Mobile communication, which operates today around the world, is traditionally considered a relatively new invention. However, the first concepts of infrastructure organization mobile communications appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. It is difficult to answer the question in which country the first mobile phones appeared and when. But if you try to do this - what facts about the development of telephone communications using radio equipment should be studied first of all? Based on what criteria should certain devices be classified as mobile phones?
The History of Mobile Phones: Basic Facts
To answer the question - who invented the first mobile phone in the world, we can, first of all, familiarize ourselves with the history of the creation of the corresponding communication devices.
Concepts and prototypes of communication devices, from a functional point of view, close to mobile phones, began to be discussed in various communities (scientific, engineering) as early as the beginning of the 20th century. But in the late 70s, the cell phone itself as a subscriber means of communication was proposed to be developed by the Bell Laboratories, which belonged to one of the largest American corporations, AT&T. Among the first states to successfully implement commercial systems mobile communication - Finland. Mobile communication systems were also actively developed in the USSR.
But which state was ahead of the rest in terms of the introduction of mobile phones?
It will be useful to dwell in more detail on Soviet inventions - getting acquainted with the facts about them will help us understand when the first mobile phone appeared in the world and in which country.
During the Great Patriotic War the idea of creating a special device, a monophone, was proposed by the Soviet scientist Georgy Ilyich Babat. This device was supposed to be portable phone, functioning in automatic mode. It was assumed that it would operate in the range of 1-2 GHz. The principal feature of the apparatus proposed by G.I. Babat, was to provide voice transmission through an extensive network of special waveguides.
In 1946, G. Shapiro and I. Zakharchenko proposed to organize a system radiotelephone communications, within which devices for receiving and transmitting voice were to be placed in cars. In accordance with this concept, the basis of the mobile communication infrastructure should have been existing city stations, supplemented with special radio equipment. It was supposed to use special call signs as a subscriber identifier.
In April 1957, Soviet engineer Leonid Ivanovich Kupriyanovich created a prototype communication device - the LK-1 radiotelephone. This device had a range of about 30 km and had a significant weight - about 3 kg. He could provide communication through interaction with a special automatic telephone exchange, which could connect to urban telephone lines. Subsequently, the phone has been improved. Is not it. Kupriyanovich significantly reduced the weight and dimensions of the device. In the updated version, the size of the device was approximately is equal to 2 cigarette boxes stacked on top of each other. The weight of the radiotelephone was about 500 grams, including the battery. It was expected that the Soviet mobile phone would be widely used in the national economy, in everyday life and would become the subject of personal use citizens.
Radiotelephone L.I. Kupriyanovich allowed not only making calls, but also receiving them - subject to assignment personal number, as well as the use of infrastructure that allows you to transmit signals from automatic telephone exchanges to automatic telephone radio stations, and from them to subscriber devices.
Research in the field of mobile communications was also carried out in other socialist countries. For example, in 1959 the Bulgarian scientist Hristo Bachvarov developed mobile device, similar in basic principle to L.I. Kupriyanovich, and patented it.
Can we say that the world's first mobile phone was invented in this way in the USSR or in other socialist countries?
Criteria for classifying devices as mobile phones
First of all, it is worth deciding what to consider, in fact, a mobile phone. In accordance with the common definition, this should be considered a device that:
Compact (a person can carry it with him);
Works using radio channels;
Allows one subscriber to call another using a unique number;
Integrated in a certain way with wired telephone networks;
Publicly available (the ability to connect does not require permission from any competent authorities and is limited by the financial and infrastructural resources of subscribers).
From this point of view, a full-fledged mobile phone has not yet been invented. But, of course, the above criteria for determining a mobile phone cannot be considered universal. And if we remove from them, in particular, accessibility and compactness, then the rest may well correspond to the Soviet Altai system. Let's consider its features in more detail.
Soviet experience in the development of mobile communications: the Altai system
When studying the question of which is the very first mobile phone in the world, it is useful to familiarize yourself with the basic facts about the corresponding communication system. The devices connected to it had, in principle, all the signs of a mobile phone, except for general availability. This system, thus:
Allowed some subscribers to call others by numbers;
It was in a certain way integrated with city networks.
But it was not publicly available: subscriber lists were approved at the departmental level. The Altai system was launched in the 60s in Moscow, and in the 70s it was deployed in more than 100 cities of the USSR. It was actively used during the 1980 Olympics.
There were plans in the USSR to create a mobile communication system to which everyone could connect. But due to the economic and political difficulties of the mid-late 80s, work on the development of this concept was curtailed.
