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I saw something where they gave their kid a pager instead of a phone so they could still be told when to come home but couldn’t waste time fucking about online.
I thought that might actually be pretty effective except for the fact that the kid could easily just ignore your pages.
People that don’t want their location triangulated from cell phone towers.
People that work on-call do this, especially in tech or security.
I’m considering making the switch because my paging calls are from a random set of phone numbers, so I cannot attach a specific ringtone to them. After a few horrible pages, you start to associate your phone going off as a world-ending experience, when it’s just your wife calling to ask if you want her to pick something up for you from the shop. A separate device that disassociates my phone from pain would be nice.
A separate device that disassociates my phone from pain would be nice.
Like a work phone?
Opsgenie and PagerDuty let you add them as contacts from within the app and it manages the rotating numbers for you so you can keep using a specific ringtone for them. This is also how they can override DND so you can go back to muting your phone at night and know that pages will still come in.
Alternative thought, what about dual sims? Could you not assign a ringtone to a specific sim, and use that sims phone number only for work?
People that work in classified environments. You can’t have smart devices (phones, watches, anything that communicates with the outside) while in these controlled spaces. pagers are acceptable because they’re 1 way communication, so there’s no risk of data leaks from the classified space
Pagers are not guaranteed to be 1 way comms and bringing them into secure locations is a security violation. Additionally, depending on the classification, no unauthorized and undisclosed devices of any kind would be permitted, including any electronics or electronic media such as tapes, CDs, discs, etc. Even when I was issued a verified 1-way pager, I was specifically briefed I was not permitted to bring it into a classified location. Most of the highly classified SCIFS are shielded anyways, you can’t use it inside so it’s safer to leave it out, along with all other devices.
If your organization allows it, then (if federal) they are breaking the law and should be reported/up-channeled. If it’s corpo, you should bring up additional concerns with your security team.
Edit: Also, it goes without saying, current events are probably a good reason why pagers (and other devices) aren’t allowed in classified areas. While most focus on disclosure (getting out), we must not forget the risk of data/operations getting destroyed.
Idk man, I have a federally compliant 1 way pager. So it’s not illegal. We score the highest marks on our DoD security audits every year. Theyre distrubuted from the security office, so I’m sure they do some sort of vetting on each individual one.
We’re a govt contractor, but our civilian govt counterparts use them too
Work has me using my current phone for alerts on my on-call rotation. I asked them to send me a pager instead if I can’t properly filter the alerts (Jira on Android has at least 2 sets of notification settings and then there are settings apparently within Jira. I was getting basically every Jira, Confluence, etc. message).
So…essentially just because they’re cheap?
I can see maybe businesses that don’t want/need to buy full-blown smartphones for their employees. These things probably cost $50? vs. $700 for a smartphone.
Cellular signals have a hard time penetrating dense concrete buildings and underground structures. That’s why doctors still use them, even in the States.
Doctors that work in hospital bunkers? Do pagers not use cellular signals?
Hospitals are practically faraday cages, it can be hard to get a signal in large hospitals.
But a text message that amounts to just a few bits can usually sneak through without much delay.
I was thinking it had more to do with the use of the 900MHz band which has advantages in the penetration of certain materials compared to higher frequencies but I’m not an expert.
There are definitely cheaper smartphones than that too.
Useful ones?
Of course? They have the same functionality. A cheap one can be under $100 and works just fine.
You can also setup local comms network for them and the bands they can operate in have better structural penetration vs most WiFi/cellular?
It also gives them a singular, simple device that won’t be confused for personal notifications like a smart phone.
Not everything needs to be bleeding edge. We still use forks and spoons cuz they just work.
Not everything needs to be bleeding edge. We still use forks and spoons cuz they just work.
I use my hands, even better than forks and spoons.
You use your hands because they were better than just your mouth 🤷♂️ (thanks evolution)
If anyone sees a salamander, it’s Liz’s.
I don’t know why people still using pagers this day. Smartphones exist to replace that, even if you afraid to use smartphones because NSA/FBI/CIA/KGB tracking you could use dumb phone tho…
Even dumb phone can achieve so many things compared to pagerIt’s because they are simpler devices which are much less infrastructure dependent, and also less power hungry. A single battery charge in a pager will last you much longer than a single battery charge on a smartphone.
Also due to their lower infrastructure requirements they can function even if cellular networks are not functioning, at all or optimally.
if cellular networks are not functioning
What networks do they use then?
Maybe you could read the article and learn something:
But the tiny electronic devices remain a vital means of communication in some areas - such as health care and emergency services, thanks to their durability and long battery life.
