How do pagers work?

Question

i never saw one upclose

how do people use it?

can you call with it?

Answer 1

A pager (sometimes called a beeper) is a simple personal telecommunications device for short messages. A one-way numeric pager can only receive a message consisting of a few digits, typically a phone number that the user is then expected to call. Alphanumeric pagers are also available, and two-way ones can send email or SMS messages as well as receiving.

Until the popular adoption of mobile phones in the late 1990s, pagers fulfilled the role of common personal and mobile communications. As of 2008, pagers have fallen into obsolescence and are preserved only by niche markets consisting largely of emergency service personnel, medical personnel, and information technology support staff.

Paging is a subscription service offered in a variety of plans and options to meet the needs of a subscriber and the type of device used. In general, all pagers are given unique phone numbers while alphanumeric pagers are given an email address, usually consisting of the phone number.

Upon calling a phone number assigned to a pager, the calling party reaches a recorded greeting asking the caller to enter a numeric message, and sometimes giving the caller an option to leave voice mail. Usually, within a few minutes, the paged person will receive an alert from the pager with the phone number to return the call and/or a pager code. In the case of email paging, the text is displayed.