How do pagers (beepers) work?

How do pagers (beepers) work? Yes, there was wearable wireless communication long before cellphones and smartphones. And you know what? It was awesome!

Your cellphone gets in the way of your daily life when everyone can just call you and you have to stop what you're doing to talk to them. With pagers, people would page you and then patiently wait for you to return their call. If you didn't call back after a half hour or so, they would assume you didn't get the page and call you again. Very simple, and civilized. Unlike today when people expect to reach you instantly, at their convenience and not yours.

So, since pagers are slowly being phased out as more and more paging transmitters are being taken off the air to cut costs as the customer base dwindles, I thought it would be a good idea to preserve a bit of communications history before it's too late and do a simple demonstration.

[riptkoso]

What a role reversal an old person is teaching Me something about technology

[ffokcuf]

Thanks genuinely woke up in the middle of the nite wondering how pagers work. Your the man.

[Altar]

Pagers were the kind of thing that as a kid in the 90’s, I would say “I’ll learn how they work when I grow up.” Now I’m grown up and pagers are nearly extinct. Only really used by doctors at hospitals, I think.

[DaCashRap]

A pager? That's too modern, bro. I walk around with a pigeon on my shoulder!

[mrbryan]

Came from family guy just to see how this works, mid 90s, dont blame me hehe

[Miyananana]

Sometimes the older generation hates on the younger generations for not knowing older technology. It vids like these that help for someone who is young to be able to learn about things we weren’t around for. Great vid!

[henrymarshal]

I was 16 when I got my first pager…in 2018.
Still using it.

[fahadmohammad]

I'm 2nd year in medical school, and while on placement the hospital handed me a pager and i had to no clue what it was, so I had to sneak to the toilet and quicky read on Wikipedia what it was and how to use it.

[kafleeen]

‘98 baby here and have never used one of these but saw my parents did, never understood how they worked. i have my own kiddos now (1.5 years old twins) i’m thinking of starting them off with one of these 😂

[mrblue]

Well I am 24 years old and I actually I remember my parents had pagers never bothered to ask them how they used them. Great tape man keep up the great work. I do remember hospitals using beepers or pagers.

[nservice]

I miss my pager. You also made me realize that I miss the flip phone that I replaced my pager with.

[sametyilmaz]

that's why Kim Possible theme was saying "page me if you wanna reach me" I'm enlightened after 2 decades.

[TheMaggiemay]

When my now 40 year old son was a kid (12, 13, 14) the pager was wonderfully convenient for keeping track of him, calling him home for dinner, etc. It was soooo convenient. I still have it.

[johndoe]

Im a 2000s kid, and I admire older technology for its simplicity and long-lasting. Unfortunately, nowadays I think our technology is too invasive, complicated, and short-lived.

[JoeZUGOOLA]

Apparently they are widely still used in hospitals because of their reliability

[Opethianaut]

Born in the mid 80’s but I never owned one. Always wondered how they work. Thank you for the education!

[AP]

I was born in 2003 and this type of technology fascinates me, I truly believe we were at the peak of communication technology in the late 90s, this is taking into account the lack of negative societal effects, all the current day “Smart” devices definitely have their benefits but ultimately I believe they are a detriment to us all.
I much prefer the “analogue” (lol) digital technology

[Bbhskklh]

Thanks for making this as informative as possible without talking about how bad cellphones are. So often people do that and it’s refreshing to listen to you!

[edithdlp]

I was born in 1975 and only a few had access to a beeper. Today everyone has a cellphone and take it for granted.

[ObiTrev]

I think the world would be a better place if we all just turn off the cell-phones and talk to each other again.