UAE: Who is still using a pager in 2024?
At that time, it was a means of communication mostly practiced by growing professionals, mainly doctors and journalists, from the 1980s to the late 1990s and early 2000s.
They are straightforward, trustworthy, low-cost, and safe means of communication. Pagers are usually not harmful unless they are designed to be, and they are still relevant and practical even now.
Once a device of communication favored by career-oriented individuals such as doctors, journalists, and the likes from the 1980s to almost 1999, Pagers or beepers have given way to the more friendly configurable cell phones and smart phones at the beginning of twenty one years ago. However, they were not exactly wiped off the history page.
‘Pockets are mostly operational as many people consider it safe to use them. It does not use any public telephone system such as PSTN or paging is not a network type service rather it is privately owned and only a service that is offered’, said Rayad Kamal Ayub who is an IT security expert based in Dubai and the managing director of Rayad Group.
Because pagers have inherently low transmission, intrusion and interception, they have a very small electronic communication footprint. These devices operate on radio frequencies enabling a user to transmit messages via radio without the necessity of either the internet or any cellular call networks. ‘They are an effective non-invasive alternative to mobile devices for the more basic sms campaigns, observed Ayub.
As a simple enhancement, pagers are effective in scenarios where carrying or using mobile or cell phones is not dependable. Ayub noted that “What happened in Lebanon, was the physical equivalent of planting an IED (improvised explosive device) in a pager. Same is possible for old mobile phones that have removable batteries.”
Outdated but still in use
Rex Bacarra, PhD, Abu Dhabi-based professor of Philosophy and Ethics – who claims he stopped using pagers two and a half decades ago – declared that he was not surprised at all regarding people’s use of the pagers in times and circumstances when phone calls are difficult to make.
“Such a trend is observed in 2024 and people wonder why the use of pagers for the common person is out of millennia after mobile phones, penetration of practical use has come first. Yet, in certain niches, they still make sense because of their simplicity and possibility to function in low cellular activity regions,” according to him. “PAGERS: Older technology Brand Page previously used in school for short distances communicating is still in use. An it is used where constant communication is needed like in hospitals, efforts are made to quickly summon the doctor to an emergency.”
He further argued: “I don’t see any harmful effects of using pagers – they do not consume battery resources significantly compared to wiring, and even compared to smartphones, they do come in handy in low cell reception areas.”
Pagers are considered to be a safer means of communication than mobile phones with a rider. From the convenience pager phones offer, there are no security measures put in place; the messages are sent as they are in normal phones and can easily be tapped. But all these communication devices – pagers and mobile phones are in most cases of concern. Many, however, have faced great risks to health and other dangers, which has been especially dangerous with the use of lithium ion batteries, as has been the case before with Samsung battery explosions.
The other problems such as heat production and other factors such as manufacturing errors and sub-standard chargers also cause significant risks,” Bacarra continued.
He added: “Mobile phones are continually present in society because of the good casing cost to benefit comparison; the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The same applies to pagers.”
Ayub's a man who doesn't seek to mind but does. He stated that a pager cannot have any security issues, provided there is no interference. “The hardware could have been tampered prior to delivery to users,” he added, explaining: “A point to be noted is that pagers are manufactured in small quantities and it could be easy to convert them into an IED.” Ayub gave an advice: “We should buy our electronics from a known source and not from the gray market which on most of the times does not offer any warranties or source of inventory.”
Volker Turk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, meanwhile has called for accountability in respect of the Lebanon pager blasts.
The blasts, he noted, came up with “shocking” scenarios and “unacceptable” impact on civilians. 12 were reported dead, two of them children, and almost three thousand were reported injured.
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