Pagers still available?

wazza2004

Back in the 90s a person on the move can be contacted via a pager until mobiles took over.

Went for an interview and the job involves working in a prototype department. No mobiles are allowed as expected. There is a landline phone. Have forgotten to ask if a basic mobile with no camera eg Nokia 3330 can be used. If not was thinking of a pager. Are pagers still available?

jadziad

Yes. POCSAG is still used - they are around the frequency 153MHz, I believe. Mostly used by doctors. I don't know whether any pager plans are generally available for purchase by the public, but they seem to be if I google "uk buy pager plan"

A prototyping department *might* be okay with a device that doesn't transmit, but they might not want any electronic devices at all if they are, for example, doing some on-site EMI testing.

It's entirely possible that they have reception staff that can walk around delivering urgent messages, and maybe an internal PA system for large places.

Please note that pager traffic is usually not encrypted and is easily readable by anyone; there is a law against reading it though.

wazza2004

Thanks for the info. The pager will be used for emergency contact.

Ian011

If you do get a pager, check out how much people pay to call it. The cost can vary from a few pence to several pounds. Balance this with how much you pay for it up front and how much (if anything) you pay per month thereafter.

pmduk

wazza2004 wrote: »

Went for an interview and the job involves working in a prototype department. No mobiles are allowed as expected.

I have limited experience in similar sensitive environments. In our case each section had a small number of basic handset allowing sms texts for emergencies only. In our case the sensitivity was in not allowing a camera to in order to prevent data theft

pmduk

wazza2004 wrote: »

Went for an interview and the job involves working in a prototype department. No mobiles are allowed as expected.

I have limited experience in similar sensitive environments. In our case each section had a basic handset allowing sms texts for emergencies only. In our case the sensitivity was in not allowing a camera in order to prevent data theft

VisionMan

wazza2004 wrote: »

Back in the 90s a person on the move can be contacted via a pager until mobiles took over.

Went for an interview and the job involves working in a prototype department. No mobiles are allowed as expected. There is a landline phone. Have forgotten to ask if a basic mobile with no camera eg Nokia 3330 can be used. If not was thinking of a pager. Are pagers still available?

Theres no need to do that. What you do is give them the landline telephone number. And if anyone calls it, your manager will call you over.