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Mid-Tex's little chunk of heaven is right in the middle of Texas (appropriate name, eh?), generally west of Waco, and removed from any interstate highways. That normally means other carriers would prefer to just sign a roaming agreement than install their own cell sites. AT&T isn't even installing any cell sites there, they're just buying up Dobson's whole system.

To us, the bigger news is the simplicity of how this is being done. Mid-Tex had the foresight (luck?) to choose Vanu for their digital upgrade. Vanu offers a bunch of products for cellular and other radio technologies. Other carriers haven't gone in this direction, but could. Mid-Tex is the first. It's just one little move in the right direction for better universal coverage for all of us, especially as we face the sunset of analog cellular technology.

Vanu expects to take on Alaska and India next. Will the rest of the carriers catch up? Hooray for the small carriers...hooray for interoperational technology...hooray for coverage!

November 6, 2007 Data Still Isn't That Big. We received some email feedback from last week's discussion about our focus on data usage among cellular users. It was brought to our attention that roughly only 5% of all cellular users actually use more than a token amount of data. Considering the number of PDA-type phones in the market, that was a bit of a surprise, but it was also a good slap of reality.

The fact that 95% of wireless phone users are pretty much limiting their use to making phone calls and very little else is both scary and exciting. Scary in that there are so many people with phones with so many features that they just don't use, either out of disinterest or ignorance. Exciting because there is a boatload of potential in the phones we already have. How many of your friends know how to take pictures with their hot new camera phone, but have no idea what to do with the picture after that?

We blame the carriers for not helping us use the features available on our phones. They promote the features when selling the phone, but once you've set up your address book, there's little time for much else. And what time that is available is often spent trying to either choose among a paltry selection of ringtones, or trying to figure out how to get one downloaded.

And how many users have the misconception that unless they have a Blackberry, Treo or something else with too many buttons, their phone can't be used for anything other than making calls? When that data threshold gets closer to 20%, we'll be among those leading users through the data forest. For now, while the carriers are hoping you'll soon be making store and pop-machine purchases with your cell phone, the rest of us will be agonizing how to just make a call to the right person without crashing into a light pole.

October, 29, 2007. How Much Wireless Usage is Just Data? Often we take a step back and look at what we focus on at MountainWireless.com and wonder if we're looking at the right things. We're concerned about technology, plans, features and, above all, coverage. With the greater use of Blackberries, TREO's, other PDA-like devices, and phones with data capabilities, we wanted to make sure we weren't overlooking a large part of the market.

The cellular carriers are not very helpful in revealing how much data their customers use, but overall, data, which includes internet browsing, email, SMS, and the like, accounts for 15% of the overall income for wireless carriers. That is a fairly small portion of the cellular universe, unless these companies are seriously undercharging for their services, which we seriously doubt. I looked my my usage and found I am paying 6% for data and and actually using a far smaller percentage than that. Other family members use closer to 0%.

For the time being, we feel data issues are worth a mention on our site, but are not yet a high-priority subject.


AT&T Keeps Competing. Two weeks ago we gave AT&T credit for keeping up with the offers from competing carriers, and recently they added one more feature we like. They now offer discounted, or at least lower-priced plans for users who are 65 years and over. After saturating the teen and young adult market, appealing to the newly-arrived Baby Boomers may just become the newest hot market. These people are, or will be, far more technically competent than those just a few years older. Just be prepared to have plenty of documentation at the AT&T store if your don't have gray, or missing, hair.

And speaking of AT&T, in our recent travels, we found a large difference in coverage among our various flavors of AT&T phones. So we have posted maps showing the side-by-side difference among the AT&T "Nation GSM", "Pay As You Go", and "Pick Your Plan" phones. In our area of the west, the differences are significant, and it was quite interesting to have one phone lose coverage, followed by the next, and eventually by the last.

October 16, 2007 AT&T Mobility Tries to Go "Consumer-Friendly", Too. Two weeks after Verizon Wireless softened their penalties for changing plans and dropping service, AT&T has decided it's a good idea, too. AT&T Mobility (the wireless division of AT&T, who really used to be Cingular, who really used to be SBC, who can't bring themselves to call it "AT&T Wireless") announced today they will pro-rate their Early Termination Fee (ETF) and will allow changes in their customers' plans without requiring a contract renewal.

Ah, what's old is new again. The old AT&T Wireless was among the last holdouts of the pro-rated ETF as recently as five years ago. Of course they don't want to rush these things, so the new program won't take effect until early 2008, and they have yet to announce how much the fee will be reduced over time. Verizon should be smiling about this, but all the other carriers who still have a fixed ETF should be quite concerned.


Analog Update. We have read so much erroneous information in forums and newsgroups about the FCC's analog sunset we thought we would post what we know on the subject with a special "End of Analog" article. It is a collection of quotes taken from the FCC, OnStar and a few select wireless carriers. We hesitate including the comments of Dobson Cellular who stated that will maintain analog in rural markets for the foreseeable future, only to have the company purchased by AT&T, who states they will pull the plug on analog in February, 2008.

This page only shows selected paragraphs from full reports. To get the entire story you can follow the links given. We are still mulling over whether to post the report from Plateau Wireless who insists that turning off analog will not only affect many of their agricultural customers, it will also reduce their rights to their licensed Cellular Geographic Area. Since it involves such a small area of rural Texas and New Mexico, it is not of general interest, and pretty much isn't a big deal. After all, the "sunset" isn't a directive from the FCC to turn off analog service, it only drops the requirement to maintain it. Conceivably, analog could go on forever.

