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January 9, 2005. A Quiet Start to the New Year. Coinciding with the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, we have been inundated with announcements about offerings from the carriers of audio and video content for cellular phones. I can only respond with a hohum. We have been down this road before in previous articles. Lots of phone solutions in search of a problem.

I am left in a quandary. Some of the greatest minds in electronics are applying content to smaller and smaller screens. What happened to creating material for larger and higher definition screens? Is that market saturated? I am still sitting on the edge of my chair waiting for all those new cell sites announced last summer to go online. There were "hundreds" expected by the end of 2005, and, at least locally, we haven't seen one, yet. At least Verizon's announcements were of new sites actually going on the air, Cingular's were 'proposed.'

Speaking of network problems, talk about bad luck. Sprint lost a major cable in a California mudslide this week. No problem, they just re-routed the traffic through Arizona. But the same day, they lose yet another cable in California, this time most likely to a contractor's faux pas. It was amazing how many Sprint calls got disrupted, but it certainly underscores the need for a backup if you depend on your communications. Not only does our family have a low-cost backup, it is always from another carrier. Let me add, Sprint is to be commended for repairing their problems so quickly.

Like Sprint, the Mountain Wireless News page has suffered an interruption of sorts. Our schedule has been turned upside down and deadlines have been trashed by changes among our other obligations. We'll attempt to get back on schedule. I just hope the carriers get back to the job of communications, instead of encouraging us to sit in a corner, draining our batteries, watching reruns of Leave It to Beaver. Excuse me, I'm gonna go call someone.

December 30, 2005. How I Spent My Christmas Vacation. If you live in the midwest you go to Florida or the Caribbean. If you live west of the Mississippi you go to Mexico. The beaches there are beautiful, especially along the Gulf of Mexico. However, Mexico seems to be a bit backward when it comes to communications. But I'm not so sure when I walk in to a Mexican cellular store and see soooo many phones, and so many much smaller than what we have available. You would expect such offerings in Tokyo or Hong Kong.

Here I come with my clunky Nokia just looking for SIMS & service. In an area with so many tourists, I would expect the girls who work at these stores and kiosks to be able to identify at least a few wireless terms in English. Alas, it's an unrealized dream. I've done my part, learning words in Spanish like "long distance", "chip", "charges", "local", "expiration date", "prepaid", and a few others that I thought might help. Nope. I might as well be speaking Chinese.

Earlier this year I bought a TelCel SIM and used their excellent network with my own GSM phone. This time I wanted to try someone else's network, so I looked for a Movistar store in Mazatlan. You can buy prepaid refills almost anywhere you can buy potato chips, but for SIM chips you need to find a cellular store. I saw TelCel everywhere, but no Movistar stores. I finally found a little girl at a kiosk in the Mega mall, but she could not understand what I wanted. A SIM is $22 USD, but she was certain it would not work in my unlocked Nokia. I thought no problemo, I'll just find another. But I didn't.

It looks like Movistar is not as widely available as last year(even if the billboards are), so I threw my hands up and strolled over to the nearest TelCel store to buy a 200 peso refill card (about $19 USD), which during the holiday sale gets you 300 pesos worth of service. But my TelCel SIM should have expired months ago. The sales person (older than a girl, but too cute to be called a woman) couldn't understand what I was asking. "Do I need a new chip"? "If the old one is good, will I pay long distance for local calls with an out-of-town SIM"? I was all rehearsed, but you'd never know it.

One of four police officers, who seem to hang out around this store, tried to help. He couldn't translate one word, but he convinced the...um...girl to scratch off a refill card and try it. Gotta have cash, though. Once I whipped out a 200 peso note, she was scratching away and loading the numbers for me...on a SIM that should have expired four or five months ago. She handed over the phone so I could hear the balance on my account on which, fortunately, I had already chosen English prompts. "You have a balance of 730 pesos." My jaw dropped. "Gracias," and I'm out the door. I expected a balance of 200 pesos, maybe 300 during the "promotion," so where did the extra 430 pesos come from? What`are these, T-Mo dollars?