In post-Soviet Russia, Western cellular standards were introduced. By that time, they had been providing communications between devices for quite a long time, which could be called full-fledged mobile phones. Let us study how the corresponding standards developed in the West. This, again, will help us answer the question of where and when the world's first mobile phone appeared.
History of mobile communications in the United States
As we noted at the beginning of the article, prototypes of mobile phones in the West began to appear as early as the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1930s and 1940s, real developments began to take root. In 1933, NYPD vehicles could communicate using half-duplex radio transmitters. In 1946, a mobile network was deployed in which private subscribers could communicate with each other using radio equipment through the mediation of an operator. In 1948, an infrastructure was launched that allowed one subscriber to call another in automatic mode.
Is it possible to say that it was in the USA that the world's first mobile phone was thus invented? If we consider the above criteria for classifying a radiotelephone as a device of the appropriate type - yes, you can say so, but in relation to later American developments. The fact is that the principles of its functioning of American cellular networks of the 40s were very far from those that characterize modern
Systems like those deployed in Missouri and Indiana in the 1940s had significant frequency and channel limitations. This did not allow a sufficiently large number of subscribers to be connected to mobile networks at the same time. The solution to this problem was proposed by Bell specialist D. Ring, who proposed dividing the radio signal propagation area into cells or cells, which would be formed by special base stations operating on different frequencies. This principle, in general, is also implemented by modern cellular operators. The implementation of the concept of D. Ring in practice was carried out in 1969.
History of mobile communication in Europe and Japan
In Western Europe, the first telephone systems using radio equipment were tested in 1951. In the 1960s, work in this direction active in Japan. It is noteworthy that it was the Japanese developers who established that optimal frequency for the deployment of mobile communication infrastructure - 400 and 900 MHz. Today, these frequencies are among the main ones used by cellular operators.
Finland has become one of the leading countries in terms of introducing developments in the field of organizing the functioning of a full-fledged cellular network. In 1971, the Finns began to deploy a commercial cellular network, the coverage of which by 1978 reached the size of the entire country. Does this mean that the very first mobile phone in the world, functioning according to modern principles, appeared in Finland? There are certain arguments in favor of this thesis: in particular, the fact that Finnish telecommunications corporations are deploying the corresponding infrastructure across the country has been established. But in accordance with the traditional point of view, such a device nevertheless appeared in the United States. main role in this, again, if we consider the popular version, Motorola played.
Cellular Concepts from Motorola
In the early 1970s, very tough competition developed between service and equipment providers in the United States in a promising market segment - in the field of cellular communications. The main rivals here are AT&T and Motorola. At the same time, the first company focused on the deployment automotive systems communications - by the way, like the telecommunications corporations in Finland, the second - on the introduction of compact devices that any subscriber could carry with him.
The second concept won, and on its basis, Motorola Corporation began to deploy, in fact, a full-fledged modern understanding cellular network using compact devices. The world's first mobile phone within the Motorola infrastructure, again, in accordance with the traditional approach, was used as subscriber device in 1973. After 10 years, a full-fledged commercial network was launched in the United States, to which ordinary Americans could connect.
Consider what was the world's first mobile phone, invented, in accordance with the popular point of view, the engineers of the American company Motorola.
The first cell phone: specifications
We are talking about the Motorola DynaTAC device. He weighed about 1.15 kg. Its size was 22.5 x 12.5 x 3.75 cm. number keys to dial a number, and two special buttons to send a call, as well as end a conversation. The device had a battery, thanks to which it could function in call waiting mode for about 8 hours, and in talk mode for about 1 hour. Charge the battery first cell phone it took over 10 hours.
What does the world's first mobile phone look like? A photo of the device is below.
Subsequently, Motorola released a number of upgraded versions of the device. If we talk about Motorola's commercial network, the first mobile phone in the world was made for the corresponding infrastructure in 1983.
We are talking about Motorola device DynaTAC 8000X. This device weighed about 800 grams, its dimensions were comparable to the first version of the device. It is noteworthy that 30 subscriber numbers could be stored in his memory.
Who invented the first mobile phone?
So let's try to answer our main question who invented the world's first mobile phone. The history of the development of telephone communications using radio equipment suggests that the very first device that fully met the criteria for referring to mobile phones, which are still relevant today, was invented by Motorola in the USA and shown to the world in 1973.
However, it would be wrong to say that this corporation has implemented fundamentally new development. Mobile phones - in the sense that they were radio equipment and provided communication between subscribers using a unique number - were used by that time in the USSR, Europe, and Japan. If we talk about when the world's first mobile phone was commercialized, the company that developed it launched the corresponding business in 1983, later than, in particular, similar projects were introduced in Finland.
