|
November 11, 2006. Cricket Approaches the Big Time. We generally give good reviews for Cricket
service, but we had a few reservations
about
some of their limitations. This year,
they
added roaming, mostly on Verizon, snapped
up some big chunks of AWS spectrum
from the
recent auction, and now have added
roaming
from one Cricket system to another.
Cricket has made a niche for itself with
"unlimited" plans in medium
and
large markets. They have slowly expanded
into several markets and are trying
to bring
their prepaid-like service to others.
With
roaming available from one Cricket
market
to another, they have entered a new
era much
like Sprint PCS in 1997. They served
a handful
of large markets and kept expanding
to the
major player they are today.
Sprint had the advantage of owning licenses
in every market of the United States,
but
Cricket has given expansion a good
try with
winning bids in 99 new AWS markets.
In some
markets Cricket experienced some shaky
starts.
Consumers were expecting good coverage,
but
found it far less than perfect. Over
time,
some people now appreciate Cricket
for what
it is, a limited service carrier that
can
replace a primary or secondary home
phone.
Cricket often suffers from constructing their
networks a little too frugally, but
seem
to be improving, and there are quite
a few
users who are willing to trade expansive
coverage for unlimited minutes. Taking
these
few new steps toward the big leagues
have
made Cricket an even better choice.
But we
also hope other carriers feel the slightest
pinch of this upstart and find the
need to
complete...even if it's just a little.
Yep. We're still crawling toward unlimited
minutes for everyone, but at Cricket...the
future is here!
November 4, 2006. SBC + AT&T + Bellsouth = Less Cingular
Coverage? After complaining about the lack of new
Cingular sites in the interior west, they
announced big numbers of new cell sites in
states like Arizona and Colorado. A year
later, we were still hunting for these new
sites, although a few have been discovered.
OK, if the rollout of new sites that we were
promised by "the end on 2005",
really means, "2006", we'll deal
with it. But the news appear more ominous.
If these new sites haven't been built, or
at least started, by now, they may be on
hold for a looooong time. A recent story at the Wireless Estimator reveals orders
from Cingular that cancel new projects and
allows only those nearly completed to be
continued. This is bad news among those companies
who build cell sites, but it also means the
Cingular network, which in serious need of
upgrading across the west, will no longer
be improved.
An additional report from ThinkEquity Partners
L.L.C. said that AT&T’s pending acquisition
of BellSouth has affected Cingular Wireless’s
spending on its network infrastructure, and
that some of the carrier’s equipment suppliers
are feeling a loss of jobs as a result. Cingular
counters that capital spending is higher
in 2006 than previous years. But we are constant
skeptics. If the people who build cell sites
are told to stop, site construction will
stop.
Numerous new sites have been spotted in California,
but elsewhere, we once again look at Cingular,
or more accurately those parts of the AT&T
Wireless network now owned by Cingular, as
back toward the bottom of the coverage pile.
The farther east you live, the less this
is a problem. But the view out our back door
is of a #4 network that we had high hopes
would at least approach the coverage of Verizon,
or at least T-Mobile.
Alas, further corporate consolidation may
be improving the bottom line, but if it means
a halt to coverage improvements...bah, humbug!
October 27, 2006. New Coverage Where We Didn't Expect It! In this case, it was from Verizon Wireless
who announced a handful of new sites. These sites just happened to be in Colorado,
but they have a unique quality, for the most
part, in that they are located in areas that
already had good to excellent coverage. Verizon
wouldn't give details other than they are
improving their coverage within existing
areas.
Our guess is that they are actively adding
sites to improve coverage of their EV-DO
service which is based, for the most part,
at 1900 MHz. EV-DO is, or will be, their
money maker. So they need to make it available
in areas where their 850 MHz service is adequate,
but the 1900 MHz is not.
So, my request for better service in the
campgrounds in Maroon Bells (one of the most
scenic spots in Colorado...you've seen the
pictures but may not know it), fell on deaf`ears.
