40th Anniversary of the First Commercial Cellular Service

Sunday, October 15th, 2023
2:00-4:00 PM
Presentation at 2:15 PM
Free to the Public

​In October 1983, the first commercial cellular system in the United States opened in Chicago.

​Come to the Ethnic Heritage Museum on Sunday, October 15th, 2023 to learn about the ideas and development behind this predecessor system to what we all depend on today. Lynell Cannell will also tell of her experience as the lead developer of call processing software for the cell sites, including the affirmative action that encouraged her to join in the project.

The museum opens at 2:00 p.m. and Lynell will start her talk at 2:15 p.m. In an accompanying exhibit in the EHM Irish gallery, you will see the large equipment she had in her car before 1983, that made calls on the demonstration system that AT&T used to show the FCC that cellular phones were worth spectrum allocation. Compare the big box in her trunk to the phones we have today.

Lynell’s presentation is free to the public, but donations are greatly appreciated.

AT&T 1983 The first commercial call from a car mobile phone.