Thus, Motorola Corporation can rightfully be considered the first to offer a mobile phone in the modern sense - in particular, functioning on the principle of distributing base stations over cells, and also having a compact format. Thus, if we talk about exactly where the world's first mobile phone was invented, in which country - as a portable, compact device that is part of the cellular communication infrastructure, then it would be legitimate to determine that the United States became this state.
At the same time, it is worth noting that the Soviet Altai system functioned quite successfully even without the introduction of technologies. american style. Thus, engineers from the USSR proved in principle the possibility of deploying a mobile communication infrastructure on a national scale, in fact, without using the principles of distribution of base stations over cells.
It is possible that without the economic and political problems of the 1980s, the USSR would have introduced its own mobile networks operating on the basis of alternative concepts to the American ones, and they would have worked no worse. However, the fact is that today Russia uses cellular communication standards developed in the Western world, which offered and commercialized the first mobile phones.
It is worth noting that the Altai system actually worked until 2011. Thus, Soviet engineering developments long time remained relevant, and this may indicate that, with the necessary refinement, they could compete with foreign concepts for building a cellular communication infrastructure.
Summary
So, who invented the world's first mobile phone? It is difficult to answer this question briefly. If a mobile phone is understood as a compact subscriber radio equipment integrated with city networks, operating according to honeycomb principle and accessible to everyone, then, probably, for the first time this infrastructure was introduced American company Motorola.
Speaking of the first commercial cellular networks - those, probably on a national scale, were introduced in Finland, but with the use of devices focused on placement in cars. Non-commercial closed mobile networks were also successfully deployed, in fact, on a national scale, in the USSR.
The number of subscribers, coverage area, tariffs, phone models and other interesting details.
Delta Telecom was the first company in Russia to sell cell phones to private individuals. The first call was made by Anatoly Sobchak in September 1991. The Nokia phone used by the mayor of St. Petersburg to talk to his New York acquaintance cost $5,000. This is huge money. In December of the same year average salary in the country hardly exceeded $100 official exchange rate"Gosbank".
Over the next decade, mobile communications became more accessible and the number of subscribers grew. According to the RIA-Novosti company, by 1999 there were almost one and a half million active SIM cards in Russia.
In 1999, there was a turning point when cellular communication turned from an elite to a mass service. Severo-Zapadny-GSM (the future MegaFon) occupied less than 10% of the market. Half of the subscribers were almost equally divided between Beeline and MTS. The rest of the SIM cards belonged to small regional operators.
This is what beeline.ru looked like on December 12, 1998 (screenshot taken from webarchive.org). Experts in HTML were then rare and expensive, so the year 99 was attributed in advance.
And here is the MTS website dated December 12, 1998. The design for it was made by Artemy Lebedev's studio. Pay attention to the buttons for selecting the encoding at the very top of the screen. You rarely see this now.
Screenshots of other sites of those times are in.
Major operators of those times: Sonnet, Moscow Cellular Communications and Delta Telecom in currently ceased to provide cellular services and their sites of those times can no longer be found. In the mid-90s, they held some market share, but in the early 2000s, the Big Three took over and the operators had to leave the scene or change their profile.
One of the few operators, except for MTS and Beeline, that has survived since those times without a radical rebranding is Smarts (Middle Volga Interregional Association of Radio Telecommunication Systems). In 1999, he worked only in the Samara and Ivanovo regions. Now the operator serves subscribers in Mordovia, Mari El, Penza and Ulyanovsk.
Tariffs
Before starting the story about communication rates, here are some numbers that will help you remember the financial situation at the beginning of 1999:
- The average salary in Russia is ~ 70 dollars / 1500 rubles;
- A liter of gasoline ~ 7 rubles;
- A liter of milk ~ 4 rubles;
- A dozen eggs ~ 11 rubles;
- Brent oil ~ $10/250 rubles per barrel.
Data on tariffs are given at the end of 1998 using the Beeline network as an example.
So, to have the honor of being connected to the network, you had to pay 99 dollars. For this, an ordinary Russian would need to combine work with a 40-day fasting session for a month and a half. And if he wants to buy beautiful room, you will have to abstain from food for several more weeks. Please note that direct Moscow numbers are offered for connection.
If a person decides to purchase a phone not from the same company from which he wants to purchase communication services or change the operator, then the service “Testing the radiotelephone” is imposed on him for $50. Will schoolchildren be handing out sim cards on the streets for free in just a dozen years?
The simplest tariff assumed a guarantee fee of $100 and a subscription fee of $19. 60 cents cost a minute of conversation during the day (8.00 - 20.00) and 0.33 cents at night. Nothing is said about the prices for SMS in the tariff information, only the possibility of providing such services is mentioned at the very bottom.
