Evolution of the Cell Phone Term Paper

Total Length: 873 words ( 3 double-spaced pages)

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A prototype system for cellular phone service was created by at&T and Bell in 1977. In 1978, this new system was put through public trials with more than two-thousand trial customers in the Chicago-area. The first actual commercial cellular telephone service was offered in Japan in 1979. The United States lagged a little behind, as they were still testing cellular systems in the Washington area in 1981. Finally, in 1982 the FCC authorized the establishment of commercial cellular telephone service in the United States. In 1983, the first commercial analog cellular telephone service in America was available in Chicago, under the name Ameritech. The popularity of cellular phone service skyrocketed through the 1980s, and subscribers to cellular telephone service exceeded one million by 1987.

This fast and dramatic increase in demand for cellular telephone technology necessitated changes within the system so that more cellular service users could be accommodated. There were three ways in which services could be improved upon: 1) increase the allocation of frequencies; 2) split cells already in existence; 3) overall improvement of the technology. Since the FCC was unwilling to allocate any more bandwidth, and splitting cells would have been cost-prohibitive, the FCC announced in 1987 that alternative cellular technologies could be developed that would utilize the 800 MHz band, and cellular service companies began to research and develop new transmission technologies.


1988 saw the establishment of the Cellular Technology Industry Association. This body worked in conjunction with researchers and cellular service operators to establish new technological requirements and goals in the industry. The new service and products using new transmission technology were targeted for introduction I 1991. This new service featured a ten-fold increased in system capacity with both analog and digital transmission, as well as new technologies like fax and messaging.

Early 1991 saw the release of standard specifications by the Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA). The first standard, known as TDMA IS-54 was established in early 1991. 1994 saw an FCC announcement that there would be allocation of a 1900 MHz band spectrum specifically for Personal Communications Services technology. Since 1991, there have been three major standards released: Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA IS-136); Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA IS-95); and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). All three of these standards are in use today......

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