Slipping away quickly I'm thinking, "Did I get someone else's minutes?" "Did my balance carry over from last spring?" "Was the 'promotion' better than I thought?" At least I found out my old SIM still works! I now have more than enough minutes to call more people than I can think to call this week, even to the USA, and that's at well over $1 a minute. Of course, on this trip my other phones all seem to be roaming just perfectly. Even at .69/minute, I would be dollars ahead to just pay the roaming charges. Most carriers will let you roam there for no extra charge if you chose the appropriate plan.

Of course I'm doing all this just for the experience. I don't need to be in touch at all. My next challenge is setting up voice mail. Yes, it will be quite an experience...none of the prompts are in English.


Addendum to Don't Be First of Your Block. In our article from December 16th, we warned of being the first to buy a new phone. This past week, Verizon offered another new Motorola phone, the v325, which was taken off the shelves just two days later. At least this time they discovered the problem before foisting the phone on a few thousand customer guinea pigs.

December 26, 2005. Beware the Spare! First, let me admit this article was written some time ago. And it was to be delivered from the handiest internet cafe available while we were traveling...or roaming, if you will...out of the country. Well, it just wasn't as easy as I would have hoped. Our latest experience here, south of the border will be the subject of a future article. There was just something about the tequila, the sun, the sand, the holiday...oh well.

We are often pointing the way to the cheapest source of cellular service which is often typical of those who want an infrequently-used spare, or glove-box phone. We have mentioned services like Beyond Wireless, STI Mobile, and T-Mobile2Go as being being perfect candidates for this need. But I feel strongly that it needs to be said, you can't depend on these phones unless you take away some of the variables.

The most common is the dead battery. While it is convenient to take an "old" phone and apply to glove-box use, you would be advised to buy a new battery for that phone. At the least, supply that phone with a charger that fits the car cigarette lighter...or more currently known as the "12-volt power outlet." But there are other variables, the most critical being the service from your provider. If you have been following this column, you would have read of our continuing problems with our Cingular prepaid phone. I must admit, buying an out-of-town SIM on eBay on the cheap was part of the problem. But who knew?

You can't tell what use that spare may see. My wife knew I put that Cingular phone in her glove box on a Sunday, and sure enough, she left her 'regular' cell phone at work, and suddenly needed it while out on the road. Bingo! That spare gets used Monday, on Day 1! After a few weeks of ignoring it, I checked it to see if the battery still had a good charge. While the battery indicator shot right to the top, I was concerned that I did not see "Cingular" on the screen. It turns out, through an employee error, the account was cancelled. And it was disconnected for over 2 weeks!

Even though that phone could still dial 911, I'm sure most users would not know that in a stressful situation, staring at a blank screen. And my wife's "emergencies" are more family or schedule emergencies than life-threatening. That Cingular prepaid phone is still her backup, but that phone still has the old-fashioned 90-day expiration cycle. I have circled that day on my home and work calendars, and unless Cingular comes up with a longer expiration period, at a reasonable price, out it goes. There are just too many services that have expirations of 1-year or longer, or none at all.

So, the warning here is don't buy on the (too) cheap. I had to break down and switch to a new, local SIM to make my Cingular problems go away. While a Beyond or STI service might be had for less than $1 a month, don't assume it's all perfect (although those two services have been our most reliable prepaids). And don't depend on an old battery, or assume that a car charger works. Set aside one day a month to run that extra phone through its paces. You will indeed be lucky if it never needs to be used, but even luckier if it does, and it works!

December 16, 2005. Don't be "The First on Your Block." I can't believe it has happened again. The CDMA version of the Motorola Razr is finally being sold by Verizon Wireless. The GSM carriers have already been through the hoopla, and their price is now down below a cheap pair of shoes, but the excitement has just begun among the CDMA crowd. As is all too common, those who are the first to own the latest phone, are already howling about poor workmanship.