But if we get better service there because
they installed a site nearby (west Aspen)
to improve 1900 MHz coverage for EV-DO customers,
we'll take it! I'm not a big data/video/music/etc.
user, but it sure is nice to find those who
are, helping out the rest of us who aren't.
And Verizon isn't the only one. We have been
impressed with T-Mobile in nearby towns,
who specifically said they are improving
coverage at the 'neighborhood' level. At
first I thought they would be encouraging
people to replace their landline with a T-Mobile
phone. But recently I found something more
sinister hiding in those new 50' monopoles.
T-Mobile just recently announced they will
be providing unlimited phone and data services
through wi-fi for a fixed monthly fee in
a few markets. Away from home the phone accesses
the normal T-Mobile network.
This seems to be the direction of the use
of their recently acquired AWS spectrum (1700/2100
MHz), but we read it as expanding their money-maker.
But if we've got a now, good old-fashioned
voice channel antenna up there, we're just
as happy as hogs in slop that their 'money
maker' is our new, more reliable 'call maker.'
Up until now, I was in the 'who cares' camp
about their new services. Now I'm all a-twitter
about the sites being built. More coverage
is better, and the more unlimited services
we get, the better, too.
Care to join us in the slop? Oink!
October 20, 2006. Hey, This My Circle/Favs Thing is Catching
on...Sortof. It was just 2 weeks ago, below, we predicted
this circle of friends calling would catch
on. And this past week, Verizon Wireless
jumps on the bandwagon as well. But I need
to explain.
Verizon Wireless and Verizon Communications
have called their introduction in the next
step of unlimited wireless calls as "bundling",
not a circle of favs. And it's only available
in Verizon landline markets, and it's only
available to one line, presumably your own
home landline. Qwest and AT&T had been
offering this type of "bundling"
since the days when they both actually had
a wireless network. No matter, we'll take
it.
OK, the tally so far is, if you only call
that one, or five, or ten 'special' numbers,
after 9pm, on weekends, or your family members,
'unlimited' calling has arrived. My work
here is done!
October 13, 2006. The eBay Effect. One of the loudest complaints we hear about
getting cellular service is the obligation
of 1 or 2 year contracts and the inability
to use a phone you have already purchased
on a different network. eBay to the rescue. We use a collection of various
phones to test the networks available in
our region, and virtually all of them were purchased on eBay. There is
a wide spectrum of quality among eBay phones,
but in almost all cases, we have been more
than pleased with what we have purchased.
We try to be the champion of the low-cost
avenue to cellular phone usage, and eBay gets us there. Most carriers allow
a phone to be re-used on their network as
long as a few conditions are met. GSM carriers
will allow any phone on their network, you
just switch the SIM, a small 'chip' that
holds the phone registration information.
In most cases, the phone must be originally
from that network, but some can be 'unlocked'
and used on another. Other carriers require
the phone to be from their own original inventory.
None of these limitations keep us from using
other networks. Non-GSM carriers require
you to sign up for their prepaid accounts
to avoid a long-term contract, but the SIM
is your ticket to using your eBay phone on
most GSM networks. The exceptions we found
were those prepaid re-sellers who offer a
100% rebate after maintaining service with
them for a specified period. For those carriers,
the free phone offered is usually quite basic...but
that's OK.
We're not necessarily promoting eBay, but
we are promoting an alternative to the carriers'
heavy-handed contract obligations and regulations.
We do need to pay for a $10 or $25 refill
for our prepaid phones, but at the end of
the year, that may be our total outlay for
a 'standby' phone.
In one case, we are happy to keep our T-Mobile  phone topped up with more minutes per year
because of its great value. And, as a result,
we wanted to upgrade that phone to something
a little nicer. Yep, hello eBay. A current
Nokia phone that sells at the T-mobile store
for $250 (with a 1-year contract of course),
is available on eBay for much less, and some
new in the sealed package. We chose the used
route.
