February 7, 2012

The History of Wireless Directories

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, in a nation that now relies so heavily on wireless devices, only a few population owned a cell phone. Though movable phone technology has existed for about a century, it was only 15 years past that they grew in popularity, and population began to use them more frequently than their landline telephones. Today, it is estimated that there are more than 150 million cellular subscribers in the U.S. Alone. Thus, it is understandable why it was believed to be a good idea to create a 411 directory for cellphones.

The history of cellular phone directories is quite brief and began in the 1990's. It was an idea that many movable phone carriers advanced together, and the idea was born from the knowledge that the amount of cell phone consumers was dramatically increasing, and a national directory would best help these subscribers find one another. The telephone carriers complex in the creation of this heavy database included: At&T Wireless, Alltel, Nextel, T-Mobile, Sprint Pcs, and Cingular. Together they hired Qsent, Inc. To help them form the data bank that would be called Wireless 411.

Basically, the plan for this service was to enable movable consumers to join an online database very similar to 411. This directory was not to be published in hardcopy, and cell users were given the opportunity to opt-in. In other words, they would not be automatically included in the index, and could plainly opt-in their information, and opt-out at anytime for free. This was conception to be a great plan because it would benefit current wireless customers, and make the idea of cellphones more popular to none users who then might feel inclined to gain one.






In addition, to ensure the privacy of those cell phone consumers who opted into the directory, the data within the database would not be published everywhere else online or in a printed version. This would prevent others from studying millions of cellular numbers, selling this information, or using it for telemarketing purposes. Moreover, the directory was to solely be used for the purpose of specifically seeing up a movable number. Under no circumstances would the data be sold to businesses, telemarketers, or whatever else.

Nevertheless, despite promises of privacy, and the belief that such a directory would be beneficial for cellular subscribers, in the end, it was decided that such a directory would prove to be too unstable, and was cancelled. The major problem concerned privacy issues. Since wireless fees are not regulated, those in the directory would be at risk of receiving unwanted calls or texts they would be charged for.

Thus, even though you are unable to find a movable phone user's amount with a send search, you can still use a cell phone tracer site on a cellular amount to find out the identity of a caller. However, when all is said and done, the history of wireless directories is one story that didn't have a happy ending.

The History of Wireless Directories

Absolute Encoders Parallax Basic Stamp Thierry Daniel Henry Skills