Essential Guide to Telecommunications, The, Third Edition

Historical Background of Mobile and Cellular Services

Prior to the first deployment of analog cellular car telephones in 1984, users who wanted to place telephone calls from their cars used mobile non-cellular telephone networks that had connections to the public switched network. The first mobile telephone system was started in 1946 in St. Louis, Missouri. Costs for car telephones were high, between $2000 to $2500, and capacity was limited. The local telephone company in each city operated one transmitter and receiver for the entire area. Thus, the entire area covered by the one transmitter shared the same channels. This meant that only a limited number (25 to 35) of simultaneous calls could be placed on each city's mobile system. In addition ...