With used, the prices are even lower, and
quite often these used phones come with all
the accessories the previous owner collected
over the life of the phone. The real bargain
comes when the seller fails to promote all
that comes with your purchase. One phone
we bid on listed included items as "1
battery." But when the package arrived
3 days later, I found an AC charger, 2 mobile
chargers, a handsfree headset (a nice one,
not those cheapies), online connection software,
and a belt clip! What was not included was
the manual, the SIM and the original box...3
things I did not need. But the biggest win
here is that I have a really nice phone,
not the bare-bones phone usually offered
to prepaid users, and the carrier didn't
lock me in to a contract.
My eBay downside? One phone advertised as
"unlocked", wasn't, but I unlocked
it for free (most Nokias are easy to unlock).
Another arrived with a non-working charger,
which was not guaranteed to work, but I already
had that charger, but could have easily bought
one at Target for $10.
But what's important is, you still get to
"stick it to the man!"
October 6, 2006. My Circle Goes Nationwide. A few months ago we reported on Alltel's
"My Circle" plan that allows unlimited
calling to 10 numbers, regardless of network.
That idea may have reached a "tipping
point" as it has been adopted by a "nationwide"
network, T-Mobile. Alltel's plan is quite
generous and has few strings attached, but
starts at $60 a month and they don't offer
service in many urban areas.
T-Mobile, on the other hand, offers the plan
at a lower price, in all metro areas, but
only to 5 chosen numbers, and reportedly
only with certain model phones. But the idea
is a fine one, much like unlimited nights
and weekends. Anything we can get that allows
unlimited calls, especially at any hour,
is a good thing. But the greater hope is
that this may catch on at other carriers,
even if they just add one "other" number.
Great ideas come along from time to time
that allow a marketing advantage. For AT&T
it was "One-Rate", for Sprint PCS
it was free long distance calling. And if
the other carriers see a competitor bring
in lots of new customers with such a great
idea, they will be sure to copy it. So, in
this case, we hope T-Mobile brings them in
by the thousands.
Lots of people have already made their list,
whether they're with T-Mobile or not. And
some have some clever 'back door' ideas,
like a local long distance access number
(these plans don't allow "800"
numbers), or a re-call function of their
work phone, to allow one assigned number
to access multiple people. As we have said
for years, we are slowly working our way
to unlimited minutes for everyone, it's just
a matter of time and price. If you only call
5 numbers...you're there!
Now, if I can just figure out which one of
my buddies' different phone numbers I could
assign to my new "plan". That's
a tough one in a time when one 3-person family
has 12 phone numbers. Call Forwarding anyone?
Analog Revival? Just a few weeks ago we commented on the
continued importance of analog, below. Lo
and behold, earlier this week, ADT, the home
alarm company, asked the FCC to postpone
the analog sunset provision due to the lack
of digital equipment to upgrade many of their
alarm customers. This is analog equipment
at the customer premises, not at the cell
sites. ADT's concern is that only GSM equipment
is available, and GSM coverage isn't that
good and would leave many of their customers
with no service.
Of course the GSM carriers think otherwise,
but ADT wouldn't be going to the trouble
of entering the bureaucratic abyss that is
the FCC, unless they thought it really was
a problem. They might be smiling among the
CDMA carriers, but the glee will be short-lived
if they become singled out as having to maintain
their old analog networks longer because
the GSM carriers haven't expanded theirs
enough, yet. We're holding on to our 'tri-mode'
phones.
September 29, 2006. The Evolution of Coverage Maps. As we begin our third year in writing this
commentary, we re-visit the competition among
carriers to present the most helpful coverage
maps. T-Mobile led the charge, with Cingular
and Sprint recently catching up. Surprisingly,
we find Verizon Wireless now bringing up
the rear in showing a useful level of detail
among the top four national carriers' coverage
maps.
