Pagers are the collective memories of the baby boomers and the generation Xs. With the advancement of technology, there are growing variety in modes of communication. Computers and smartphones, you name it! Well if you have never heard of a pager, first, you are probably very young; second, a pager is a wireless device for you to receive messages.
As these pagers fade out with time, telecommunication companies which used to offer pager service either shifted their focuses or shut down.The remaining one and only company in Japan that still offers pager service, the Tokyo Telemessage, has applied the technology of pagers on disaster-prevention and designed the earthquake-prone radio. This is actually also why their company gets to survive.
▲Tokyo Telemessage cooperates with Japanese government to develop disaster-prone radio in hopes to remind citizens in case of earthquakes.
NTT docomo has been providing pager service for every part of Japan until it shut down in 2007. Tokyo Telemessage then became the only company that provides pager service. Currently, its service covers Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba. However, the number of their contracts dropped significantly from over 10,000,000 to 1500 now due to the stop of recruiting and accepting new customers starting from 2013. They have even announced that they would no longer provide pager service from September, 2019 onwards. In the future, they would channel their resources on developing disaster-prone products.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, Legislative Councillors can still receive messages from the Legislative Council despite the official declaration of the end of pager service by the government on 31st December, 2010. Including medical and discipline parties, there are only 20,000 active pager users in 2017. Although pagers are not as popular as it was in mid-to-late 20th century, we could still have access to pager service. So, if you could find one at your place, you could still try it out in Hong Kong!
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Pagers have vanished in our modern lives. Do you think that it is inevitable for pagers to be outshone by the latest technological inventions? Or would you lament its disappearance? Tell us what you think!