October 1, 2007 When a Company Goes 'Consumer-Friendly'. Today, Verizon Wireless announced they will allow plan changes without requiring a contract renewal. This is from the people who 'pioneered' the pro-rated Early Termination Fee…something the old AT&T Wireless offered six years ago. Verizon's "Worry-Free Guarantee" has the appearance of benefiting the customer, but they still have their 'rules'…so some of these benefits are of limited value. Today's changes, along with the 30-Day Test Drive and the New Every Two programs, at least should make customers feel a little less hesitant about choose a carrier like Verizon.

It was Verizon who eventually embraced Local Wireless Number Portability making the other carriers look consumer UN-friendly. That particular program actually cost Verizon some money, but it was money every carrier was going to pay anyway. Verizon's other benefits have been far less costly, especially for a company with a relatively low customer turnover (churn) rate.

Over the years, each carrier has established some sort of "gimmick" to make them stand out, and in this case, we applaud Verizon for making this "change" their latest gimmick. Unfortunately, this particular change was the normal way of business a few years ago when changing a plan did not involve changing a 'promotion', resulting in a contract renewal.

Yep, it does make you feel good…when you stop hitting your head with that hammer. Thank you, may I have another?

September 24, 2007. TelCel Offers "Pay-Per-Call". We are frequent roamers south of the border and, until recently, calls to and from the US while roaming in Mexico were extraordinarily high. Now TelCel has introduced a "Pay Per Call" service which allows tourists to call back home for just $1 for up to 20 minutes of talk time. This is a big change from the $1.35/minute they normally charge for "international" calls. It's also a big savings compared to the .59 to $1.49/minute roaming fees charged by US carriers for phones roaming in Mexico.

TelCel offers a prepaid service, "Amigo," which is available to visitors either as a kit, with phone, SIM and refill card, or with a SIM only. When we travel there we usually pick up a SIM, which normally has the minutes already loaded for a package price. These can be picked up at a TelCel store or many other non-cellular retailers like convenience stores. We cannot yet determine if any of the other Mexico carriers will match the price, or if the US carriers will do anything to make their Mexico roaming rates more attractive. Could any of them try a similar "pay per call" service?

TelCel's Pay Per Call plan also allows TelCel-to-TelCel calls within the same city at .50 for up to 20 minutes as well. It's a good way for families to communicate while on a Mexico vacation. TelCel also offers a "friends & families" pricing plan like T-Mobile "My-Favs."

A downside of this service is that people calling you FROM the US may have to pay a hefty charge for calling a Mexico cell phone. There is both a Long Distance charge and a cellular surcharge for callers since Mexico is now a "Calling Party Pays" country. But all incoming calls for the cellular user are free! Once you know the fees involved, one caller can call the other back in the cheapest direction.

This is a huge change in prices and s a big advantage to using Mexican cellular carriers while traveling there. We have a whole Mexican hat-full of Mexican roaming tips on our Mexico Roaming Page.

September 17, 2007. T-mobile Buys Suncom. T-Mobile announced today they will be buying Suncom Wireless, a PCS-based provider in the southeastern US. As usual, we do not like to lose any of the smaller, independent carriers, especially a good one like Suncom. However, life for Suncom customers isn't as rosy as it was a few years ago.

Suncom has a good network with relatively solid coverage in their home area, and, until last year, also had beneficial roaming agreements with other carriers, including Cingular. In the interim, customers weren't quite sure how their phone would operate and where it would work. As it becomes a part of the T-Mobile network, at least the options become clear if not better.

There has been no word as to what will become of Suncom's plans, but most likely they will be replaced with T-Mobile's, which are fairly generous. We would hope that current Suncom plans will be grandfathered, but, if not, they would at least continue to offer a local plan like they do in other markets, to mirror what Suncom offers today. Would keeping the unlimited plan be too much to ask?

Speaking of buyouts, the attempted Metro PCS takeover of Cricket Wireless we spoke of on September 7th has been rejected by Leap Wireless, the parent company of Cricket. Those two would make a nice pair, but not if one member of the couple would be unhappy. Let's hope they can survive their spat.

September 14, 2007. Selling Cellular Towers Is a Good Thing. It was announced today that Global Tower Partners purchased 549 cellular towers from AT&T. The last time this happened with other carriers, we received email from concerned cellular users that somehow their coverage will be either be going away, or going to the hands of another carrier. No worry, mate!

It has been a common practice for carriers to sell a few towers, then lease back the space for their existing antennas. The really good news is that these towers immediately become available to all cellular carriers. What was once a cellular sandbox with a "not with my tower" mentality, now sites that are already developed can quickly add antennas from another carrier. And adding new towers is a thorn in every carrier's side.

This pulls a few thorns from every carrier. And companies like Global intend on adding as many new wireless services as possible on these newly-acquired towers, especially with the coming AWS sites. Viva la Coverage!


Web Site Update. Most of our major changes are up and running. However, with a site as large as ours (150+ pages) it will take some time to incorporate the newest features on all the pages...it could take months. It does allow us to review every updated page, and some get completely re-written, like the Motorola vs. Nokia page.