First, I'm surprised Motorola still seems to have a manufacturing problem after building so many GSM Razr's. The CDMA version appears to have one corner of its keyboard not attached to the phone's case. One contributor to another forum found that a very thin-bladed knife allowed him to seat the keyboard back into the case. Others claim the solution just isn't that easy. It shouldn't be that way. But my rule of thumb is, don't be the first! It was many years ago I too got caught up in the frenzy to own the latest Nokia phone being offered by Sprint PCS, the Nokia 6185. Even though I wasn't among the first wave of purchasers, Nokia never got that phone right, and I ignored the warnings and became the proud owner of the 'latest and hottest'. Do you know how hard it is to admit you're wrong? You might want to read our story below on putting up with bad service.

This article outlines when Nokia finally admitted they messed up, but that was over five years ago. I guess I should feel lucky I got stung for less than $100 (but not much less). Nokia now makes some of the best CDMA phones available. Some of us don't know where we are in the life cycle of a phone model. Sometimes, we wait until the price falls to a reasonable level, only to find it has been discontinued. I feel sorry for all the users who just HAD to have the Razr, now! And now they regret their haste.

This particular "problem" could be easy to fix. But learn from those who went before you. Don't be "the first."

Alltel becomes the Price Leader. In updating our reviews, we discovered Alltel has improved their plans to the point where they are offering more than most of the other major carriers. Using the $39.99 price point as an example, Alltel gives you 500 peak minutes at that price with their "on-network" plans, while the best the other carriers can offer is 450 minutes. An even nicer advantage of Alltel is that they still offer "Local" and "Roam-Free-Anywhere" plans. The local plans are particularly generous for a cellular carrier.

I could be writing a different story after Christmas, but for now it's nice to see Alltel breaking from the crowd. It's a real breath of fresh air for some of the rural areas who always seem to suffer from higher rates and few competitors. Alltel serves my home state, but not my city. My how times have changed. And we like it.

December 9, 2005. The Phone Numbers Carriers Give Us. Although I wasn't good at math in school, I have a certain affection for numbers. I see beauty and inspiration when I see certain number combinations. Some are boring, some are really cool. So interest in all things cellular would certainly involve lots of numbers. Each cellular phone we have, mostly for checking coverage, also has its own 10-digit number attached. Each has a beauty of its own.

Whoa, let me throttle back my passion for numbers, and share how they relate to our wireless phones. Our country is slowly, but surely, running out of 10-digit numbers. Extraordinary changes, directed by the North American Numbering Plan Administration, have created millions of numbers that were not previously available. But we need more, and as a result, the wireless carriers have changed the way they issue phone numbers. All carriers have ended the practice of issuing "Vanity" numbers, or numbers by request...even if we're willing to pay extra. Some carriers give you one, and only one, choice for your new wireless number. Changing can be difficult, too.

We interviewed the various major carriers and found different levels of choices for your new number. It wasn't too many years ago, we were able to at least choose from a large selection of numbers, getting one that was easy to remember, or a least didn't make you feel embarrassed to share it with friends. But the new, federally "suggested" restrictions have changed what we get assigned.

T-Mobile is the most restrictive. You get one choice, take it or leave it. If you don't like what you get, you can call Customer Care and make your case for changing it. They might change it, potentially to something more desirable, maybe less...but it will cost you $15, either way. The only case for making a free change is if they accidentally assign you a number from the wrong area code. The only way to get a good number at T-Mobile is to get one from one of the other carriers and 'port' it over to T-Mobile (don't try it unless you're ready for a hefty Early Termination Fee). It was pretty cut and dried when I first set up a T-Mobile account. I entered my ESN on an automated phone line and then received my new number by Text Message. Who needs humans?

Next on the list is Sprint, Nextel and Alltel. They all state they will assign you one number, but you could change it at a later date should something go wrong. But their agents are restricted in how much they can access with their computer. Even an agent with extra time can't be 'creative' in finding something different for you.

Verizon has a few more available. Either when signing up a new account, or as an existing customer who needs a 'change', the agent can bring up four Area Code/Prefix combinations. Within each of those four combinations, there are four other four-digit combinations, which, according to agents, are surprisingly often sequential. This is handy for people who sign up for family plans, but we don't know if that's the reason they appear that way. It could be coincidental. This makes a combination of 16 numbers from which to choose, and agents are 'discouraged' from looking beyond this first group. However, the computer system in our market (the west) doesn't prohibit it <wink-wink>.