Caller ID connection cost $25 and did not require a monthly fee. For $15 per month, you can use call forwarding, call waiting, or caller ID. There was no per-second billing. If a person spoke for 1:01 minutes, then the money was debited in two.
Intranet incoming calls "Beeline" and "MTS" very soon became free. And GPRS and the ability to connect to the mobile Internet appeared in 2001.
Coverage
Cellular communication services provided by metropolitan operators worked correctly only in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The penetration of communications into the regions was just beginning and local companies worked there, subsequently absorbed regional operators. In 1998, MTS was just about to conduct communications on the M-95 highway.
Most of the Moscow region was not covered by cellular communications.
For today, the goal is to create a unified federal network reached. But on the territory of our country there are still a lot of places where no operator accepts.
Phone models
The phones of the late nineties were much larger than modern ones and could serve as additional funds for self defense.
Bosch Dual-Com 738 - $239
He had the ability to receive SMS, vibrating, 100 cells for numbers in the address book. The phone could work for three hours in talk mode. Despite the trust of the population in the manufacturer, which produced high-quality home appliances, mobile phones of this brand have not gained popularity in Russia.
Ericsson SH888 - $419
This phone did not have a vibrating alert, but it had a ringtone editor. It also had an alarm clock and a calculator. And the possibility of 5 hours of talk time. And this is enough to cost four times more than economy-class devices.
Motorola 8900 - $199
Vibration, SMS, faxing and nothing more. Relatively high price justified powerful battery, thanks to which you can talk on the phone for almost 6 hours without recharging.
Nokia 9000 Communicator - $719
When folded, the device looks like a mobile phone. unfolded as Nokia The 9000 looked like a smaller copy of the laptops of those times. Operating system 4 MB and 2 MB for data storage. Notes, Email, browser, The address book- it had everything a business person needs.
How did you connect to the Internet? The communicator had a built-in GSM modem that established a modem connection via a cellular network. A morning mail-answer session could cost the teacher's salary.
Sagem DC 715 - $59
50 numbers, 2 hours talk time, redundant original design. It is not surprising that nothing has been heard about this brand for a long time.
Siemens C25 - $203
No vibrating alert, no alarm clock, no other unusual functions for that time. It is popularly known as the indestructible phone. There are stories about how the Siemens C25 withstood flights from the 7th floor and being hit by a dump truck.
Phillips Aeon - $49
8 built-in melodies, 100 cells for contacts and receiving incoming SMS. Nothing more. It was sold at Beeline offices complete with free connection(for other models it was paid separately). It was one of the most popular phones 1999, due to the record low price and active advertising on television.
The device has a long retractable antenna, which gave the device an incredibly cool look. We had this phone in our family. Before the conversation, the father always put forward the antenna with an important look, and then solemnly pushed it back. I remember how I tested the influence of the degree of extension of the antenna on the quality of communication, moving around the floors of the house and calling free numbers. The test showed that the antenna has more of a decorative function.
Refill
In the late 1990s, there were no QIWI terminals or online banking. For legal entities payment was available by bank transfer. And individuals bought cards that were sold from Beeline and MTS dealers. It was necessary to erase the code from the card with a coin and activate it. The transfer of funds was delayed.
(4.50 out of 5 rated: 2 )
Cellular communications have recently become so firmly established in our daily lives that it is hard to imagine. modern society without her. Like many other great inventions, the mobile phone has greatly influenced our lives, and many of its areas. It's hard to say what the future would be like if not for this comfortable view connections. Definitely the same as in the movie "Back to the Future 2", where there are flying cars, hoverboards, and more, but no cellular service!
But today in a special report for will be a story not about the future, but about how modern cellular communications are arranged and work.
In order to learn about the operation of modern cellular communications in 3G / 4G format, I asked for a visit to a new federal operator Tele2 and spent the whole day with their engineers, who explained to me all the intricacies of data transmission through our mobile phones.
But first, let me tell you a little about the history of the emergence of cellular communications.
The principles of wireless communication were tested almost 70 years ago - the first public mobile radiotelephone appeared in 1946 in St. Louis, USA. In the Soviet Union, a prototype mobile radiotelephone was created in 1957, then scientists from other countries created similar devices from different characteristics, and only in the 70s of the last century in America were determined the modern principles of cellular communication, after which its development began.
Martin Cooper - inventor of the Motorola DynaTAC portable cell phone prototype weighing 1.15 kg and measuring 22.5x12.5x3.75 cm
If in Western countries, by the mid-90s of the last century, cellular communications were widespread and used by a large part of the population, then in Russia it only began to appear, and became available to everyone just over 10 years ago.