The latest class of maps are more like "systems"
that can pinpoint service within a block
or two. Oddly, Verizon, who claims the most
"reliable" network, fails to show
off their superiority. While their maps are
reasonably accurate, at least for their own
network, they don't offer much resolution
beyond a region or possibly a large city,
certainly not "street level." We
have often commended smaller carriers for
excellent coverage maps, some with actual
cell site locations. Now we get to cast stones
in the direction of Verizon, where, "it's
the network," but we just can't see it for ourselves. We need to take their
word for it.
Ah, but there is one large carrier that comes
in far worse than Verizon: Alltel. Their
maps are fairly useless, and the view in
territories formerly served by Cellular One
actually got worse. Just to make sure, I
visited their web site earlier today and
found that now the only maps available to
most of us are their tiny national maps.
If you are clever enough to enter a Zip Code
in the "View Your Coverage" box
next to their Local (Greater Freedom) plans,
even if you wanted to get a National plan, AND you didn't have your Pop-Up blocker
on, you would get a small, low-resolution
map of a couple of states which are far worse
than the old Alltel maps still found on our
maps page.
So, here we have another carrier that actually
does have good coverage, but doesn't show
it. Yeah, you know the type. You think that girl's beautiful under that dowdy dress
and scraggly hair. So, Miss Alltel doesn't
get invited to the ball as often as her showier
neighbors. This is one case where it is not
better to leave things to the imagination.
We need to take their word for it.
We'd like to say these carriers should be
doing more for the customer, but we shouldn't
need to. This is Marketing 101, guys. Take
our word for it.
Update on our Positive Experience with T-Mobile from our September 22, 2006 article, below.
I was so pleased with my T-Mobile to Go service,
I wanted to add an account for a family member.
I called T-Mobile at 611 to, at least, find
a store location, and was kept on hold for
my entire 26 minute commute. So, no answer,
no deal. Marketing 101? Answer the phone.
September 22, 2006. Another Positive Wireless Experience. One of our collection of phones is a T-Mobile
to Go phone, and this week was renewal time.
To me, the big downside of prepaid is the
normal, 90-day (or even shorter) expiration
time. Our prepaid phones are secondary and
don't get used every day. So one that doesn't
expire for one full year is much easier to
manage. You achieve the 1-year term by totalling
$100 in refills, and this "Gold"
status also gains a bonus at each refill,
too. Then subsequent refills can be as low
as $10 to get another year.
But it isn't just the refill convenience,
it's how well I am treated as a customer.
Initial signup, years ago, was easy. And
they welcome refills in many ways, including
the highly discounted cards from www.cheapphonecards.com.
Minutes are deducted as you would expect,
with no charges for messages left in your
voice mail. I think I may have called them
a few years ago with a question, but I was
left with the feeling that it was a positive
experience. The less you need to call a carrier, the better the service
must be.
My refill a year ago was the full $100 (what
a leap of faith that was), which yielded
a rate of .10/minute. But at refill time,
if I added a measly $10 or $25, what would
happen to the per minute rate? Is this where
they getcha? Nope. You buy another, say,
150 minutes, you get your initial, say, 1,000
minutes, plus your new 150 minutes. But since
you don't have all of those 1,000 minutes
left, the math gets kinda fuzzy.
So, T-Mobile pulls a fast one, in your favor. They round down the per minute rate to
some slightly lower number, which usually
yields a larger total number of minutes.
So, while you're expecting 550 minutes in
your account, those sneaky folks slip in
600. What a way to run a business.
Oh yes, what about coverage? T-Mobile is
among the best, unless you spend a lot of
time in rural areas off the interstates.
The only downside we find with T-Mobile is
the audio quality of their voice mail system.
But, it works, so why mess with it?
So what has this consumer-friendly attitude
of theirs got them? Well, since we use the
T-Mobile phone more than we thought, we re-upped
with a larger $25 refill. Big woop, right?
Well, it is a 150% increase from what we
intended to spend. And if a few thousand
of us decide to do the same, T-Mobile has
done a good job.