“It’s the cheapest and most efficient way to communicate to a large number of people about messages that don’t need responses,” said a senior surgeon at a major U.K. hospital, adding that pagers are commonly used by doctors and nurses across the country’s National Health Service (NHS). “It’s used to tell people where to go, when, and what for.”
Smartphones do a lot of things that might not be needed (look into how many different sensors they have). Sometimes a person doesn’t have access to a charger or time to charge a device and running out of battery could mean someone dies.
Who still uses pagers?
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon (injured in pager explosion), apparently!
He was probably meeting with someone who had one, being an ambassador and all.
Doctors
Israel could have taken out entire hospital staffs with this “technique”. Hope they remain human and don’t.
A lot of the pager victims were civilian, and calling zionists “human” when a decades-long war has long since surpassed the genocide threshold is insulting.
Not defending arab extremists either in case your us/them mentality couldn’t tell and no, not all Palestinians are terrorists.
Those devices were bought by Hesbollah, for their soldiers to use, and were connected to a network they operate.
From what I understand about the attack, even if one of these devices made it’s way into the hands of a doctor, it would have to be connected to the Hesbollah network to detonate.
Not just their soldiers, civilian members of the organisation were also using them.
Bold of you to call them soldiers. For the Israel state or, I hope, government, they are all active/inactive terrorists. Yeah, 10 year olds, too.
I called them soldiers because that is the terminology the person I was replying to used.
They (Israeli government) have murdered thousands of innocent men, women and children already without any remorse. Destroyed the entirety of Gaza.
What makes you think the Israeli government has any heart, sympathy or feelings at all?
Boo hoo poor terrorists got blown up
Boo hoo poor terrorists got blown up
Your name and comment just screams ‘’troll’’ but for the sake of it, I will respond and then block you since you got nothing good to comment anyway.
Your particular comment claims that all Palestinian, Iranian (and in general Arabian) lives are terrorists which is immensely wrong and a Zionistic view. Secondly, what do you consider a terrorist? Because if we look how Israel as a state was made and what atrocities they’ve done since 1948 up until 2024 (ongoing). We could very well consider Israel a terroristic state.
Now about the pagers that have been purposefully exploded by the Israeli state (government). It’s widely known that also innocent people (non-Hezbollah) have been wounded and murdered because of Israel’s terroristic action;
- How Israel Built a Modern-Day Trojan Horse: Exploding Pagers From the article:
Mohammed Awada, 52, and his son were driving by one man whose pager exploded, he said. “My son went crazy and started to scream when he saw the man’s hand flying away from him,” he said.
By the end of the day, at least a dozen people were dead and more than 2,700 were wounded, many of them maimed. And the following day, 20 more people were killed and hundreds wounded when walkie-talkies in Lebanon also began mysteriously exploding. Some of the dead and wounded were Hezbollah members, but others were not; four of the dead were children.
- Israel Blamed as Pager Explosions in Lebanon Kill 12 & Injure 2,800; Hezbollah Vows to Respond From the article:
Individual explosions occurred in supermarkets, cafes, houses and in other public places. Many of the injuries were sustained by civilians who were not carrying the pagers themselves, including at least two children who died from their wounds.
- Second Wave of Blasts Hits Lebanon as Hand-Held Radios Explode From the article:
One of the explosions happened at an outdoor funeral in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where thousands had gathered to mourn two Hezbollah fighters, a paramedic and a 12-year-old boy killed in the pager blasts.
“I saw stuff today that you can only see in movies,” said Hussein Awada, 54, recounting how he watched as a man attempting to clear the road for ambulances in Beirut was gravely injured when his hand-held radio exploded.
“It took seconds — the thing just blew up in his hands,” Mr. Awada said. “Maybe tomorrow lighters will explode, too. If you want to light a cigarette, it will just explode in your hand.”
Fires engulfed at least 60 homes and shops, and dozens of cars and motorcycles, including in the Bekaa Valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut, said the Lebanese Civil Defense, an emergency rescue organization. Both areas are known as Hezbollah strongholds. Ambulances clogged the roads, and some hospitals in southern Lebanon were swamped with dozens of wounded patients, according to Lebanon’s state-run news agency.
If you want to kill one another, go ahead. But what Israel (government) has done is (once again) a terroristic action. They murdered innocent people along the way without remorse. The pagers went off in cars, shops and such.
I will block you now, MY_ANUS_IS_BLEEDING@lemm.ee, since you are definitely not the kind of human I would want to interact with on the internet.
Bruh, you’re literally defending a country who just made a bunch of people unwitting suicide bombers in a foreign country and injured thousands for political purposes. This is terrorism
The irony is unreal