The most liberal of the group in our survey is Cingular. When it comes time to assign your wireless number, the agent is presented with dozens, if not hundreds of choices, grouped by area codes and prefixes. Some of them are coincidentally sequential. If you can't find one among that initial collection, they might be able to bring up another gallery of choices. You need to get it right the first time, though, almost any number change later requires you to 'cancel' the old account, and start a new one, incurring another $36 "activation" fee.

Alltel, Sprint and Nextel also offer some method of acquiring sequential numbers. Sprint and Nextel usually limit it to corporate accounts, Alltel requires at least 24 hours to search and act on your request.

What's in a number? Besides being easy to remember, we adopt these wireless numbers into our identity. Each person has a different number, so it isn't enough to be unique, it needs to be you. Like lots of people, I thought a number ending with "000" or "00" was the pinnacle of desirability. Nope, it's too much like a business, and you should expect a certain number of wrong numbers chewing up your cellular minutes. Today, we can really only hope to get something that is relatively easy to remember. I had at least one that was impossible to get right...I thought i could remember it, but I was wrong.

Take comfort in the fact that no matter how bad a number may look today, we are inescapably speeding toward the day when the phone number gods must take us to the next level, and add one more digit to our wireless identity. Yes, 11-digit numbers are coming, and there is a committee working on the best way to implement this. The wireless (and wireline) carriers are doing their best to keep that day from coming too soon. So those of you who are just now facing the unpleasant prospect of having to dial ten digits instead of seven, enjoy it while you can.

Oh. my numbers? One is delightfully repetitive. The others are, well, interesting. And while some are ugly, they're mine, and over time I have learned to love them for what they are: more collectable items among my toys. They are true beauties, as long as I don't forget them.

December 2, 2005, Watch What You Blog! We often joke around the Mountain Wireless 'water cooler' about topics we write that are not popular with the carriers, and the ramifications of those positions. The humor is in the thought that the best way to silence this site, or any 'blog' (web log) that talks about wireless, is to hire its contributors!

Much has been written about people who have lost jobs, or who have not been hired, because of statements made in forums and blogs. Yes, some people have been way too candid about things going on at work, and those at wireless carriers are no exception. Many people who identify themselves as employees of a certain wireless company in order to give them some level of credibility, have eventually found themselves out of a job. I have seen this happen too often.

Your editor has been contacted by wireless companies about information given on this site, giving me the impression that lawyers of a certain carrier were 'fishing' to see if anyone from this site is an employee of that particular wireless company. Nope.

What about you? This site has quite a few readers in the wireless industry (OK, maybe a few). I'm sure they could consider some of what we say offensive to their company. It is something we think about when we receive a 'tip' from someone on the 'inside'. As with any news service, we want to be on the up and up, to quote sources, to be fair, even in our commentary. I want to assure you, readers and corporate representatives alike, if something is revealed in confidence, it will stay in confidence, until it hits another attributable source. But our raw opinions could easily rub the wrong way. Are you being careful in Blogs and forums?

Some of this comes from comments in forums that we are "pro-Verizon," implying were are "anti" somebody. This may be true in relation to the fact that until recently, we have had a 'western' bias, and Verizon is truly dominant in the western U.S. As we move our interests eastward, we allow for the fact that carriers like Cingular are far more competitive. I am hoping that does not irritate our western-leaning readers. Equally important, is the notion that while we still may be 'biased', we still try to be fair. And if we're not, let us know. Except for Airtouch. I still don't like them.

November 25, 2005, How Much Bad Cell Service Can You Put Up With? It was an average Thanksgiving this year, with better than average food, and good football after. It was during the apple pie (drizzled w/caramel) at half time that the cellular subject came up. A cousin mentioned that he just bought a new Verizon phone, a Samsung, and how much he was enjoying it. He stated that it was a little difficult getting used to, but each day it was getting easier and more fun.