September 8, 2006. Wireless Survey Reveals What We Already Know. J.D. Power's surveys are pretty broad-based,
and, while we would rather hear from a more
wireless-focused agency, J.D. Power does
interview a large segment of users. Their
latest survey on wireless service and phones had some ho-hum news, and some
eye-openers. The ho-hum was that Verizon
and T-Mobile are still tops in customer satisfaction.
They don't tie, instead each one has strengths
in different geographic areas.
Among the eye openers was the appearance
of Alltel at the top of the chart in some
areas. We have always been high on Alltel,
especially in the past year after they made
big improvements in price, coverage and features.
It's nice to see J.D. Power and Associates
agree with us.
Another surprise was the majority of wireless
phone usage going indoors. At 51%, wireless
phone users are beginning to show a real
trend in substituting wired phones with wireless.
If nothing else, cell phones are already
dominant in making long distance calls. That
is borne out in homes and businesses in this
survey. We also give credit to the carriers
for recognizing this. We reviewed a public
hearing for new cell sites in an adjacent
city and noted that T-mobile was specifically
targeting sites for improving service in
residential neighborhoods...making reference
to people who were indeed wanting, and using,
more wireless at home.
It is no eye-opener in J.D. Power's rankings
of Cingular as dead last in all geographic
regions. They proved in court they have "more
bars in more places," but their boast
of "fewer dropped calls," is way
off-base. We find one reason after another
to dislike their service, and the customers
interviewed by J.D. Power agree.
The best review of the J.D Power report can
be read in this RCR Wireless article. Of course we feel quite smug to find J.D.
Power stating exactly what we have been saying
here at Mountain Wireless. Dare we toot our own horn?
Two oddities did show in the survey. One
was that two Sprint network re-sellers, Qwest
Wireless and Virgin Mobile prepaid, rated
much better than Sprint itself, while using
the same network. There must be great value,
at least in the perception, of better customer
service and pricing. We discovered this just
recently about Sprint, and reviewed that
just last week, below. Oh, and it was just
two weeks ago we honored Alltel!
Toot-Toot!
September 1, 2006. Are Things That Bad at Sprint Nextel? It took me by surprise when the top man
from Sprint resigned and Merryl Lynch downgraded their stock. Sprint has been improving their
coverage, and seemed to be doing well, being
able to sell Nextel phones at the same stores.
But the numbers haven't been growing like
investors want. We don't watch numbers, we
watch coverage, technology, and customers'
experiences, and the news has been pretty
good.
Coverage in our areas of travel have been
good and getting better, although we have
been the beneficiary of dozens of new sites
converted from the Qwest Wireless network.
A few areas seem to be lacking, but we'll
forgive Sprint there because most of those
areas were controlled by Sprint affiliates who were not improving service. Nextel had
been getting better as well, offering more
consumer-friendly plans. So what's not to
love?
It seems that while Sprint customers aren't
an unhappy lot, other carriers were slowly
draining away some of their best customers,
most notably Verizon, and to a lesser extent,
Cingular. Investors were seeing fewer new
customers and a higher level of customer
turnover. Sprint once had all the latest
and greatest phones, and wowed the wireless
world with their Visions network. But users
are saying, 'what have you done for us lately?'
The other carriers are improving coverage
must faster, or at least users think they are, and Sprint isn't turning out new
features at the same pace as the others.
Investors are also concerned that there are
big problems in the 'integration' of the
2 networks. I hadn't thought they needed
to be integrated, but it wouldn't be a bad
idea. Verizon and Cingular also had to overcome
different systems and technologies, so it
seemed that Sprint Nextel would eventually,
too.
But they haven't. Or more importantly, in
the minds of the investing public they haven't.
But they will. Combination CDMA/iDEN phones
are coming this year, and Nextel has that
exclusive national 1900 MHz assignment that
is a big step ahead of the other carriers.
