Past, Present and, Future of Cell Phones

By Dawn Sayre

  • First telephone

    First telephone
    The first mobile-radio-telephone service is established in St. Louis. The system has six channles. The equipment barely works.

  • First store comes out

    First store comes out
    timelineAT&T comes out with the first radio-car-phones that can be used only on the highway between New York and Boston; they are known as push-to-talk phones. The system operates at frequencies of about 35 to 44 MHz, but once again there is a massive amount of interference in the system. AT&T declares the project a failure.

  • first real phones radios used

    timeline The first real car phones, not car radios, come into play accross the United States. Although, the system is still using push-to-talk phones, it is an improved version that acctually works. However, the units are big and bulky, and require a personal radio operator to switch the calls. A simular system appeared in Sweden a few years earlier.

  • at&t first cells phones brought into store

    timelineCell phone lobbyists finally win with the FCC and get a window of 75 MHz in the 800 MHz region, which allocated specifically for cell phones. The FCC realizes the potential of the industry and can’t ignore it any longer.

  • cell phones

    AT&T is the first company to propose a modern-day mobile-phone system to the FCC. It involves dividing cities into “cells”. It is the first company to do so.

  • first head set

    Dr. Martin Cooper invents the first personal handset while working for Motorola. He takes his new invention, the Motorola Dyna-Tac., to New York City and shows it to the public. His is credited with being the first person to make a call on a portable mobile-phone.

  • first plan

    AT&T adapts its own cellular plan for the city of Chicago, but the FCC is still uneasy about putting the plan into action. They have concerns about its success.

  • final testing

    Finally cell phone testing is permitted by the FCC in Chicago. The Bell Telephone Company gets the license; they are in a partnership with AT&T which is a gerneral effort to battle the stubborn FCC.

  • first pay phone

    BellSouth announces that it is leaving the pay phone business because there is too much competition from cell phones.