MOBILE TELEPHONE

AT A GLANCE:Today's communications industry would not be what it is without the contributions made by Richard H. Frenkiel and Joel S. Engel. The big breakthrough came when AT&T Labs researchers Frenkiel and Engel divided wireless communications into a series of cells, then automatically switched callers as they moved so that each cell could be reused. This led to the development of cellular phones and made today’s mobile communications possible. THE STORY RELATED INFO BOOKS VIDEOS WEB SITES WHERE TO FIND QUOTATIONS HOW IT WORKS Invention: mobile telephone Function: noun / mo·bile tele·phone Definition: A mobile radiotelephone, often in an automobile, that uses a network of short-range transmitters located in overlapping cells throughout a region, with a central station making connections to regular telephone lines. Also called cellular telephone Inventor: Joel Engel and Richard Frenkiel Criteria: First practical cellular telephone system. Birth: Richard Frenkiel, March 4, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York Joel Engel, February 4, 1936 in New York City Nationality: American Milestones:1921 The Detroit Police Department, began experimentation with one-way vehicular mobile service.  1928 Detroit Police commenced regular one-way radio communication with all its patrol cars.  1933 Bayonne, NJ Police Department initiated regular two-way communications with its patrol cars 1936 Alton Dickieson, H.I. Romnes and D. Mitchell begin design of AT&T's mobile phone system 1940 Connecticut State Police began statewide two-way, on the frequency modulated (FM)  1941 FM mobile radio became standard throughout the country following the success in Connecticut 1946 A driver in St. Louis, Mo., placed a phone call,it was the first AT&T mobile telephone call.  1948 wireless telephone service was available in almost 100 cities and highway corridors. 1947 cellular telephone service conceived by D.H. Ring at Bell Labs, but the technology didn't exist 1971 Richard Frenkiel and Joel Engel of AT&T applied computers and electronics to make it work.  1973 Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first cellphone call to his rival Joe Engel of AT&T Bell Labs 1978 AT&T conducted FCC-authorized field trials in Chicago and Newark, N.J. 1979 the first cellular network was launched in Japan.  1982 FCC granted commercial licenses to an AT&T subsidiary, Advanced Mobile Phone Service 1983 AMPS was then divided among the local companies as part of the planning for divestiture 1983 Illinois Bell opened the first commercial cellular system in October CAPs: Joel Engel, Richard Frenkiel, Alton Dickieson, H.I. Romnes, D. Mitchell, D.H. Ring, William (Bill) C. Jakes, Martin Cooper, ARY, mobile phone, mobile telephone, cell phone, cellular phone, cellphone, wireless phone, SIP, history, biography, inventor, invention. The Story: Today's communications industry would not be what it is without the contributions made by Richard H. Frenkiel and Joel S. Engel. The big breakthrough came when AT&T Labs researchers Frenkiel and Engel divided wireless communications into a series of cells, then automatically switched callers as they moved so that each cell could be reused. This led to the development of cellular phones and made today’s mobile communications possible.On June 17, 1946 a driver in St. Louis, Missouri., pulled out a handset from under his car's dashboard, placed a phone call and made history. It was the first mobile telephone call. A team including Alton Dickieson, H.I. Romnesand D. Mitchell from Bell Labs, worked more than a decade to achieve this feat. By 1948, wireless telephone service was available in almost 100 cities and highway corridors. Customers included utilities, truck fleet operators and reporters. However, with only 5,000 customers making 30,000 weekly calls, the service was far from commonplace.  That "primitive" wireless network could not handle large call volumes. A single transmitter on a central tower provided a handful of channels for an entire metropolitan area. Between one and eight receiver towers handled the call return signals. At most, three subscribers could make calls at one time in any city. It was, in effect, a massive party line, where subscribers would have to listen first for someone else on the line before making a call.  Expensive and far from "mobile", the service cost $15 per month, plus 30 to 40 cents per local call, and the equipment weighed 80 pounds. Just as they would use a CB microphone, users depressed a button on the handset to talk and released it to listen.  Improved technology after 1965 brought a few more channels, customer dialing and eliminated the cumbersome handset. But capacity remained so limited that Bell System officials rationed the service to 40,000 subscribers guided by agreements with state regulatory agencies. For example, 2,000 subscribers in New York City shared just 12 channels, and typically waited 30 minutes to place a call. It was wireless, but with "strings" attached.  Something better — cellular telephone service — had been conceived in 1947 by D.H. Ring at Bell Labs, but the idea was not ready for prime time. The system comprised multiple low-power transmitters spread throughout a city in a hexagonal grid, with automatic call handoff from one hexagon to another and reuse of frequencies within a city. The technology to implement it didn't exist, and the frequencies needed were not available. The cellular concept lay barron until the 1960s, when Richard Frenkiel and Joel Engel of Bell Labs applied computers and electronics to make it work.  AT&T turned their work into a proposal to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in December 1971. After years of hearings, the FCC approved the overall concept, but licensed two competing systems in each city.  