Bulky brick-shaped mobile phones that worked in the formats of the first and second generations have gone down in history, giving way to smartphones with 3G and 4G, better voice communication and high speed Internet.
Why is it called cellular? Because the territory on which communication is provided is divided into separate cells or cells, in the center of which there are base stations (BS). In each "cell" the subscriber receives the same set of services within certain territorial boundaries. This means that when moving from one "cell" to another, the subscriber does not feel territorial attachment and can freely use communication services.
It is very important that there is continuity of the connection when moving. This is achieved through the so-called handover (Handover), in which the connection installed by the subscriber as if picked up by neighboring cells in a relay race, and the subscriber continues to talk or dig in social networks.
The entire network is divided into two subsystems: the base station subsystem and the switching subsystem. Schematically, it looks like this:
In the middle of the "cell", as mentioned above, is the base station, which usually serves three "cells". Radio signal from base station radiated through 3 sector antennas, each of which is directed to its own "cell". It happens that several antennas of one base station are directed to one "cell" at once. This is due to the fact that the cellular network operates in several bands (900 and 1800 MHz). In addition, this base station may have equipment of several generations of communication (2G and 3G) at once.
But only the third and fourth generation equipment - 3G / 4G, is installed on Tele2 BS towers, since the company decided to abandon the old formats in favor of new ones, which help to avoid breaks voice communication and provide more stable internet. Regulars of social networks will support me that in our time the speed of the Internet is very important, 100-200 kb / s is no longer enough, as it was a couple of years ago.
The most common location for a BS is a tower or mast built specifically for it. Surely you could see the red and white BS towers somewhere far from residential buildings (in a field, on a hill), or where there are no tall buildings nearby. Like this one, which is visible from my window.
However, in urban areas it is difficult to find a place for a massive structure. Therefore, in large cities, base stations are placed on buildings. Each station picks up a signal from mobile phones at a distance of up to 35 km.
These are antennas, the BS equipment itself is located in the attic, or in a container on the roof, which is a pair of iron cabinets.
Some base stations are located where you would not even guess. Like on the roof of this parking lot.
The BS antenna consists of several sectors, each of which receives / sends a signal in its own direction. If the vertical antenna communicates with phones, then the round one connects the BS to the controller.
Depending on the characteristics, each sector can serve up to 72 calls at the same time. The BS can consist of 6 sectors, and serve up to 432 calls, however, usually fewer transmitters and sectors are installed at the stations. Cellular operators, such as Tele2, prefer to install more BS to improve the quality of communication. As I was told, the most modern equipment: Ericsson base stations, transport network- Alcatel Lucent.
From the base station subsystem, the signal is transmitted towards the switching subsystem, where the connection is established with necessary to the subscriber direction. The switching subsystem has a number of databases that store information about subscribers. In addition, this subsystem is responsible for security. To put it simply, the switch is It has the same functions as the female operators who used to connect you with the subscriber by hand, only now it all happens automatically.
The equipment for this base station is hidden in this iron cabinet.
In addition to the usual towers, there are also mobile options base stations placed on trucks. They are very convenient to use during natural disasters or in crowded places (football stadiums, central squares) during holidays, concerts and various events. But, unfortunately, due to problems in the legislation, they have not yet found wide application.
To provide optimum ground level radio coverage, base stations are designed in a special way, therefore, despite the range of 35 km. the signal does not extend to the flight altitude of aircraft. However, some airlines have already begun installing small base stations on their aircraft to provide cellular communications inside the aircraft. Such a BS is connected to the ground cellular network via satellite channel. The system is complemented by a control panel that allows the crew to turn the system on and off, as well as individual types services, such as turning off your voice on night flights.
I also looked into the Tele2 office to see how specialists control the quality of cellular communications. If a few years ago such a room would have been hung to the ceiling with monitors showing network data (congestion, network failures, etc.), then over time, the need for such a number of monitors has disappeared.
Technology has evolved over time, and such a small room with a few specialists is enough to monitor the operation of the entire network in Moscow.
A few views from the Tele2 office.
Plans to capture the capital are discussed at a meeting of company employees) From the start of construction to today Tele2 managed to cover all of Moscow with its network, and is gradually conquering the Moscow region, launching more than 100 base stations weekly. Since I now live in the area, it is very important to me. so that this network comes to my town as soon as possible.
The company plans for 2016 to provide high-speed communications in the metro at all stations, at the beginning of 2016 Tele2 communications are present at 11 stations: 3G / 4G communications at the Borisovo, Delovoy Tsentr, Kotelniki, Lermontovsky Prospekt metro stations , Troparevo, Shipilovskaya, Zyablikovo, 3G: Belorusskaya (Koltsevaya), Spartak, Pyatnitskoye Highway, Zhulebino.
