Cell phones may be new devices, but they originated in the 1920’s. Radios were used since 1921. Features were put into these radios in the 1940’s, and they were used by police. The concept of the cellular phone was developed in 1947 which originated from the mobile car phone. The concept of the cellular phone was produced by Bell Laboratories.

The first actual cell phone was made in 1973 by Martin Cooper of Motorola and other assisting inventors who used the idea of the car phone and applied the technology necessary to make a portable cell phone possible. Cell phones were first made available to the public in 1984. Back then, they were very large, expensive instruments.

The Federal Communications Commission made a regulation that limited radio-spectrum frequencies. This is the reason only twenty-three simultaneous conversations were possible in the same service area. In 1968 the FCC decided to increase the frequencies to allow research for better connections. The FCC worked together with AT&T and Bell Towers to establish broadcast towers. The towers were small with low power and covered a “cell” that was a few miles in radius, but actually covered a larger area. This allowed calls to pass from tower to tower.