On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:25:48 +0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
wrote:

Stephen Sprunk wrote:

(The FCC prohibits allocating separate area codes to mobile carriers,
claiming that would be "discriminatory", so their numbers come from the
same geographical area codes as land lines. This causes many problems
and, in the end, hurts consumers.)

Causes problems and hurts consumers? What the hell are you talking about here?

Because the original mobile carriers were all subsidiaries of the incumbent
land line telephone companies, they thought in land-line terms.

For billing purposes, traditionally, calls from land lines were rated on
time and distance. Initially, cell phone calls were rated on time, only,
within the home coverage area, and time and distance, if the call terminated
outside the home coverage area.

What is a cell phone? Used in prisons?

Guy Gorton

Guy Gorton wrote:

What is a cell phone? Used in prisons?

Oh, good grief. You use the concept in your country.

A cellular network is based on the ability of a handset to communicate
with transceivers in numerous cell sites. The coverage area is broken
up into cells. Towers are placed at the edges of the cell with the ability
to broadcast into three neighboring cells. The handset can communicate
with transceivers on any of three towers. If the wireless handset is
moving in a vehicle, the call can be handed off seemlessly as it moves
from one cell to the next.

Contrast with a marine radio that communicates with one base and a
signal that broadcasts over a larger area of water.

You aren't aware that mobile phones use a cellular network?

On 30/03/2012 18:40, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Guy Gorton wrote:

What is a cell phone? Used in prisons?

Oh, good grief. You use the concept in your country.

You aren't aware that mobile phones use a cellular network?

I expect he is. Guy is pointing out that you are cross-
posting to two newsgroups where we call such devices
mobiles.


--
Graham Nye
news(a)thenyes.org.uk

Graham Nye wrote:
On 30/03/2012 18:40, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Guy Gorton wrote:

What is a cell phone? Used in prisons?

Oh, good grief. You use the concept in your country.

You aren't aware that mobile phones use a cellular network?

I expect he is. Guy is pointing out that you are cross-
posting to two newsgroups where we call such devices
mobiles.

So if "cellular" is an international concept, is it acceptable to everyone
else for Guy to pretend to be obtuse?

In the United States, they are called cell phones and mobile phones.
Some networks marketed the service with one term or the other. I believe
"cell" was the marketing term by some networks in early days to
distinguish the technology from pre-cellular mobile telephones that
were built into automobiles and communicated with base stations with
much longer ranges than transponders on cell towers.

On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:08:36 +0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
wrote:

Graham Nye wrote:
On 30/03/2012 18:40, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Guy Gorton wrote:

What is a cell phone? Used in prisons?

Oh, good grief. You use the concept in your country.

You aren't aware that mobile phones use a cellular network?

I expect he is. Guy is pointing out that you are cross-
posting to two newsgroups where we call such devices
mobiles.

So if "cellular" is an international concept, is it acceptable to everyone
else for Guy to pretend to be obtuse?

In the United States, they are called cell phones and mobile phones.

Ditto in the UK with "cell phone" often used to distinguish them from
"cordless" telephones, both being mobile.

Some networks marketed the service with one term or the other. I believe
"cell" was the marketing term by some networks in early days to
distinguish the technology from pre-cellular mobile telephones that
were built into automobiles and communicated with base stations with
much longer ranges than transponders on cell towers.

Charles Ellson wrote:
On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:08:36 +0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
wrote:

Graham Nye wrote:
On 30/03/2012 18:40, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Guy Gorton wrote:

What is a cell phone? Used in prisons?

Oh, good grief. You use the concept in your country.

You aren't aware that mobile phones use a cellular network?

I expect he is. Guy is pointing out that you are cross-
posting to two newsgroups where we call such devices
mobiles.

So if "cellular" is an international concept, is it acceptable to everyone
else for Guy to pretend to be obtuse?

In the United States, they are called cell phones and mobile phones.

Ditto in the UK with "cell phone" often used to distinguish them from
"cordless" telephones, both being mobile.


I had a very early Vodafone mobile phone in 1986, a Motorola with a
handset that clipped to the top of a lead/acid battery about the size
of one on my 1150cc motorcycle. It was marketed as a "cellular
telephone" or "cell phone" for short.

There were only two UK networks at that time, Vodafone and Cellnet.
Cellnet was of course a contraction of "cellular network".

So the term "cell phone" has been in use in the UK for more than a
quarter of a century.

On 31/03/2012 03:36, Bruce wrote:
Charles wrote:
On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:08:36 +0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
wrote:

Graham wrote:
On 30/03/2012 18:40, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Guy wrote:

What is a cell phone? Used in prisons?

Oh, good grief. You use the concept in your country.

You aren't aware that mobile phones use a cellular network?

I expect he is. Guy is pointing out that you are cross-
posting to two newsgroups where we call such devices
mobiles.

So if "cellular" is an international concept, is it acceptable to everyone
else for Guy to pretend to be obtuse?

In the United States, they are called cell phones and mobile phones.

Ditto in the UK with "cell phone" often used to distinguish them from
"cordless" telephones, both being mobile.


