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To: djane who wrote (37327)	7/28/1999 2:15:00 PM
From: Feathered Propeller	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

More using cell instead of home phones No new revelations in this article for the people on this thread. It just puts some numbers to it. Apologies if already posted. By Steve Rosenbush, USA TODAY NEW YORK - A growing number of consumers are disconnecting their home phones and using their wireless phones instead, according to one of the first national surveys quantifying the trend. The survey is another signal that this one-time luxury is moving into the mainstream as prices continue dropping an average 30% a year. In fact, the cost of using a wireless phone is often comparable to a regular local line if you include voice mail and Caller ID, which wireless users often get free. The handsets are smaller and lighter, the batteries last longer and coverage areas for calls are improving. People even can plug their computers into wireless phones. The survey from consultants The Yankee Group shows: 2% of all U.S. wireless customers use their wireless as their only phone, up from an unmeasurable handful in 1998. Customers have shifted about 12% of their regular calls to wireless. "You are seeing some early indication of a change in perception of what it means to have a phone," says Doug Smith, chairman and founder of wireless carrier Omnipoint. "People are starting to think of the phone as a number that follows them around as opposed to a physical location." Omnipoint says 9% of its customers who signed up in the past year don't have a standard phone, vs. only 4% last year. Going wireless makes sense for some people, such as college students who live in groups but don't want to share a phone and a bill. "It can also make sense for single people, who can take a phone out of their home without inconveniencing others," Yankee analyst Mark Lowenstein says. The vanguard includes young professionals such as Ed Nelson, 33, owner and manager of a string of brew pubs in the Midwest. He and his wife, Karie, gave up their residential wired line eight months ago and use a pair of Sprint wireless phones instead. "I just fell in love with the ability to have one phone number all the time and have people contact me anytime, anywhere," Nelson says. Even people who don't give up their land line are using wireless more. The number of wireless subscribers in the USA, now estimated at 72 million, will double during the next four years. But traffic on the nation's wireless networks will soar to 554 billion minutes in 2004 from 105 billion minutes in 1998, Lowenstein says. He speculates that eventually wired networks will be used mostly for Internet access. "The whole concept behind PCS is that the wireless phone becomes your primary communications device," Sprint PCS chief Andy Sukawaty says. Wireless customers typically use their phones 300 to 400 minutes a month, up about 115 minutes three years ago. But coverage area and network quality still don't match traditional networks, Sukawaty says. Dan Hesse, CEO of AT&T Wireless, predicts that the difference between wireless and regular phones will blur as the costs of calls equalize. "People won't think about whether they are going to make a wireless call or a land- line call. They will just reach for the phone that is closest." front page, News, Sports, Money, Life, Weather, Marketplace © Copyright 1999 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. usatoday.com

To: djane who wrote (37327)	7/28/1999 2:32:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

MOT> THE INDEPENDENT SOURCE FOR WIRELESS INDUSTRY NEWS July 28, 1999 July 28, 1999 Motorola unveils tri-band WAP handset SAN JOSE, Calif.—At the Unwired Universe Conference, Motorola Inc. unveiled its first Wireless Application Protocol handset using technology from Phone.com Inc. The tri-band Global System for Mobile communications 1900 MHz phone features the UP.Browser, meeting WAP 1.1 specifications. With it, the phone can access e-mail and Internet-based information services. It also features certain voice activation features, data transmission capability, infrared wireless modem and an enhanced graphics display. The phone is expected to become commercially available in the fourth quarter.