Ahead Of His Time

Throughtout the 1950s, Gross made repeated attempts to interest AT&T in his radios. The technology, he explainded, would free telephones from having to be connected to the wall. People could make calls from anywhere in their homes or offices. But the phone company wasn't interested in cordless phones. He explained how CB's could be intergrated into the phone system, so that people would be able to make calls outdoors or even from their cars. The phone company wasn't interested in the cellular phones either. Gross explained that his hospital pagers could be intergrated into the system, too, so that people could reach someone even if they weren't near a phone, just by dialing a special number for the pager. Again the phone company said no. Man did they miss the boat.