As I said above, Tele2 abandoned the GSM format in favor of third and fourth generation standards - 3G / 4G. This allows you to install 3G / 4G base stations with a higher frequency (for example, inside the Moscow Ring Road, BS stand at a distance of about 500 meters from each other) to provide more stable communication and high speed mobile Internet, which was not in the networks of previous formats.
From the company's office, I, in the company of engineers Nikifor and Vladimir, go to one of the points where they need to measure the communication speed. Nikifor stands in front of one of the masts, on which the equipment for communication is installed. If you look closely, you will notice a little further to the left one more such mast, with the equipment of other cellular operators.
Strange as it may seem, but cellular operators often allow their competitors to use their tower structures to accommodate antennas (naturally on mutually beneficial terms). This is because building a tower or mast is expensive, and such an exchange saves a lot of money!
While we were measuring the speed of communication, passers-by grandmothers and uncles asked Nikifor several times if he was a spy)) "Yes, we are jamming Radio Liberty!").
The equipment actually looks unusual, you can assume anything from its appearance.
The company's specialists have a lot of work, given that in Moscow and the region the company has more than 7 thousand employees. base stations: about 5 thousand of them. 3G and about 2 thousand. base stations for LTE, and for Lately the number of BS increased by about a thousand more.
In just three months, 55% of the total number of new base stations of the operator in the region were put on the air in the Moscow region. Currently, the company provides high-quality coverage of the territory where more than 90% of the population of Moscow and the Moscow region lives.
By the way, in December, the 3G Tele2 network was recognized as the best in quality among all metropolitan operators.
But I decided to personally check how good Tele2's connection is, so I bought a SIM card in the nearest shopping center on Voikovskaya metro station, with the most simple tariff"Very black" for 299 r (400 sms/minutes and 4 GB). By the way, I had a similar Beeline tariff, which is 100 rubles more expensive.
I checked the speed without moving far from the cash register. Reception - 6.13 Mbps, transmission - 2.57 Mbps. Given that I'm standing in the middle shopping center this is a good result, Tele2 communication penetrates well through the walls of a large shopping center.
At metro station Tretyakovskaya. Signal reception - 5.82 Mbps, transmission - 3.22 Mbps.
And on m. Krasnogvardeiskaya. Reception - 6.22 Mbps, transmission - 3.77 Mbps. Measured at the exit of the subway. If we take into account that this is the outskirts of Moscow, it's very decent. I think that the connection is quite acceptable, we can confidently say that it is stable, given that Tele2 appeared in Moscow just a couple of months ago.
In the capital stable connection Tele2 is, it's good. I really hope that they will quickly come to the region and I will be able to fully use their connection.
Now you know how cellular communication works!
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Soviet people have always been proud of their country. Such a concept as patriotism was not an empty word for them. But after the collapse of the USSR, almost any resident of the country was sure that mobile communications and related technologies came from abroad: Japan, Europe, the USA, and even China. Few people knew that it was Russia that was the pioneer in the field of mobile and cellular communications. The world's first automatic mobile communication was created and operated in the USSR. And if not for the complete isolation from the needs of the people of the leadership Soviet Union, then even in Soviet times, citizens of the country would have mobile phones of domestic production.
Early mobile communications developed slowly in the US and Europe, overcoming great technical and financial difficulties. The first mobile communication devices, tested in the late 40s, were so bulky that they could hardly fit in the trunk of a car. In order to make a call through such a device, a free radio channel and an operator serving this network were required.
Compact radio stations also appeared in the USSR in the 1940s, and during the war, Soviet designers significantly improved the existing models, which made it possible to easily place "radio telephone" equipment in the trunks of official cars of government officials. Communication was provided by a dedicated radio frequency and the operation of dispatcher consoles. It was quite difficult to conduct a conversation on such a telephone: one of the subscribers could conduct a conversation, the other only listened. In this regard, the conversation always lasted a long time and caused a lot of difficulties.
But, Soviet designers managed to make such a phone, which was practically an analogue of the official apparatus on the desktop. There were no such structures abroad yet.
The very first mobile phone was created in the Communications Research Institute of the city of Voronezh in 1958. The work was given the code name "Altai". Voronezh designers created subscriber (telephones) and base stations (equipment that provides stable communication between subscribers). Antenna systems for mobile communications were developed at the Moscow Research Institute, Leningrad, Belarusian and Moldovan specialists worked on other components of the system. As a result, a unique innovative product was created - automatic mobile communication "Altai". It was a complete telephone communications, working like regular phone. The innovation was that the system itself found a free radio channel, established a connection, transmitted the dialed telephone number and guaranteed to connect subscribers. Even external design phone in the car was changed - instead of a dial there were buttons. The bureaucratic aristocracy was delighted with car phones.