But they need to act fast. Their network
won't get worse, but it won't be as good
as the others, which are improving.
August 25, 2006. Alltel Sprints Over the Top. Over the past year, Alltel has become one
of our favorite carriers based on price and
slightly better customer service. In the
past few months they have impressed us even
more with some substantial improvements in
coverage as well. Last spring, Alltel signed
an agreement with Sprint for reciprocal roaming. At the time it seemed
like a renewal of 'more of the same'. Alltel
customers would be able to roam in certain
areas of the country where Sprint was the
only CDMA roaming carrier available.
But with the introduction of the latest Alltel
Preferred Roaming List (PRL), number 606 (and its all-digital varieties), Alltel
has made a substantial change in its roaming
relationships. Until now, Alltel maintained
coverage superiority with its close relationship
with Verizon Wireless. If you were roaming
away from Alltel, you would have Verizon
as your primary roaming partner, which was
excellent. Today, your Alltel phone will
first search for a Sprint roaming signal before
looking for anything from Verizon.
Why is this significant? As Verizon discovered
back in 2002 with the introduction of their
America's Choice plans, having Sprint available
as a high priority roaming partner not only
added CDMA coverage where there was none
included before, it also provided a 'backup'
within Verizon's own markets. If you had
a Verizon phone in, say, Cleveland, and you
lost signal in the office elevator, you were
out of luck. With Sprint available, your
phone could potentially find a Sprint signal
and provide service until you left the elevator,
and regained Verizon.
The problem, Verizon discovered, was too
many of their phones were roaming away from
their own network, and racking up roaming
charges to the company in places where it
was unexpected. So, Verizon has made periodic
updates to their PRL, often removing a Sprint
SID from the database, much to the chagrin
of users who were counting on this Sprint
"backup". Verizon had to add disclaimer
language to their plans that a PRL update
"could reduce coverage."
But with the latest agreement between Alltel
and Sprint, the latest Alltel PRL includes
most of the Sprint network as a preferred
roaming partner, above Verizon. We're assuming
Alltel knows full well that there is potential
of their customers ending up roaming on Sprint,
even in a city with excellent Alltel coverage.
But Alltel users should now realize this
also means if they sit in an Alltel market
and lose signal, they stand a good chance
of roaming on Sprint, for free, giving them
excellent local coverage. And, in some markets,
they also have Verizon available as a third roaming partner.
This is not to imply that Alltel's coverage
is that much superior. They also forbid roaming
on some other carriers, including parts of
their own analog network, that result in
a few "holes" in their otherwise
excellent coverage. And there are some mysterious
exclusions of both Sprint and Verizon roaming
in some areas, most notably in the Southeast.
Alltel's original 10-year roaming agreement
with Verizon was one of the assets that helped
Alltel build a great national network. This
new 10-year Sprint agreement has also added
a great deal of strength to Alltel's offerings.
This also means there may be some interesting
changes for Sprint customers as well. However,
Sprint has had one of the best roaming arrangements
among all carriers, and while there could
be some changes in which carrier a Sprint
phone may see first, there should always
be the same number of roaming choices across
the country.
Not only does the agreement put new Sprint
sites within the grasp of Alltel users, it
also provides a great amount of new (1x and
EV-DO) data coverage to users of both networks. But
we certainly hope Alltel doesn't find their
"in-market" roaming causes enough
of a problem they start removing Sprint coverage,
resulting in the same backlash that Verizon
withstood a few years back. And worse, caused
the lawyers to get involved.
August 18, 2006. The Latest FCC Auction. If you're into all things Cellular, the
current FCC Spectrum Auction number 66 (the
"AWS" spectrum) is a real barnburner.
Speculation has been running rampant. The
satellite TV players came to the dance with
pockets full of money, and gave up and left
right in the middle. T-Mobile has been serious
from the get-go and is holding on to a good
collection of markets and even some substantial
regions. And what are the cable companies
up to?
