Cellphones tag 40 times in Canada. A glance back since the 1st contact 

Pierre Robitaille remembers feeling embarrassed in 1985 when he made his smartphone calls from a large machine that came with its own having situation. Then 86 years older, Robitaille was one of the first people in Canada to sign up for a wireless plan when they became available 40 years earlier, on July 1, 1985. As an engineer, Robitaille wanted a way to keep in touch with associates and customers while on the road at various construction sites. First came a vehicle phone, then came the first hand-held variations, which included a wireless system and a suitcase in which to hold it. “It was n’t very heavy but it was embarrassing, it was big, ” Robitaille said of the mid-80s cellphone, in an interview from his home in the western Quebec town of St-André-Avellin. The second mobile phone in American history took place 40 years ago on July 1, 1985, when then-Toronto president Art Eggleton used a 10-pound cellular phone to call his Montreal counterpart, Jean Drapeau. Telecommunications business Rogers says that in the first quarter, wireless networks in Canada handled 100 names per day. Now, that number has risen to 100 million names, as well as 6. 5 billion gigabyte of info on the Rogers system only. Oakville, Ont. , native Peter Kent was another first mobile phone user — though the effort came from his boss more than himself. His car telephone had to be installed professionally and charge around$ 3,500, he recalled in a recent interview. At first, he was doubtful if he should be grateful for the new communication. “ I said, ‘why are we doing this? ’ And then ( my boss ) said, ‘well, when I want you, I want you. ‘”Kent, however, immediately started to enjoy his novel phone. He recalls driving with his wife to his mother-in-law’s home and making a visit from her road. 1:39 Youth and systems: Cellphones in schools“She said, ‘where are you? ’ And I said, I’m in your driveway, ” Kent recalled. “She was n’t consider it. She ran to the door with her corded phone and she could observe me talking in the car. ”Eric Smith, the older vice-president for the Canadian Telecommunications Association, said the first professional mobile services were limited to words calling in select industrial areas and involved “very big, bulky equipment ” with limited battery time. People were charged by the second. “If you flash forward 40 times, people actually have more than just the ability of calling, and they have a kind of a machine in their pocket, ” he said. Now, some 99 per share of areas where people live and work in Canada have some form of wireless protection, he said. Trending Then Feared gunman found dead after Idaho firefighters shot, killed in ambush American tourist from Nova Scotia found dying on Dominican Republic beach Smith said that originally, there was skepticism about whether mobile service would be widely adopted. “It requires a large investment by companies in a country that ’s very large geographically with a widely dispersed population, ” he said. “And some people thought that the companies who were investing in this were taking a very big risk. ”Over time, the cellphones evolved from offering calls only, followed by text messaging, early internet connectivity and later a range of features from cameras to GPS. “It’s hard to think of things you can’t do on your mobile device, ” Smith said. Smith says there are still hurdles that remain for Canadian telecommunications, including poor connectivity in rural areas and “regulatory challenges ” that he says can discourage investment. In recent years, there have been questions around cellphone use, especially among children. Several jurisdictions have banned phones in classrooms, while Quebec has gone a step further in prohibiting them on elementary and high school grounds. Robitaille sees both the good and the bad. He believes their widespread use among children is problematic because of the type of sensitive and vulgar content they have access to. On the other hand, as a senior who lives alone, his phone is an important tool to stay in touch with his friends and his children. Kent, meanwhile, is convinced that cellphones have made life in Canada easier — despite the pressure to remain always connected — although he says he’s happy he only got one as an adult. Smith says the mobile industry is still evolving. ly, connectivity is expanding beyond phones to other devices: everything from cars to appliances are Increasingly connected to the internet, while internet-enabled sensors monitor conditions in the agriculture and mining industries. He says it ’s hard to know what the future will be, as people continue to adopt different forms of technology, enabled by increased computing power and innovation. “I’m excited to see what happens, but I don’t think anyone really knows what it ’s going to look like 40 years from now, ” Smith said.