CARRY YOUR OWN MOBILE PHONE 

Ever since the breakup of the Ma Bell phone monopoly in the U.S., Americans have been deluged with a cornucopia of color, size and technology in telephones. In Canada, most innovative items come from elsewhere -- only to be held up for years because Canadian phone companies, working in conjuction with the C.R.T.C., are generally out to lunch. Canada used to be ahead in communications. Not any more. In one of the world's fastest moving industries, where the service travels at the speed of light these guys are still driving covered wagons.

On January 1st 1989 I wrote about the Forum phone, then just out in London, England. Now four competitive companies there all deliver similar services using the same general idea -- an outgrowth of the home cordless -- CT2, Cordless Telephone, Second Generation. It lets you phone from anywhere within a few hundred metres of a "telepoint". London is now saturated with 5,000 of these "telepoint" repeaters so talks can be made from almost anywhere ... at one-tenth the price ($200 not $2,000) for the unit and a minute fraction of the operating cost ($15 a month, not 50 cents a minute) of cellular phones. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong they are installing 7,000 "telepoints", or robotic repeaters to handle the expected surge of business for their new CT2-type of phones, almost identical to the British models. Don't expect Canadian phone companies to deliver this helpful and economical new service while their monopoly continues to hold.

Another big advance in the mobile phone field is now coming to the rest of the world: the in-your-car-mobilephone-via-a-payphone-boothphone. In Canada it will probably be introduced as the newest thing for the Third Millennium. Exactly what is it? A phone that permits calls from the car without having to subscribe to an expensive cellular system or mobile phone service! Status without being soaked.

It works like this: The caller drivea up to one of the ubiquitous outdoor pay telephone booths, plugs the inexpensive "mobile phone" into the car's cigarette lighter (It's time another use was found), keys in a credit card number and relaxes in the privacy and comfort of the car while making that important call.

Every one is aware of how to communicate with television sets these days by using a hand-held remote control unit to turn the set on, switch channels, increase volume, etc. The new "mobile phone" uses the same infra-red technology.

A U.S. patent (#4,829,561) has just been issued to Tek Electronics of Connecticut for such a unit. It will require some co-operation from the phone company or (in the U.S.) individuals or companies who own pay phone booths. To handle this new revenue source such phone booths will have to be equipped with infra-red transceivers capable of sending and receiving signals over the relatively short distance between the phone booth and a parked car. Yes, the signal goes through the car's glass windows, direct to the nearby phone booth and you have secure communication unlike with cellular phones and it eliminates any suspected contact with an unsanitary pay phone.

Those horrendous cellular air time charges are also eliminated and the phone is not visible to a passer-by when the phone is not in use. You store it in your glove compartment, brief case or under the seat. To eliminate signals from different handsets, the system will have to be digitally coded, however, this is not expected to be a problem as all phone systems are switching to digitalization to move onto the forthcoming "electronic highway" or ISDN (Intergrated System Digital Network) now spreading around the world (Tek also manufacturers a telephone amplifier for the hearing impaired and a Programmable Call Manager for business PBX and other uses).

This type of convenient phone access could work with a new British patent (#2 230 163) filed by Alistair Mackenzie of Redcar, England. This inventor suggests that home appliances, plugged into nearby wall sockets to connect with the home wiring system, could be simply connected to a phone which would allow operational control by a remote phone. You could turn the micro-wave on during the drive home - or turn it off temporarily if stuck in traffic. At night, lights, TV or radio could be switched on and off in random fashion making it appear the house is occupied. Status tones would allow checks, for example when you go out of town for a few weeks, to confirm whether you really did turn off the stove, thus preventing a return trip home (and maybe missing your flight) to check personally or asking Aunt Minnie to take a cab to your house before it burns down.

For now phone your phone company to see when they may get these new conveniences; for tomorrow look for Mindlink. It's on the way. That'll be one way to eliminate monopolies.

More information: Fay Wells, Marketing Coordinator, Tek Communications Services Inc., 6 Progress Drive, Manchester, CONN. Phone: 203/647-8738. Fax: 203/649-7735.

* * *

< previous | chapter index | next >
back to Main Chapter Listing
back to Home Page