Choosing a Wide Area Pager

This guide has been designed to help you decide which pager best suits your needs. 

Wide Area Pagers

The Message Pager is supplied under a usage agreement, with a quarterly airtime fee (payable in advance). The pager number is transferable (i.e in the case of loss, irreparable damage or upgrade). Additional optional and value-added services are available. Specific option details can be found on each pager's product description page.

Call Charges

Call charges will depend upon whether you are calling from a landline, mobile telephone, from overseas or via the Internet.

Calls to Wide Area Pagers

Calls to Wide Area Pagers from BT landlines are charged by the length of time you are on the phone. The pence per minute price also varies according to the time of day. Other operators (including mobile networks) may charge different rates.

Message Pagers

Message pagers can receive both numbers and text up to a maximum of between 80 and 240 characters (depending upon the model chosen) and have screens capable of displaying between 2 and 8 lines of text at a time. Messages can be sent via a Call Centre operator, a Web Portal or e-mail (by arrangement).

Considering your paging needs

Asking yourself the following questions about your probable pager usage will help clarify what features and services you will need:

Who needs to contact you?
Will you be using your pager primarily for business or personal reasons? Think about how your partner, children (or parents), friends, clients, or work colleagues will send messages to your pager. Will they be phoning, e-mailing, or using a Web Portal?

Do you need to have detailed messages?

If so, then a sophisticated message pager would be more appropriate.

What's your communication style?

You may just want to screen your messages before deciding which ones to reply to first. Or, you may prefer to get the information you need without having to get involved in potentially lengthy telephone calls.

Selecting the right model

The following additional considerations should help you to choose between the various models available:

Battery life
Long battery life is one of the advantages pagers have over mobile phones. Pagers, even under near-constant use should use one small (AA or AAA) battery every month or so.

Display size and quality
The size and display quality is of importance when comparing message pagers, especially if you anticipate receiving a lot of long text messages. There are many additional services available to enhance your pager and will depend upon pager type and model.

For detailed information about any of the subjects covered, please feel free to contact us.