two-way communication, internet and email capabilities are some of the options on the market today.  In spite of these similarities with cell phones, the biggest differences and advantages of the pager over a cell phone, still remains to be the reliability, coverage, cost and functionality.

Dependable

Unlike cell phones, pagers do not require charging and operate on a battery with usage times in the months and years, not hours like many of the newer cell phones on the market today. Not only does this eliminate the problem of a dead phone, it also cuts the electricity usage for charging phones, which in our environmentally conscious day and age is a very good thing for everyone.  The battery life in a pager can run from several months up to a year. A cell phone, particularly the newest smart phones, have a short battery life from a few hours to maybe a full day if very few applications are running. In an emergency where there is no access to electricity or ability to charge a cell phone the reality of the phone being able to provide any type of assistance or security is nil. The pager on the other hand, is dependable and will not need charging or electricity to function.  Pagers are also less intrusive as there are no obnoxious songs blaring with every call, pagers are much more discreet and less distracting.

Reliable/Coverage

The other issue many cell phone users face is the reliability of receiving a signal. Without a signal the cell phone is about as useful as a Walkman unless of course the battery dies, then it has virtually no use.  The pager doesn't have the same reception issues as cell phones because pagers function much differently. The pager operates off a radio signal which has higher power and larger coverage area of up to 60 miles, in comparison the network signal for cell phones is typically only 10 miles. With such a small coverage area, cell phones literally compete for their signals from their sporadically placed towers to make a cell phone function, that's the reason there are dropped calls, lack of coverage especially in rural areas or inside buildings, and overloading of networks. Pagers are not subject to these faulty reception issues and will work in areas where cell phones are dead.

Cost-Effective

Cost is another important difference between cell phones and pagers. How much did your last cell phone bill run? The answer probably depends on the minutes used, features for the phone, the plan, how many text messages were sent and a variety of other complicated costs that go into comprising that long, detailed billing record. Pagers, on the other hand, cost much less for the equipment itself and there is no way for teenagers or others to abuse minutes, text messages or downloads. In other words, consumers will know exactly what their monthly bill will be each month and there will be no surprises.

There are many reasons pagers have existed and been used by individuals for more than fifty years. Pagers can be easily carried, will function in the worst of situations whether natural or man-made, will get all information to the people who need it and won't break the bank in doing so. Pagers will work when you need them to work and can provide the type of benefits that serve its user time and time again in a very functional and necessary way.  If you haven't taken a look at pagers lately, stop in and we will be happy to give you a demonstration of all the available products and features.