But still, "Altai" was not full-fledged cellular system A: One base station was able to serve one metropolitan area and had only 16 radio channels. The antenna, installed at the highest point in the area, could only provide communication for tens of kilometers around.
An American prototype of such a mobile phone was launched a year after the commissioning of the Soviet mobile system. And its commercial operation began in 1969.
In Russia, the Altai system operated in thirty cities by 1970! Soviet party and economic leaders used in their work telephones placed directly in official vehicles. It can be reasonably considered that at that time the USSR was a leader in the development of mobile communications. But Soviet designers did not "rest on their laurels" - they continued to improve the Altai system. New radio channels were allocated in a larger range, which made it possible to serve a large number of subscribers. Through the use of microcircuits, subscriber stations became smaller in size - they could be carried in a small suitcase. The Moscow base station of the "Altai" system, located in the premises of the Ostankino television tower, showed its best side in servicing the Olympics-80.
But in the course of operation, shortcomings of the system were also revealed. For example, the quality of communication was very dependent on the location of the car with a mobile communication device. Therefore, the designers have developed a scheme for the placement of base stations, taking into account the overlap of neighboring territories. And although Soviet engineers were ready to carry out the developed project, but no order for implementation was received from the country's leadership.
The "Altai" system well corresponded to the existing commanding hierarchy: the leader had the opportunity to simultaneously speak with several subordinates (now this method is called conference calls). Each boss had his own rights and opportunities to work as a subscriber mobile network. Some could call anywhere in the world, others only to the phones of a particular city, a particular organization or a particular subscriber. But most citizens of the country were not able to use mobile communications. The country's leadership was in no hurry to share with the people such a luxury item as a mobile phone.
Designers and engineers were ready to work on the new generation communication system equipment. They even gave the name to this system "Volemot" (the abbreviated name of the cities where the development teams were - Voronezh, Leningrad, Molodechno, Ternopil). New system provided for the placement a large number base stations. Switching from one station to another took place instantly and imperceptibly for the subscriber while driving. This function made it possible to consider "Volemot" as a full-fledged cellular communication system.
But the country's leadership considered that the access of the people to cellular communications poses a threat " state security"(Although without encryption, the signal could be easily listened to). Funding for the project was suspended indefinitely. In the West, at that time, cellular communications gained popularity. By 1980, the leadership of the USSR in the development of a new generation of mobile communications was irretrievably lost.
In 1991-1992, the first cellular operators of the NMT-450 standard appeared in Leningrad and Moscow. The prices for this service were very high and coverage was limited. And although many citizens could not afford to pay for mobile communications, access to this type of communication was open to everyone.
There was also a place for the Altai and Volemot systems. They were used when reliable and inexpensive mobile communications with a large coverage area were needed. These systems allowed the possibility of connecting a special device that encrypted the conversation and it was practically impossible to listen to it. Until now, the networks "Altai" and "Volemot" are used in many cities and settlements Russia. Usually they are called "trunk". They adequately serve in various professional areas: from taxis to emergency medical care.
By the end of the 90s, conventional mobile phones ( GSM standard) have become more reliable, and most importantly miniature. And this turned out to be the decisive factor that led to the refusal of users from Volemots and Altaevs in favor of small pipes. Despite this, in some remote areas of Russia, you can connect to the Altai or Volemot networks, which work quite stably.
Materials used:
http://maxpark.com/community/4057/content/1809324
http://www.izmerov.narod.ru/okno/index.html
http://www.livejournal.ru/themes/id/13773
It's hard to imagine today modern man without a mobile phone, although only 25 years ago, only the wealthiest citizens could afford to buy this device in Russia. According to TMT Consulting, at the end of 2015, there were 251.8 million mobile subscribers in Russia, which is 105.3 million more than the entire population of the country - one and a half mobile phones per person. Phones have long ceased to be a luxury item. It is all the more interesting to look into the recent past, when mobile phones in Russia were considered exotic, and only a select few could talk with relatives and friends from different parts of the country.
A bit of history
The development of the first cell phone began in 1947 by the American company Bell Labs. The idea of such a device instantly captured the minds of leading engineers in the United States and Russia. Another American company interested in mobile phones was Motorola. In Russia, in 1957, engineer Leonid Ivanovich Kupriyanovich demonstrated the portable telephone LK-1. It weighed 3 kg, worked no more than 30 hours, but provided a range of up to 30 km. In 1958, he was presented with a device weighing 500 g, and already in 1961, a telephone weighing only 70 g allegedly appeared. Only a photograph of this device of dubious quality has survived to this day, the development of which was either stopped or transferred to special services (supporters of theories conspiracy is dedicated).
