The ''dropped'' call is an all-too-common feature of modern life, where we are all plugged in to cellular networks day in and day out, all year round. Technology is a human invention, after all, and, like human beings, is prone to failure. But Randi Altschul begs to differ. As inventor of the world’s first disposable cell phone, she has raised the standard for quality in cell phone engineering, demonstrating that human ingenuity can make up for human error when accomplished with the right combination of purpose and vision.

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	Altschul invented the world’s first disposable cell phone.

In November 1999 Altschul invented the world’s first disposable cell phone. Like many others before her (and since), she grew frustrated at her cell phone’s inability to maintain stability without losing its connection. The performance of her phone was so lackluster that it nearly prompted her to throw the phone out the window of her car.

Frustration, however, would only be the first part of her solution to produce a disposable phone. Altschul soon realized that cell phones were too expensive to simply throw away after one use. Still, the status quo was unacceptable, and at the very least an attempt to remedy the problem was in order.

There were some other hurdles she had to conquer as well: Altschul had no formal technological training and was a toy designer by profession. Admittedly, the thought of her dabbling in advanced electronic design was something of a perceived impossibility — but not for Altschul. She knew that the vision in her mind would only become a reality if she partnered with the right people, and thus she surrounded herself with others who shared her ''conceive it, believe it, achieve it'' attitude.

About equal to the thickness of three credit cards and made entirely from recycled paper products, the phone measures about 2” by 3” and includes one hour of total calling time.

Altschul consulted with her patent lawyer to make sure that no one else had ever developed a disposable phone. After getting the go-ahead, she partnered with engineer Lee Volte (who also happened to be senior vice president of research and development at Tyco) to develop what would eventually become the disposable cell phone. Together, they successfully patented and implemented super-thin technology, known as STTTM, which would allow for the creation of the Phone-Card-Phone and other similarly intended communication devices and services.

A series of patents was received in 1999, and soon the Phone-Card-Phone was a trademarked device. About equal to the thickness of three credit cards and made entirely from recycled paper products, the phone measures about 2'' by 3'' and includes one hour of total calling time. Billed as a ''real cell phone,'' it can only handle outgoing messages, though it does come with an added bonus: users are able to add more minutes if they so desire. Or they can simply throw it away.

Exactly how does it work? According to Altschul, ''[t]he circuit itself becomes the body of the unit. And it becomes its own built-in tamper-proof system because as soon as you cut it open, you break the circuits and the phone goes dead.''

Some additional features of Altschul’s design include a hands-free attachment and a dual use of the phone, which can double as a credit card that can be used to swipe bonus purchases of free airtime credits.

	Since her invention hit the market, Altschul has decided to take her own ingenuity and use it to encourage others — especially young girls — to make their dreams realities.

Given that Altschul’s background is in toy and game development (she is responsible for both the Miami Vice game and Barbie’s 30th Birthday game), it is certainly an astonishing feat for her to have made her ''name'' in advancing the engineering of the cell phone. Altschul, however, disputes any such surprise at her success in seemingly unrelated industries.

''The greatest asset I have over everyone else in that business is my toy mentality. An engineer’s mentality is to make something last, to make it durable. A toy’s life span is about an hour; then the kid throws it away. You get it, you play with it, and — boom — it’s gone.''

Since her invention hit the market, Altschul has decided to take her own ingenuity and use it to encourage others — especially young girls — to make their dreams realities. She advises aspiring inventors to take note of her own story: for a toy designer most famous for a Barbie game, it may have seemed totally outside the realm of possibilities for her to try to tackle something like shortcomings in cell phone applications. Thankfully, the implausibility of her ambitions did not deter her — and the results have been amazing.

''When I created it, I knew this was a home run, but I didn’t realize it would be a grand-slam home run,'' she affirms. ''At first I thought my main market would be teenagers, but now I realize these phones are going to have broad appeal.''

And just what else does Altschul have in mind for her future developments?

''I’m going cheap and dumb,'' she admits without hesitation. ''In monetary terms, I want to be the next Bill Gates.''

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