Farewell analog cell phones!

actually could be a major hinderance to land outs in remote areas if they start killing analog service.
 
tonycondon said:
actually could be a major hinderance to land outs in remote areas if they start killing analog service.
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The rule that was changed only allows carriers to kill if it is not being used or does not fit with their service. It does not mean it will be turned off tomorrow.
 
smigaldi said:
The rule that was changed only allows carriers to kill if it is not being used or does not fit with their service. It does not mean it will be turned off tomorrow.
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I'm sure it will be held onto for many areas. It would be a throat-cutting measure to do so in many "backwoods" areas.
 
KennyFlys said:
I'm sure it will be held onto for many areas. It would be a throat-cutting measure to do so in many "backwoods" areas.
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If I recall correctly, there are also a lot of services (like early OnStar models and some alarm systems) which rely on analog service which could go dark.
 
palm.net died a while ago, orphaning my wireless Palm

since I've upgraded phones and lost analog capability, it seems, there's a whole lot of dead area between Denver and SW South Dakota...
 
smigaldi said:
The rule that was changed only allows carriers to kill if it is not being used or does not fit with their service. It does not mean it will be turned off tomorrow.
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i know. but as the analog service gradually fades away from rural areas and isnt replaced with digital, there is definitely a net loss. especially for unfortunate glider pilots :)
 
wbarnhill said:
If I recall correctly, there are also a lot of services (like early OnStar models and some alarm systems) which rely on analog service which could go dark.
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Alarm systems only used cell as a backup. They wouldn't go dark any more than the having the Precise Flight backup vacuum system fail would ground airplanes....oh, nevermind. ;)

Most people should have heard from the alarm company to replace the analog cell phone by now.
 
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mikea said:
Alarm systems only used cell as a backup. They wouldn't go dark any more than the having the Precise Flight backup vacuum system fail would ground airplanes....oh, nevermind. ;)

Most people should have heard from the alarm company to replace the analog cell phone by now.
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Aha. I didn't think it'd be hard to upgrade these systems to digital.
 
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KennyFlys said:
I'm sure it will be held onto for many areas. It would be a throat-cutting measure to do so in many "backwoods" areas.
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I agree. But no new cell phones have analog capabilities. Leaving the rule intact was a stupid thing for urban cell systems. Wasted spectrum for almost no reason and no revenue generating traffic.
 
smigaldi said:
I agree. But no new cell phones have analog capabilities. Leaving the rule intact was a stupid thing for urban cell systems. Wasted spectrum for almost no reason and no revenue generating traffic.
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Is there a mandatory ending date such as that for HDTV? That's coming a LOT sooner than most realize.
 
KennyFlys said:
Is there a mandatory ending date such as that for HDTV? That's coming a LOT sooner than most realize.
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I am not one of the TV regulatory guys but I know that sometime in 2009 is the current time frame for TV to switch to digital and begin to vacate its current spectrum.
 
smigaldi said:
I am not one of the TV regulatory guys but I know that sometime in 2009 is the current time frame for TV to switch to digital and begin to vacate its current spectrum.
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I believe the end date for analog TV is February 17, 2009.

I was asking if there is a mandatory end date for analog phone coverage that would allow reclaiming that portion of the spectrum.
 
KennyFlys said:
I believe the end date for analog TV is February 17, 2009.

I was asking if there is a mandatory end date for analog phone coverage that would allow reclaiming that portion of the spectrum.
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No mandatory end date for analog.

The date this month is to remove the requirement that all 800MHz cell site be able to support analog. IOW it is now an optional item. The 800 MHZ is still be actively used for cellular.

The only new spectrum that is opening up for cellular is 700MHz. The bids have been received by the FCC and we are currently in what is called an auction quiet period. The awards may be issued later this year. There are some interesting blocks of spectrum in that area that will require some unique requirements such as supporting public safety.

The only other spectrum is up in the 3GHz range. That was just awarded last year at the UN's ITU World Radio Conference. Spectrum awarded there can take a while before an administration (country) actually issues licenses. I have not seen when the US will start issuing licenses in those bands. There are some coexistence issues with the satellite services.
 
Well, you know they said the cell phone was just a fad. Maybe they were talking about analog cell phones.
 
Some updates that I can share with you.

Alltell has begun shutting down their analog systems and expect to be down with analog sometime this fall. They have a phased approach. They say that only 1% of their users are affected. The phases are;

1. 31 March for the south
2. 30 June affecting 11 states throughout the country
3. 31 Sept the remain 14 states of coverage

AT&T started this past Monday and are doing it in conjunction with their TDMA network turn off. They would not say who this affects but indicated that 99.9% of their customers are on GSM. Do the math it is not affecting many.

Verizon is also shutting down parts starting this past Monday.

OnStar stopped analog service at the end of 2007.

Sprint is not affected by this and they never deployed analog.
 
woodstock said:
why? cell phones are not a necessity.
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They are used widely by law enforcement in the rurul counties around here as a backup to radio systems. My own county uses Nextel but it will still be some time before that spreads to more areas.
 