It was actually a surprise to discover that everyone sitting at the dinner table was a Verizon customer. That is until the cousin told us his lovely significant other had Qwest Wireless, and that was "handy". "Handy?" How so? So they can make free long distance calls from home. So why not do that on your Verizon phone? "It doesn't work at the house." What? He's been a Verizon customer for years, has just purchased a new phone, and has been putting up with no service at home? Why? "Because Verizon is the best."

This reinforces the power of personal choice and priorities in wireless service. Verizon was best for his purposes, even without coverage at home. I started jumping to the drawer to give him a couple of phones from other carriers to try out at home, just to see if there is a service that works, although we already know Sprint works there (Qwest = Sprint). Thanks, but no thanks, I know who is best. The cousin used to be an over-the-road truck driver and carried both a Verizon and AT&T (TDMA) phone. He originally thought AT&T One Rate was the best thing since sliced bread, but wondered if Verizon SingleRate had better coverage in the areas where AT&T faltered. It did...so much so he was a convert for life!

He no longer drives over the road, and still maintains his loyalty to Verizon. But beyond that, I need to be reminded daily that if a carrier serves a customer well enough, they can be fiercely loyal. It's the kind of choice akin to choosing a car, a spouse, or a political candidate. My choice is the best...because I chose it! Ah yes, and the next line should be, "my mind is made up, don't confuse me with the facts."

So, what does it take to make people want to change their wireless carrier? There are some well-paid people in cellular corporate offices wondering the same thing. How many times have you wanted to grab someone by the shoulders and try to shake some sense into them? 'Why do you stick with that wireless carrier if they don't have coverage everywhere you want to be?' That's where marketing comes into play. And thankfully, when the Marketing people think a price reduction (or, more often, an increase in included minutes) will get folks to change, we all benefit. Of course, more coverage could make some of us change, but that's hard to market, and our cousin can't be swayed.

Web sites like Mountain Wireless exist to serve those who are searching for something better. Most people already have cellular service, and the search for something new comes as a result of something going wrong...or something going right, like seeing an ad for more minutes (or coverage) for a lower price. And we can't overlook the choice of a particular phone as being a deciding factor. We also found that choosing a particular model of phone is even more personal than choosing a carrier. Which, by the way, is one reason why we don't provide detailed information of different models of phones. There are other excellent web sites that do that, our favorite is Phone Scoop.

And then there are those sneaky little charges carriers like Verizon add. They are small "fees" that are nothing more than additional profit. They can still claim a $49.99 monthly charge, but it's the "taxes & fees" that provide a whole new place to hide these additional charges. How much can they add on before some of us go searching for something better? Oh yes, we strongly recommend that you always look at the bottom line of what you pay, but once again, we just can't grab you by the shoulders and try to shake some sense into you...can we?

November 18, 2005, What Happened to Making Phone Calls on My Phone? My email inbox was full, I mean with dozens of announcements from Verizon and Cingular about stuff that is now available on their phones. Get weather, music, pictures, movie schedules, horoscopes, broadband internet, and I'm sure more, but I quit reading how much more. But can I make more calls in more places for less money?

I'm sure there is a segment of the world that will appreciate so many more features available from our phones, and it's only .99 per download...or just a penny a kilobyte. In a world of big cost increases, it's nice to see a service where we really are getting nickeled and dimed for our services. So far, the majority of us just want to make phone calls. How dull is that?

I certainly don't mind the carriers offering extra-cost services, but they're not putting their money where I want it. Yes, once in a while I'll check in to a bed and breakfast where the only phone is 'down the hall', and it is nice to plug in the cell phone to access the internet. But do I want to see a rerun of Seinfeld or Desperate Housewives on a postage stamp size screen? Most people I know barely have time to watch it the first time around.

Yep, I'm starting to whine. There seems to be a lot of money and effort going into providing more services, when what we want is more coverage! If I was willing to pay a few cents more per call, would the carriers be willing to give me access to a few more miles of service? Yes, that's the extra feature I want. A few times I played snake while sitting in the bathroom with no newspaper available, but that's the extent of entertainment I've needed from my phone.

