On April 3, 1973 a Motorola engineer called his rival at Bell Labs from a New York sidewalk on a handheld phone. The cellular idea dated to December 1947 and took thirty-six years to reach paying customers, whose numbers dwarfed a consultant's forecast. The episode follows the DynaTAC, digital networks, texting, the smartphone and spectrum auctions, and explains the advertising campaign that named the series.
Who's who
- Martin CooperMotorola engineer who made the first public handheld cellular call in 1973
- Joel EngelBell Labs engineer on the rival team whom Cooper called
- Douglas H. RingBell Labs engineer whose 1947 memo described a hexagonal cellular plan
- W. Rae YoungBell Labs engineer credited with proposing the hexagonal cell layout
- Amos JoelBell Labs engineer whose patent described handing calls between cells
- Craig McCawEntrepreneur who bought cellular licenses in the 1980s
- Neil PapworthEngineer who sent the first text message in 1992
- Paul MarcarelliActor who played Verizon's Test Man from 2002 to 2011
Where it happens
- Sixth Avenue, New York CitySite of the first public handheld cellular call
- Chicago, Illinois+15 more episodesCommercial cellular service opened there in October 1983
- Tokyo, Japan+1 more episodeFirst commercial cellular network (1979) and first 3G network (2001)
- Minneapolis, MinnesotaWith Chicago, got Verizon's first 5G in 2019
- Stockholm, SwedenWith Oslo, first commercial LTE networks in 2009
Timeline
- December 11, 1947A Bell Labs memorandum describes many low-power towers in a hexagonal cellular arrangement
- April 3, 1973Martin Cooper makes the first public call on a handheld cellular phone
- October 13, 1983Commercial cellular service opens in Chicago
- December 3, 1992The first text message, Merry Christmas, is sent
- July 1994The FCC's first spectrum auction raises about 617 million dollars
- January 9, 2007Apple announces the iPhone
Still debated
Credit for the cell phone depends on whether one means the network, which Bell Labs conceived, or the handset, which Motorola built. Historians also split on why service took thirty-six years, whether 5G was oversold, and whether three national carriers is enough competition.