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The forgotten war on beepers

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Re: The forgotten war on beepers

#71

Post by dpifke »

function_seven wrote: post #39

My brother gave me a beeper as a Christmas present in 1996. It was cool, but it got really cool when I bought an 800-number from LDDS Worldcom. The only thing I was charged was (IIRC) 6¢ per minute, and no call setup charge.* I got paper bills in the mail for $0.34. Friends could page me from a payphone without having to drop a coin. *(EDIT: I think I misremember a bit. If the call originated from a pay phone, I thin…

I had a beeper in high school around the same time, because it came with a voicemail box and was a lot cheaper than a separate phone line. (Around $5/month in 1992 dollars, IIRC.)

It was a way to get messages from friends without my parents and siblings eavesdropping, and despite said siblings monopolizing the home landline.

Re: The forgotten war on beepers

#72

Post by ProllyInfamous »

wolverine876 wrote: post #57
lagniappe wrote: post #31

I dont own a phone, but to me a beeper is an okay compromise. During the quest to find one, I came across some really cool things. - Some beepers are made to only RX, not TX, as to not skew results of medical equipment - Basically 2 companies, operating with antequated websites (and prices) still provide service at the historic prices - Beepers are still sold today, new in box - Two-way pagers have been almost totall…

Which companies? Where can we read more about the no-TX design?

I happily used PagerDirect[.net] 2020-2023 — their service includes a receive-only pager, either numeric or alphanumeric. They also have Tx pagers, but I have no experience with that service.

An issue with Rx-only paging is that your device must be on 24/7, and within RF range — if offline/out-of-range, you will never receive that page.

I only stopped because I moved outside of their reliable service area (but they provide service to practically any metro center with greater than 100k people). When I lived 3 miles from "downtown" the pager was a great asset (for call screening, e.g.: spammers never "figured out" how a pager worked).

Re: The forgotten war on beepers

#73

Post by pc86 »

afandian wrote: post #45

Forget the beeper. The idea of arresting a child at school for anything (short of maybe violent assault) seems to be madness.

Arresting kids for bringing something that's legal for them to have is one side of a spectrum of silliness, thinking that arresting a kid for violently assaulting someone is a "maybe" is pretty far on the other end of the same spectrum. There are plenty of things it's completely reasonable to arrest a child for.

Re: The forgotten war on beepers

#74

Post by aftbit »

threeio wrote: post #35

I remember having to get an exemption to have my alphanumeric pager in school because my job (pc support for a Fortune 500) required me to have it with me when I got to the office... it was ridiculous but eventually worked out. -- Alternatively I've got a modern DAPnet ham radio alphanumeric pager now that I use occasionally for notifications related to radio stuff. :) ( https://hampager.de )

Hey I was waiting for someone to mention DAPnet. Which pager did you buy? Do you run your own gateway? I have a Pilot AL-A26 which is a neat little device, but my example is filtered for 450 to 458 MHz, and on 12.5 kHz steps. I can get it to just barely work with 449.800 MHz but that's awfully close to a local repeater.

Re: The forgotten war on beepers

#76

Post by zer00eyz »

ahh my first tech job gave me one of these.

You kids complain about always on. This was the late 90's the beeper was so they didn't have to pay for my cell phone. I was making stupid money so...

I grew to hate that fucking thing.

One got dropped down 4 stories in a wire chase.

Another I threw in front of a steam roller on its way to flatten some asphalt. The driver gave me a thumbs up and I pitched it.

I nailed one to a the bar of a dive I hung out in.

I think I "flushed" two... The first one was a mistake (I think the first to die) I brought it back in a plastic baggie. I was told to throw it out.

One out the car window at 80 (I was young and stupid and it was BFE texas... there wasnt a car for miles)

Another in a lake...

At some point they asked me to stop, I did, but it was fun while I could get away with it.

Re: The forgotten war on beepers

#77

Post by lazide »

arp242 wrote: post #63
afandian wrote: post #45

Forget the beeper. The idea of arresting a child at school for anything (short of maybe violent assault) seems to be madness.

I don't know what it is in US culture and society that makes it so hostile towards anyone and anything even vaguely suspected of a crime, but this sort of thing is shockingly common, even when dealing with children. Here's another case I encountered a few weeks ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Brown_case – there are so many things wrong with the entire thing, starting with charging an 11-year old as an adult…

Because it shows no remorse. The reason for reduced sentences for juvenile offenders is the idea that they ‘didn’t know any better’. That they can learn and grow and NOT be a menace to society soon.

If they still refuse to take any ownership or show any contrition even after being clearly shown something was a major problem (hence the court case), then why reduce the penalty? Who would it be helping, exactly?

Re: The forgotten war on beepers

#78

Post by pc86 »

toast0 wrote: post #20
drdaeman wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> confiscated and held until the end of the school year. How things like that were even remotely legal?

My kid's school now just confiscates until the end of the day. Even that might not be strictly legal, but it's unlikely to get challenged.

This probably has more to do with the fact that 30 years ago if you brought an electronic device into school it was probably relatively cheap and there was a decent chance your parents didn't even know about it. And either way it wasn't really a necessary part of your existence. Now it's a $1200 phone that is most likely the primary way your parents communicate with you between the time you're out of school (around 2:30 or 3 when I was in, unless there were after school activities) and they return from work.

Re: The forgotten war on beepers

#79

Post by dylan604 »

arp242 wrote: post #63
afandian wrote: post #45

Forget the beeper. The idea of arresting a child at school for anything (short of maybe violent assault) seems to be madness.

I don't know what it is in US culture and society that makes it so hostile towards anyone and anything even vaguely suspected of a crime, but this sort of thing is shockingly common, even when dealing with children. Here's another case I encountered a few weeks ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Brown_case – there are so many things wrong with the entire thing, starting with charging an 11-year old as an adult…

> in US culture and society that makes it so hostile towards

As far as schools go, zero tolerance policies have been put in place. The concept of zero tolerance is something that just makes no sense to me. Not every thing that happens in a school needs police involvement, but because the rules/laws that have been put in place removes common sense and power from principals so that everything is now a police matter.

Legislatures have done similar things to judges with mandatory minimums and other draconian small minded knee jerk reaction to look like they are being effective.

Re: The forgotten war on beepers

#80

Post by ProllyInfamous »

Nicholas_C wrote: post #55
lagniappe wrote: post #31

I dont own a phone, but to me a beeper is an okay compromise. During the quest to find one, I came across some really cool things. - Some beepers are made to only RX, not TX, as to not skew results of medical equipment - Basically 2 companies, operating with antequated websites (and prices) still provide service at the historic prices - Beepers are still sold today, new in box - Two-way pagers have been almost totall…

I’m curious about your desire to not own a phone. Have you written about the experience anywhere?

I don't carry a cell phone, and stopped using email years ago.

When I do discuss these experiences, most people aren't able to believe me. "How?" is a typical response... which to me seems equally strange a question.

It does make parking difficult ("pay with the app!"); last time I had a court action, the judge required me to sign a document stating I did not use email, because this is "a required piece of information."

Until this year, I handed out my numeric pager as "my phone number," which grateful reduced successful contact [to my chagrin].

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