The advantage of 'going cellular' was to free us from the confines of our homes and offices...to be able to get out there and do stuff. Now the carriers are giving us the chance to drop our heads and watch the tiniest of video screens, once again withdrawing into our own little isolated world. But at least we can isolate on a park bench instead of the couch. Let's get back to the good old days, you know, when we had to go to a coffee shop to get our broadband access, where we would have the opportunity to react with other humans. "Sir, are you going to order something or are you just going to take up one of our tables?" Now that's getting out and doing stuff!

November 12, 2005. What's Going On in the Cornhusker State? We've had our head down in pages full of html code and haven't seen much earthshaking news in the wireless world. Hopefully, you will have noticed that we have changed our Home page to highlight the accessibility of all the states, not just the west. As we review and interview the carriers that are new to us (and miss this week's news deadline), we took a step back and looked at our status.

Of the dozen or so states we have added, we thought there would be the most interest in the largest states...New York, Illinois, maybe Florida. But no, it's that hotbed of cellular interest, Nebraska that leads the way. It's the home of that new company, Viaero, that is bold enough to guarantee your town a new cell site if you come up with enough of your neighbors to sign a petition. Or maybe that 'stealth' carrier, Indigo, who only has one store of their own in the panhandle...and good luck finding their web site, http://www.indigowireless.net/...a Google search would never find it. Frankly, we don't know what's up. If you know why all the sudden interest in Nebraska cellular ratings, share it with us. We had a spike in Arizona review views last spring and finally found a local Arizona search site that featured a link to the Mountain Wireless site among a bunch of local bars and night clubs. Hey, I'll drink to that.

I also would like to salute our fans in South Dakota. They must have kept our old link to the South Dakota review site run by the meetmyattorney.com guy in their Favorites, and rejoined our new version. But they're amateurs compared to the Nebraska fans. Go Red!

Watch for a few more new states over the next few weeks. C'mon guys, get those web sites updated! Concho Wireless (another Cellular One in the middle of Texas), took their web site completely off line, possibly because it was so outdated. That certainly doesn't bother the Union Cellular gang in Wyoming. Their site appears to have not been touched for over five years, and this is after they have acquired a whole new system in the state! When a web site shows an old Nokia 282 phone, it begs for a follow-up phone call from us to see if they really do sell that model.

November 4, 2005. New Cellular Competition. After the recent wave of consolidation, I began to worry that the world is going cellular and wireless carriers would be growing too large...and expensive. Our home phone bill has been fixed at less than $15 (plus absurd taxes) for years, but our wireless bill has always been higher than $60 per month (plus different, but no less absurd taxes). Of course now the wireless bill is closer to $100. Is this progress?

I saw no chance of relief on the horizon, especially with continued consolidation. Then I saw a ray of hope. It was a phone. It wasn't too unusual a phone, it looked like all the rest. But this wireless phone uses wifi hot spots. Hmmm, not much threat to the large cellular carriers, right? I bet that was the thinking of Airtouch in the face of that upstart network, Sprint PCS. Sure, they could grow, but their coverage looks like tiny dots on the map. How could they ever offer serious coverage? Ah, but now they do. Could wifi be the next competitor? Let's hope something arrives before our 'telephone bill' grows to the size of a car payment.

Addressing just that concern, T-Mobile announced their holiday promotion of 1,500 anytime minutes at the popular price level of $40 per month. I hadn't thought about this being a serious threat to the Cricket and Metro PCS 'unlimited' carriers, but that is precisely what is happening. The average usage of the customers of these 'unlimited' carriers is right about 1,500 minutes. Compare that to T-Mobile's sizable, 'national' footprint and you would have reason for concern. It's another trend we love watching...more minutes for the money. We love more coverage, first...more minutes, next.

We're pretty high on T-Mobile's service, especially now that they are expanding their reach into rural areas and 800 MHz roaming. And they are among the best carriers in California now that Cingular is funneling all it's customers off their 'old' network, now operated by T-Mobile, and on to AT&T's old network. Let the howling begin. But I'm hoping the minute wars will continue. Not that prices will come down, we'll just talk more. I remember how hard it was to use all 75 of my monthly minutes back in 1997.