The UK had something similar to France's Bi-Bop: Rabbit / Telepoint Services
Context
This article has been in my drafts for too long, so I'm releasing it as it - anyway, it's more a "fun fact", so doesn't really have to be long nor detailed.
When I was young(er), and before the advent of GSM mobile services, France
Telecom launched a service called "Bi-Bop" (see its French Wikipedia
page).
The idea was to allow mobile communications, like we do today, but with a catch:
you had to register yourself to the nearest base station, of course when placing a call, but also if you
wanted to receive a call.
The service ran from 1991 to 1997, and was eventually discontinued because GSM got introduced and had a lot more advantages.
Rabbit in the UK
Anyway, I saw some time ago a post on HackerNews that showed a "Rabbit" base station - and discovered that the UK had a similar concept to France's Bi-Bop - although the service ran for a much shorter time: May 1992 to December 1993.
Reminescence in France
The coverage area of Bi-Bop was marked on poles with a Blue/Green label, and I'm pretty sure that there are still places where those labels didn't get removed.
Next time I'm at La Défense (Paris' Business district), I'll go for a hunt and will update here!
Tags: Misc