In the early 1920s the Detroit Police Department was the first government agency to use mobile radiotelephones in their patrol cars. At this time only one-way service was available, the pertinent information could be sent to the police vehicle but no response to the call was possible. Some five years later two-way service was introduced by a police department in New Jersey. This capability was then also made available for those private citizens that could afford it.
             The basic concept of cellular phones began in 1947, when researchers looked at crude mobile (car) phones and realized that by using small cells (range of service area) with frequency reuse they could increase the traffic capacity of mobile phones extensively. Unfortunately at the time, the technology did not exist. In 1947, AT&T proposed that the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) designate a large number of radio-spectrum frequencies so that widespread mobile telephone service would become feasible and AT&T would have an incentive to research the new technology. Many place blame on the FCC for the gap between the initial concept of cellular service and its availability to the public. Later in 1947, the FCC decided to limit the amount of frequencies available. These imposed limits, only allowed twenty-three simultaneous phone conversations possible in the same service area. This in turn, was not a market incentive for research.
             It was not until 1968 when the FCC reconsidered its position, stating "if the technology to build a better mobile service works, we will increase the frequencies allocation, freeing the airwaves for more mobile phones." Both AT&T and Bell Labs proposed a cellular system to towers, each covering a "cell" a few miles in radius and collectively covering a larger area. Each tower would use only a few of the total frequencies allocated to the system. The idea was that as the phones traveled across the area, cal...