I can see that discussion of the iPhone really opens up a secondary discussion of cellular phone service in the US.-gcti

[GeneL]

As much as many are posting about how great the iPhone would be to own, it seems that almost as many are complaining about Cingular.

My own experience with Cingular validates those complaints, but from what I can tell , most providers or maybe all leave much to be desired.

Does this get back to another hosing of the American public by Congress, the FCC and the providers?

Kind of reminds me of the deal on TV quality. For years there was far better quality overseas before the US finally started upgrading to HDTV.

It seems to me that while we are a nation of high volume consumer electronics, and yet, we get the best technology last.

Forgive me if I'm cynical.

As I always say, "that's just my opinion, I could be wrong."

GeneL

[pRON aHOLIC]

I am going to have to take a picture of that Consumer reports page that shows how consistently bad they are for coverage and dropped calls.

[RH]

[quote GeneL

It seems to me that while we are a nation of high volume consumer electronics, and yet, we get the best technology last.

GeneL
I couldn't agree with you more on that last point.

[Racer X]

when it comes to cell phone infrastructure, ours may be the oldest.

So many other regions on the planet skipped right over wire and fiber optic, and went straight to cell phone technology and wireless data transfer for their infrastructure.

Why run wires when you can drop a tower every 25-50 miles?

We are so stuck pandering to legacy equipment owners that we are progressing slowly. How many times has the HD rollout been pushed back for example?

[MGS_forgot_password]

All this stuff about being behind in cellular is bull.

The agnostic view of the FCC when it came to the new PCS spectrum a decade ago led to competion between the D-AMPS(IS-136), CDMA(IS-95), and GSM standards-unlike the Europeans governments, who forced GSM on all of the carriers.

That led to competion among the different radio access formats, without that, we'd be still stuck with GPRS-like data rates.

CDMA was by far a superior concept, and even the Europeans agreed, thus we got UMTS. Qualcomm came out with EV-DO, which blew WCDMA out of the water as far as data rates go, so the Europeans had to develop HSPDA.

Now, were talking about doing WiMax, and you've probably seen how that's going to change things.

All because the FCC didn't force a standard.

[Racer X]

I understood the gist of that. But Joe and Jane Public want to be able to buy a product, and know it will work wherever they are. That is a far greater want and need than all else.

We are talking about a crucial component of the country's or continent's infrastructure, not widescreen vs 4:3 football broadcasts.

[mattkime]

>>I am going to have to take a picture of that Consumer reports page that shows how consistently bad they are for coverage and dropped calls.

I think that really depends upon where you live. They're very good in New York. They certainly have their problems but that isn't (always) one.

[Mac-A-Matic]

I've been using AT&T Wireless (TDMA) and then Cingular (GSM) for years now and have been relatively pleased with the service quality and reliability.

However, a two year contract does not sit well at all.

No matter how cool the iPhone may be.



And BTW, television standards in the United States took some time to develop because we had the very first television system in the world. PAL had better resolution than NTSC because it was developed after. Now we're moving towards HD. It just takes time.

What we should be screaming about is this ridiculous Regional Coding. No wonder we need to rip all DVDs.

[weapon]

They are great in portland. T-mobile not so much.

How about seattle racer x?

[Racer X]

I use Qwest up here. They use the Sprint network AFAIK.

Linked with our landline at the house. All calls between the 3 phones are free.