Data networking using public paging systems

Paging is basically simple data transmission, designed for short messages and one way transmission. The focus in the paging business has this far been on the personal messages entered via an ordinary telephone, typically in the form of a telephone number or just a beep. With the pan European paging system, ERMES, the road is being paved for using paging also for data purposes. ERMES is meant to be to paging what GSM has been to mobile phone, instituting a barrier free European market and competition on networks and services. ERMES allows for longer messages and for several new service categories. This for example means that messages of up to 1 Mbyte can be sent within one hour overnight.