Verizon Wireless, after waiting out the first
few dance numbers, jumped in with coast to
coast bids and they now sit on top of the
largest total cash bids, but for only four
licenses...although they are for over half
the country. Talk about strategy! And hey,
there are still a few hundred licenses with
no bids! Why didn't we sign up? For the cost of a decent used car,
we could be the leading bidder for spectrum
in several places in the U.S., or even exotic
locations like Puerto Rico or American Samoa.
This could end at any moment, and if you
want to follow it, the FCC updates the action
every few hours at their Auction 66 web site. But what does it mean to you if you're
not into the process? The idea is to provide
more wireless services to more people. Does
it mean lower prices? Probably not. More
coverage? Maybe, but maybe not. Let's just
say the public's airwaves are being parceled
out, with money coming in to the U.S. Treasury,
and somebody's gonna make a profit. Cellular
equipment providers? Phone manufacturers?
The carriers? We won't know until the fat
lady sings. But count on getting another
new phone someday.
Oh, and when the auction is over, the real
fun begins. That's when the back-office talks
start. This is not unlike the NFL draft and
the eventual trading of free agents.
We have also been fielding questions about
the smallest bidder in the auction, WUE Inc.
WUE owns some Cellular spectrum in rural
Nevada and shares it with Verizon Wireless.
So far they have the leading bid ($8,000)
in the Nevada RSA 6, White Pine Cellular
Market Area. I hope we didn't blow it for
them by tipping off the others about a great
deal.
August 11, 2006. The Case for Analog. By now you know if we miss a week, we're
roaming somewhere. This time it was in the
Pacific Northwest. The trip was entirely
on Interstate highways, except in the Puget
Sound (Seattle) area. What is noteworthy
is how many areas there are without cellular
service, and how many that are strictly analog.
Locals in Wyoming and Oregon are sitting
there saying, "we told you so!"
Some of these areas make sense. The gap in
coverage along I-80 in Wyoming is along a
stretch that appears to have no electric
service. What other reason can there be?
The irony is that right in the middle of
this no-coverage zone is the Wyoming electric
wind farm. With huge blades turning in the
breeze, it looks like a technological haven...but
no cell service. To add insult to injury,
some tower company has installed 2 towers
along the road, but there's nothing on them...except
a flashing strobe. Well, there goes the lack
of power excuse.
Verizon has lost use of their B channel there
to Commnet, but of course they can add a
couple of PCS sites...they acquired the spectrum
from Qwest. Not enough traffic there? Have
you counted how many trucks go by that area
every minute? Then there's Union Wireless.
Hello? You have the A channel license on
one side, and the PCS channel on the other.
Is there some company policy against a little
overlap?
Then there's the 'holes' in eastern Oregon.
This is US Cellular territory and not only
are their towers way too far apart for those
of us with hand-held size phones, some of
them aren't digital. And I won't even mention
the total lack of GSM service. That brings
me to the appreciation for analog. Some of
the stretches of analog are just the outlying
edges beyond digital service where analog
just goes a bit farther. But, yes, there
are still sites with analog only.
If you're going to have a breakdown, of course
it's going to be along that stretch with
NO service. And if you have that fancy digital-only
CDMA phone, that stretch is a bit longer.
And God help you if it's a GSM phone. Fortunately,
I-84 is a fairly busy road, so there's bound
the be a helpful trucker who can give you
a lift to the next town, or at least to usable
coverage.
So, with the approaching end of mandatory
support of analog in February of 2008, what
will happen to the only coverage on these
roads? Probably nothing. It's too far away
for someone to go out and turn it off. Especially
the US Cellular areas. I'm afraid their CDMA
broke and nobody noticed.
Add these areas of I-80 and I-84, to I-70
in central Utah and a handful of others,
where there is still no cellular coverage...for
miles. This is a little unsettling for some
of us who have become spoiled with universal
cellular service. For the rest of us, welcome
to the Wild West, where CB is still king!
|