Modern mobile telephony took a giant leap forward on April 3, 1973, when Motorola employee Martin Cooper placed a call to rival AT&T's Bell Labs while walking the streets of New York City talking on the first mobile telephone, a Motorola DynaTAC. In 1978, AT&T conducted FCC-authorized field trials in Chicago and Newark, N.J. Four years later, the FCC granted commercial licenses to an AT&T subsidiary, Advanced Mobile Phone Service Inc. (AMPS). AMPS was then divided among the local companies as part of the planning for divestiture. Illinois Bell opened the first commercial cellular system in October 1983.For their pioneering work in cellular telephony, AT&T Labs researchers Richard Frenkiel and Joel Engel earned the National Medal of Technology. Cellular telephony has spawned a Multi-billion dollar industry and has freed tens of millions of people, both at home and at work, to communicate anywhere, any time. TO LEARN MORE RELATED INFORMATION: Invention of the Telephone   from The Great Idea FinderCommunication History   from The Great Idea Finder   ON THE BOOKSHELF: Constant Touch: A Global History of the Mobile Phone by Jon Agar / Paperback: 192 pages / Publisher: Totem Books (February 25, 2005) Until not very long ago the mobile phone was expensive and the preserve of a rich few. Today the cellphone is everywhere--so common it goes unnoticed. Jon Agar tells the fascinating story behind the rise and rise of this incredible little device. The Mobile Connection: The Cell Phone's Impact on Society  by Rich Ling / Paperback: 244 pages / Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 3rd edition (May 18, 2004)  This book, based on world-wide research involving tens of thousands of interviews and contextual observations, looks into the impact of the phone on our daily lives. The mobile phone has fundamentally affected our accessibility, safety and security, coordination of social and business activities, and use of public places. Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium and How It Has Transformed Everything! by Paul Levinson / Hardcover: 240 pages / Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (April 17, 2004)  Cellphone explores the history of mobility in media--from books to cameras to transistor radios to laptops--and examines the unique impact of a device that sits in a pocket or palm, and lets us converse by voice or text. Invention of the Telephone ON THE SCREEN:The Telephone DVD / 1 Volume Set / 50 Minutes / History Channel / Less than $25.00 / Also VHS Undeniably essential to modern life, the telephone is the most important, influential, and effective communication tool ever developed. Exploring how one man's speaking device has grown into the technological web that links humankind, this thrilling program also revisits the race between Bell and rival Elisha Gray—who was building a similar design but ultimately filed the history-changing patent just two hours after Bell. ON THE WEB: AT&T Bell Laboratories History of mobile communications, including cellular phones. Working with a team of nearly 200 Bell Lab engineers, Engel and Frenkiel developed a concept that divided cities up into small coverage areas called cells. (URL: www.att.com/attlabs/reputation/timeline/83celltech.html) Mobile Communications History Seems to have been first "verbalized" by D. H. Ring (AT&T Bell Laboratories) in 1947. The advent of the cellular concept was a crucial contribution in the development of mobile communication. (URL: people.deas.harvard.edu/~jones/cscie129/nu_lectures/lecture7/cellular/cell_hist.html) Cellular Telephone Basics Cellular radio provides mobile telephone service by employing a network of cell sites distributed over a wide area. A cell site contains a radio transceiver and a base station controller which manages, sends, and receives traffic from the mobiles in its geographical area to a cellular telephone switch. (URL: www.privateline.com/Cellbasics/Cellbasics.html) First Mobile Phone Equipment. The predecessor of all mobile phones, the Motorola DynaTAC. We should thank Martin Cooper, Paul Galvin and Motorola that we have such mobile phones, as we know them today.  (URL: www.zfone.com/articles/a_id/36/the-first-mobile-phone) Martin CooperMartin Cooper was instrumental in conducting the first cellular trials in New York City in April 1973 and placed the first call from a Manhattan base station to rivals in Bell Labs in New Jersey, just to chide them about Motorola's lead. Article by by Loring Wirbel  for eeTimes. (URL: www.eetimes.com/special/special_issues/millennium/milestones/cooper.html)Invention Dimension - Inventor of the WeekCelebrates inventor/innovator role models through outreach activities and annual awards to inspire a new generation of American scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs.  (URL: web.mit.edu/invent/iow/freneng.html) Telecom & Wireless Publications  Free publications about telecommunications technology and management.  (URL: www.tradepub.com/_brands/www/cat/Tele.cat.html) Joel S. Engel Biography Joel Engel was born on February 4, 1936 in New York City. He received his Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the City College of New York in 1957. Joel's professional career began at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, where he worked on inertial guidance and stabilization systems. (URL: www.ieee.org/organizations/history_center/legacies/engel.html) Richard H. Frenkiel Biography Richard (Dick) Frenkiel was born on March 4, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Tufts University and Rutgers University, emerging with an aura of competence in mechanical engineering. (URL: www.ieee.org/organizations/history_center/legacies/frenkiel.html) William Jakes Biography William (Bill) C. Jakes, Jr. was born on May 15, 1922 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His lifelong fascination with radio started as a Cub Scout when he built a crystal set to fulfill one of the advancement requirements. (URL: www.ieee.org/organizations/history_center/legacies/jakes.html)WHERE TO FIND:Motorola RAZR V3 Phone Electronics at Amazon / by Motorola & Cingular / ASIN: B0006I2E1O / Less than ? The Moto Razr V3 is expertly crafted to deliver exceptional performance. Inside the ultra-thin design are advanced features like MPEG4 video playback, Bluetooth® wireless technology, a digital camera and more. And with the precision-cut keypad, minimalist styling and metal finish, the V3 looks just as beautiful as it performs. WORDS OF WISDOM: "Can you hear me now?" - Anonymous TV ad HOW IT WORKS: How Cell Phones Work A good way to understand the sophistication of a cell phone is to compare it to a CB radio or a walkie-talkie. By Marshall Brain and Jeff Tyson at How Stuff Works. POP-UP ADS.   Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. Reference Sources in BOLD Type. This page revised July 26, 2006.

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