I had a very early Vodafone mobile phone in 1986, a Motorola with a
handset that clipped to the top of a lead/acid battery about the size
of one on my 1150cc motorcycle. It was marketed as a "cellular
telephone" or "cell phone" for short.

Those batteries almost weighed a tonne, did they not?

To make and receive calls was also not cheap, IIRC.


There were only two UK networks at that time, Vodafone and Cellnet.
Cellnet was of course a contraction of "cellular network".

So the term "cell phone" has been in use in the UK for more than a
quarter of a century.

I thought that the US military had coined and started using the
cellphone concept during World War II. Mind you, they were completely
different and nothing even like the bricks or dead-weights that one saw
in the 80s.

"Bruce" wrote in message
...
...

I had a very early Vodafone mobile phone in 1986, a Motorola
with a
handset that clipped to the top of a lead/acid battery about
the size
of one on my 1150cc motorcycle. It was marketed as a "cellular
telephone" or "cell phone" for short.

There were only two UK networks at that time, Vodafone and
Cellnet.
Cellnet was of course a contraction of "cellular network".

So the term "cell phone" has been in use in the UK for more
than a
quarter of a century.

If I take out the SIM from my latest 'phone, and insert it (with
an adaptor) into my old 1990's Motorola mobile phone, it shows
the connected network as "BT Cellnet".

--
MatSav

On 30-Mar-12 15:08, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Graham Nye wrote:
On 30/03/2012 18:40, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Guy Gorton wrote:
What is a cell phone? Used in prisons?

Oh, good grief. You use the concept in your country.

You aren't aware that mobile phones use a cellular network?

I expect he is. Guy is pointing out that you are cross-
posting to two newsgroups where we call such devices
mobiles.

So if "cellular" is an international concept, is it acceptable to everyone
else for Guy to pretend to be obtuse?

"Cellular" is; "cell" isn't. Either way, though, users don't care about
technical details of radio network organization; they care that their
phone isn't tied to a fixed location, i.e. it is "mobile".

In the United States, they are called cell phones and mobile phones.

Or wireless phones. Using country-specific terminology likely wouldn't
have drawn comment if you weren't cross-posting to newsgroups for other
countries where that term _isn't_ used.

Some networks marketed the service with one term or the other. I believe
"cell" was the marketing term by some networks in early days

IIRC, they always used the full word, "cellular". It was customers who
shortened it from three syllables to one, which is often the impetus for
the development of American slang. Perhaps if those carriers had used
the international term "mobile", which is only two syllables and has no
obvious shortening, the term "cell" never would have appeared.

to distinguish the technology from pre-cellular mobile telephones that
were built into automobiles and communicated with base stations with
much longer ranges than transponders on cell towers.

Are you referring to "radio telephones"?

There were cellular car phones as well, back before handheld models were
available. One of my classmates (a drug dealer) had one.

S

--
Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking

Stephen Sprunk wrote:
On 30-Mar-12 15:08, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Graham Nye wrote:
On 30/03/2012 18:40, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Guy Gorton wrote:

What is a cell phone? Used in prisons?

Oh, good grief. You use the concept in your country.

You aren't aware that mobile phones use a cellular network?

I expect he is. Guy is pointing out that you are cross-
posting to two newsgroups where we call such devices
mobiles.

So if "cellular" is an international concept, is it acceptable to everyone
else for Guy to pretend to be obtuse?

"Cellular" is; "cell" isn't.

Yet, one of our friends from the UK tells us that "cell phone" is a term
that's sometimes used to distinguish the concept from "cordless phone",
as both types are mobile.

Either way, though, users don't care about technical details of radio
network organization; they care that their phone isn't tied to a fixed
location, i.e. it is "mobile".

In the United States, they are called cell phones and mobile phones.

Or wireless phones. Using country-specific terminology likely wouldn't
have drawn comment if you weren't cross-posting to newsgroups for other
countries where that term _isn't_ used.

I haven't used country-specific terminology, Stephen. You're wrong.

Some networks marketed the service with one term or the other. I believe
"cell" was the marketing term by some networks in early days

IIRC, they always used the full word, "cellular".

It's a cell phone because it works in a cell, Stephen. It's cellular
because it works on a cellular network. "They" didn't always use one
word or the other.

It was customers who shortened it from three syllables to one, which is
often the impetus for the development of American slang.

You know for a fact that no engineer who ever worked in deploying the
technology used "cell"; how nice for you.

Perhaps if those carriers had used the international term "mobile",
which is only two syllables and has no obvious shortening, the term
"cell" never would have appeared.

Oh, mobile is an international term for a technology developed in the
United States? Cute. Mobile was already in use for non-cellular telephony
as I pointed out already, Stephen. "Mobile" is the equivalent to
"wireless", and more generic than "cellular".

to distinguish the technology from pre-cellular mobile telephones that
were built into automobiles and communicated with base stations with
much longer ranges than transponders on cell towers.

Are you referring to "radio telephones"?

Did you ever see the television show Cannon? He used his constantly.

There were cellular car phones as well, back before handheld models were
available. One of my classmates (a drug dealer) had one.

My mother had a car phone in 1993, but she was a CPA, not a drug dealer.