Hmm, GSM has great roaming? I use VZ and Sprint in SoCal and have found both work fine in most areas in about a 200 mile radius of my home base. VZ (800 Mhz) seems to have a better signal strength than Sprint (1900 Mhz) in my house, both have towers less than 1 mile away. Two or three bars on VZ, One to none on Sprint, however both work equally well and are used a lot since Long Distance is "free" now. See the attached article at the end. The local papers have many full page ads from many service providers offering many minutes of Long Distance at rather low cost. Does this mean they are in trouble?
I note that you, like so many that use cell phones in Yurop share your feeling, to wit "Yurop which leads the US in mobile telephony (and where people actually know how to organize a working system with continent wide coverage and seamless roaming the congestion is not a problem."
Roaming over several hundred miles in SoCal and noting no problems with roaming, I always thought that it was much better in Yurop. However, recent events have cast doubts on that Rosie Scenario. Several residents of SoCal, very heavy, no not weight, users of Cell Phones went to Yurop and used the famed GSM phones and tried to roam. Not too much luck, lots of problems. Unless they were in a strong signal area, it was hit or miss even being able to get a connection, much less complete a call. Forget using a phone on the trains, no coverage, perhaps because much of the track is below ground level. Even in the station with the train stopped was a problem. Now I wonder if perhaps it is a problem of walking a mile in others shoes. Have you used a cell phone in SoCal? Other areas in the USA may be completely different, since so many carriers have merged.
Note that in weak signal areas here, no problem completing calls and I KNOW the calls are as good as wireline, since my wife makes most of the calls and has no complaints.
So now I am on the horns of a delemer, do I believe you, even though you seem like a nice guy with a good command of the English Language but just one more anonymous stream of electrons in cyberspace or several cellular techies I have known for years. Oh dear, what to do?
"e-mails (and lots of other things) in the back of beaten up old taxis in Bangkok."
You do know how the city got that name?
PS
When the bombing stops, will you stop posting and go back to installing cellular in a certain area?
==
Will the Events of Sept. 11 Help Boost
The Beleaguered Wireless Industry?
By ROBEN FARZAD
Cellphone use jumped following the Sept. 11 attack. Does this upturn mean a fundamental change in the outlook for the beleaguered wireless sector?
Don't count on it.
The recent surge in mobile-phone use has buoyed all wireless stocks, from handset leader Nokia to various wireless-service carriers. Among service providers in the New York area and beyond, a recent spot check showed that all were seeing sharply higher sales.
Corporate-account sales at Sprint PCS are markedly higher, according to research by Pacific Crest Securities. Other positives for Sprint: 51% year-to-year subscriber growth, and an all-time low "churn" rate (customers bolting to another carrier).
Similarly, AT&T Wireless, now completely severed from AT&T, is sticking to its full-year goal of 2.9 million subscriber additions -- with many analysts thinking that it will surpass that number.
Ditto for wireless sales at Verizon Communications and Cingular, a joint venture between regional bell carriers SBC Communications and BellSouth.
Price Cuts Persist
But remember, the wireless business was in dire straits before the attacks. Like consumer long-distance providers, wireless carriers have achieved most of their 2001 sales growth through aggressive price cutting, which began more than a year ago.
Sprint's flagship plan, for instance, used to provide 500 peak and 500 off-peak minutes for $49.99. Now the company promotes a one-year contract with 350 peak and 2,150 off-peak minutes for $39.99 -- plus hefty handset rebates.
With economic uncertainty dogging the industry all year, carriers thought it important to lock in long-term subscribers before their pricing power slips even further. Since the attack, however, the pricing outlook has begun to stabilize.
But "the true litmus test for wireless carriers" will come in the fourth quarter, Prudential's Christopher Larsen told clients. Carriers will be tempted to chase subscribers with generous holiday discounts -- if not for the sake of making year-end targets, then to bolster market share.
Holiday Test
That leaves the door open to another vicious cycle of cutthroat pricing, particularly if the holiday retail season proves as dismal as many expect.
Stronger demand would alleviate those pressures, of course, but no one can say with any certainty that this will happen. The sales-boosting anxiety of recent weeks could easily subside.
Nextel Communications, considered the last of the nationwide independents, saw its shares slump on cash-flow concerns after Sept. 11.
Although the company is meeting its subscriber targets, its massive $18 billion in long-term debt makes its goal of turning cash-flow positive by 2004 far more difficult. Nextel's balance sheet also places it at a big disadvantage to rivals where capital spending for "3G," the next wireless technology, is concerned. Optimists say the gradual rollout of 3G will fuel a new wave of upgrades and carrier spending.
But some analysts believe that the maturing wireless sector has reached market saturation, and that the recent sales upswing is likely to cannibalize future growth.
"I think the spike we've seen in sales and usage is nonsustainable," says Sanford Bernstein's Alex Trofimoff. "We are selling now what we would otherwise sell in two years -- and if you sell something now, you can't sell it later."
WSJ |
