Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: John Higdon Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Is Analog Cellular Dead? Message-ID: <8797@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 8 Jun 90 00:30:14 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 33 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 421, Message 2 of 10 While shopping today in a local electronics emporium, the new Motorola handhelds caught my eye. My venerable GE Mini is pushing three years old now and is definitely dated. These Motorolas looked pretty neat and could be carried much more easily than the old GE. As I started to attract the attention of a salestype, the sinking feeling hit. With the rush to develop digital cellular, buying any currently available cellular radio would be a major mistake. The question concerning its obsolescence is not "if" but "how soon?" The cellular industry may be shooting itself in the foot. Just when roaming agreements and other standardizations are beginning to make mobile telephone service worthwhile, digital promises to undo all of that. In an area such as LA, where digital will undoubtedly appear early on, a customer could buy a radio that would be virtually useless elsewhere (such as the Bay Area, where digital will be much slower in coming.) Or else we will have the standard electronics industry fix: make the customer carry around a bulky "multi-lingual" radio until the manufacturers and service providers decide just what they are going to do and when they are going to do it. Frankly, I am so put off by this sudden about face ("suddenly we can't do without digital") that I may just keep my GE Mini until there is no more analog service, and then just do without. I hope other cellular users vote with their pocketbooks as well. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !