<< Roaming is bad, economies of scale bad, operator competition is bad - and will remain so. With a GSM and a laptop I have a beer in Bangkok airport and read my email. Also in Auckland - Mqurice, you must be happy about this little tidbit - and Singapore and Beijing, but sadly not in the States (perhaps in some particular cities). What's worse this will remain so, remember that the US is going to put forward 3 - 4 3G proposals.
- rajala >>
I wonder when you were in the USA last? Must have been a while.
I've had cellular service for more than 10 years and have never had a problem with roaming anywhere I've gone. For me, it has always worked without incident. The more important factor has been the speed of the buildout, because as has been pointed out, Pennsylvania is a third world country.
Locally (Philadelphia) and in most other major cities, I can choose between a bunch of different carriers employing every cellular/PCS technology with which I am familiar, including AMPS, CDMA, GSM (so you can use your phone here), and TDMA in various stages of buildout. I can speak from personal experience (excepting Omnipoint's GSM service) that they all work fine. I personally use Bell Atlantic Mobile's AMPS (my wife's company's provider) and Comcast Cellular's TDMA (my employer's provider). When her phone breaks in a couple of years, we'll probably move up to Bell Atlantic's CDMA or Sprint's CDMA PCS for the improved clarity and security -- along with Globalstar capabilities (the true "world phone.")
As a QCOM investor, I would be really happy if there were one worldwide standard generating royalties for QCOM's CDMA IPR. As an American cellular user, I do not care, because what we have works, works better all the time, and is increasingly affordable.
PS: Both my phones are Ericssons. The AMPS phone I bought before I knew they were the evil empire and the other I am forced to use by my employer, because Comcast Cellular is a major client of ours. They both work fine, but Comcast's TDMA service is clearer than Bell Atlantic Mobile's AMPS service. No surprise there. |
