What are the 'beepers' that were used by Hezbollah operatives?

The TikTok, Instagram, and WhatsApp generation has no idea about the device that came before mobile phones. It was called the "beeper," and it allowed journalists, doctors, technicians, and managers to receive messages even from remote areas. The cyberattack which wounded Hezbollah terrorists throughout multiple countries has revealed that that the device, which many thought had died out, is still being used by Hezbollah.

The beeper, which received short messages and alerted its user with a beep, was originally invented in the US in the 1920s. Al Gross, the entrepreneur who also invented the first small radio, developed the beeper in the 1940s. Initially, it was used in security and public systems in the US, especially in hospitals and emergency units. In the 1950s, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the beeper for widespread commercial use, marking its beginning as a personal communication solution.

In Israel, the beeper became particularly popular from the 1970s until the early 1990s. The device was commonly used by professionals who needed to be available at all times, such as doctors, emergency personnel, security workers, and businesspeople. For them, the beeper was an efficient way to stay in contact outside of the office without the need for a landline phone. Users would receive a short voice or text message, typically requesting them to return a call to a specific number.

The beeper works by transmitting radio waves on frequencies assigned to each device. When a message is received, the device emits a beep, prompting the user to return the call. As technology advanced, the devices became smaller, and short messages (numbers or a few words) could appear on the beeper’s small screen.

The beeper's operation was simple yet ingenious: when someone wanted to send a message to the beeper user, they would call the beeper center and give the message to the operator. The message would then be sent via a radio frequency unique to the user’s device. Upon receiving the message, the beeper would emit a loud beep (hence its Hebrew name, "beeper") or, in some cases, vibrate.

The message typically included the phone number the user was supposed to call, and sometimes shorter messages. The user had to find a public or landline phone to return the call. While the device didn’t allow two-way communication, it was enough to deliver urgent messages with relative immediacy for the time.

The decline of beepers

In the 1990s, as mobile phones became widely available, beeper use quickly declined. Mobile phones offered more extensive communication options, with the ability to make calls from anywhere, send text messages, and offer additional services. As mobile phones became more accessible, the beeper lost its place as the primary communication tool for professionals and institutions.

In Israel, Pelephone, which started operating in the late 1980s, led the mobile revolution, and professionals who had previously relied on beepers quickly switched to mobile phones. By the late 1990s, the use of beepers had almost disappeared from public spaces in Israel.

Despite the sharp decline in beeper usage among the general public, the device remains in use in some specific fields, though on a much smaller scale. One such area is healthcare. Doctors and medical staff, particularly in emergency rooms, still use beepers because of their reliability in locations where mobile phones don’t always work, such as basements and enclosed spaces. 

Additionally, some emergency and security systems continue to use beepers as a backup to more advanced communication systems due to the simplicity and reliability of the device. Even today, in an era of advanced technology, the beeper continues to play a limited but essential role in certain sectors.