Instead of this revolutionary device, the Russians saw the Altai apparatus, which could only be transported in a car, which was used by the ambulance staff. Kupriyanovich's developments formed the basis of several Bulgarian devices manufactured in 1966, RAT-05, ATRT-05, and the RATC-10 base station, which were used at industrial facilities. In 1973, Motorola put an end to the struggle for superiority: Martin Cooper called Bell Labs from a phone that fits comfortably in his hand and did not require additional accessories. measuring 22.5x12.5x3.75 cm, it weighed 1.15 kg, consisted of 2000 parts, and the battery lasted only 20 minutes of conversation. It took another 10 years to finalize the mobile phone, and only on March 6, 1983, the phone, weighing 800 grams, went on sale for $3,500.
In Russia, the topic of commercial mobile communications was not raised until 1986. The Minister of Communications of the USSR Gennady Kudryavtsev said that the KGB and the security forces considered available cellular communications a threat to national security. An epochal event was Mikhail Gorbachev's call from Helsinki to Moscow in 1987 on the first telephone for NMT networks. Before the release of the first GSM-phone, 5 years remained - they became it and this forever changed cellular communications.
Russian realities
The first call from Russia to the USA took place on September 9, 1991 within the walls of the Delta Telecom company using the Nokia Mobira MD 59 NB2 device using the NMT-450 communication standard. It was carried out by the mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak. The phone weighed about 3 kg, cost $4,000 (and $1,995 under the operator's contract), and a minute of conversation cost $1. Despite the high cost and dimensions of the device, Delta managed to make 10,000 subscribers mobile in the first 4 years of operation.
Cellular communications reached Moscow only in 1992 by the forces of Ericsson and Moscow Cellular Communications. Within a year, cellular communications became available to 5,000 Muscovites. In the same 1992, Russian market appeared new player VimpelCom with Beeline trademark. On July 12, 1992, the first call came from the Motorola DynaTAC in the company's office, popularly called the "brick".
At this time, the GSM network was launched in Germany, which quickly became the world standard. In Russia, the first operator to adopt GSM was MTS, which began commercial operation of the network in 1994. In the same year, the first call came from the office of the operator "North-West GSM" (now MegaFon), but he began commercial activities only in 1995.
According to Ericsson's Jan Vareby, the introduction GSM networks allowed Russia to begin the development of cellular communications faster than many other countries, ahead of the founders of the standard.
The price of mobility
Not everyone could become the owner of a mobile phone. The average price of the device was $2,500, and the subscriber had to pay almost $2,500 more as a down payment and a connection fee. For “only” $5,000, one could become mobile and modern. But that was far from the end of the waste. Expensive subscription fees and the price of a minute of conversation forced subscribers to pay at least $200 per month at the end of 1998. Now communication services with unlimited access to the Internet and messaging cost no more than $10. Nevertheless, by the end of the 90s, about 20 million SIM cards were sold in the country, but the real boom happened in the early 2000s. About 30 million subscribers were already in the country in 2003, and by 2010 their number had grown to 216 million. The release of more and more affordable mobile phones contributed to the reduction in the cost of cellular communications, many of which have become cult:, and many others.
Next generation communication
In 2003, Delta Telecom launched a 3G/CDMA200 network under the Sky Link brand, but the commercial network based on the EV-DO standard was ready only by 2005. In 2007, MegaFon built the first network based on 3G/UMTS, and already in 2008, all operators " big three» began the development of 3G in the regions. The emergence of mobile phones by type with large touch screens and support high speed connections demanded an increase in the speeds and capacities of networks to transmit not only voice, but also photo or video images, multimedia messages. In 2008, Scartel, under the Yota brand, launched the first commercial WiMAX network in Russia, and became the first device in the world to support operation in this network simultaneously with GSM. The rapid development of 4G LTE networks in Russia began at the end of 2011, and MegaFon became the first operator to provide new generation communications for subscribers.
From this moment begins the modern mobile history Russia. Over the past 5 years, subscribers have begun to actively use mobile internet, preferring communication via the Internet to ordinary calls. Everything modern smartphones possess quick access to the network, and the most available phones with 4G support can be found at a price of 3,500 rubles in the salons of operators. The mobile phone has become as familiar and common as an electric kettle. Cheaper production and the emergence of new players in the market make mobile communications more accessible even to the most remote and poor corners of the world. 25 years ago it was impossible to imagine the scale of the spread of cellular communications in Russia, but what awaits us in another 25 years?