Bummer. Alltel is the one I use analog roaming on in my hometown... Guess I won't have service down there anymore. Maybe Verizon will actually put up some cell towers out that way.
 
woodstock said:
I was being a smartass. :)
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Hey I got it. Wonder why...

It will be interesting. Several local companies up here own small analog cell services that allow Verizon users to roam as well as their own customers. Usually small towns or villages spread around the state. Pilots use them a lot for company communications. When I was running a major lost person search in Wrangell St. Elias last fall the analog cell phone was critical for me - our GSM phones didn't work and being surrounded by mountains in that town our usual fall back to satellite phone service was useless.

With the exception of ACS, none of these folks will updrade to digital I imagine. They'll go out of business first. And I don't see ATT (who bought out Cell One up here last year) putting up sites in 1000 person villages off the road system.
 
tonycondon said:
actually could be a major hinderance to land outs in remote areas if they start killing analog service.
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Yeah, I suspect that rural analog will continue at the fringe areas of towers being built to extend coverage areas. Just because they won't be required it, does not mean that it may not be to their benefit to have it.
 
woodstock said:
why? cell phones are not a necessity.
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Cell phones are more a necessity in rural areas than urban. When you're plowing the back 40, which happens to sit on a serious grade and turn it over, you might well have to wait till long after supper before someone comes looking for you if you can't call someone. Turn over your car in the city and help will arrive regardless what you do.
 
Speed said:
Bummer. Alltel is the one I use analog roaming on in my hometown... Guess I won't have service down there anymore. Maybe Verizon will actually put up some cell towers out that way.
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They might.... They put in service on Paradise Island and Harbor Island in the Bahamas.
 
Henning said:
Cell phones are more a necessity in rural areas than urban. When you're plowing the back 40, which happens to sit on a serious grade and turn it over, you might well have to wait till long after supper before someone comes looking for you if you can't call someone. Turn over your car in the city and help will arrive regardless what you do.
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Better solution:
http://www.acrterrafix.com/

They would know to call the house and ask what's up.
 
Henning said:
Cell phones are more a necessity in rural areas than urban. When you're plowing the back 40, which happens to sit on a serious grade and turn it over, you might well have to wait till long after supper before someone comes looking for you if you can't call someone. Turn over your car in the city and help will arrive regardless what you do.
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There is another thread on here you need to read, then you will understand that I'm being a smartass.
 
Henning said:
Yeah, I suspect that rural analog will continue at the fringe areas of towers being built to extend coverage areas. Just because they won't be required it, does not mean that it may not be to their benefit to have it.
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What will be interesting is to see where they get their subscriber equipment from. Verizon dictates subscriber features for all the rest of the operators in the US that use CDMA in 800MHz. SInce 800MHz CDMA is the only technology that would have analog in it, if they don't want it, it is unlikely to be supported. In the handset world the end user is not the customer it is the cell carrier that is the customer.
 
smigaldi said:
Alltell has begun shutting down their analog systems and expect to be down with analog sometime this fall. They have a phased approach. They say that only 1% of their users are affected.
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What about their other 9.9 users? :rofl:
 
Henning said:
Cell phones are more a necessity in rural areas than urban. When you're plowing the back 40, which happens to sit on a serious grade and turn it over, you might well have to wait till long after supper before someone comes looking for you if you can't call someone. Turn over your car in the city and help will arrive regardless what you do.
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A good friend who has a farm in rural northern ND (about as rural as you can get in the flatlands) had UHF 2way radios in his equipment with a phone patch shared by a group of other farmers before cellphones eliminated that need. Given the lack of terrain I doubt that he ever rolled anything but breakdowns and getting stuck occurred often enough to make good communications worth the cost.
 
Henning said:
Cell phones are more a necessity in rural areas than urban. When you're plowing the back 40, which happens to sit on a serious grade and turn it over, you might well have to wait till long after supper before someone comes looking for you if you can't call someone. Turn over your car in the city and help will arrive regardless what you do.
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Back in the early 80's my office mate in Albuquerque had a ranch about 150 miles outside of town. He would go there on the weekends to work. One Friday noght when he was driving there he went off road and crashed. He laid under his truck until Tuesday when he was found. He almost died. His legs were both broken, he was trapped under the wreck and the gear shift had poked his out out and was in his skull. He had lots of other problems and spent months in a hospital. He wished he had some way to communicate and he was conscious the whole time. Cellular would not have worked then as he would have been outside of coverage but two way would have been a good idea. he said the worst part was that the am radio was on the whole time on a station he did not like :D
 
Just so you guys can also put this in perspective the US is the last nation on the planet that had mandated analog cellular coverage. The rest of the world moved on years ago, but for some reason we have a hard time with new technology. There is even a letter in the local paper today condemning the change to digital TV next yeer. The USA is not a very good country when it comes to implementing high tech for consumers.
 
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