Time for another usless poll: Cellphones

[klenger]

How many cell phones (in service) do you have in your house? It seems that every one has one, and anyone that wants one and is gainfully emplyeed can afford one.



... and let's try not to start an argument about cell phones and driving.

 

[illflem]

My cell doesn't have a phone, they tell me I'm lucky it has a toilet.

 

[AggieJustin]

If you think that there are a lot of people here that have phones, you should take a trip over to Japan. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has a cell phone. And their phones are ten times nicer (way more features) then anything I've seen in the States.



I saw a group of grade school age kids on the subway, and each of them had a cell phone that made my phone look like one of the old "brick" models.

 

[The patriot]

I got one of the new ones. Supposed to pick up sattelites if there's no cell coverage.

Who knows.

Two in da house.

Eric

 

[rich m]

Originally posted by AggieJustin

If you think that there are a lot of people here that have phones, you should take a trip over to Japan. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has a cell phone.

lest a reader think it's all pretentious for so many Asians have cel-phones...



that's an "infrastructure" thing... cel towers are much easier to plant all over the place than running wires all over a land that's already too crowded to walk...

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

The poor relation?

Originally posted by AggieJustin

And their phones in Japan are ten times nicer (way more features) then anything I've seen in the States.

That's because the Japanese cellphone companies are exploiting 2. 5G and 3G cellular bearer technology with enhanced services under the NTT DoCoMo i-Mode banner. These are also being rolled out in Europe, but in a more limited way, as the Japanese cellphone business model differs in many ways to that in Europe and also in the USA.



Its all about subscriber numbers basically, there are over 200+ operators across the world which support GSM900/1800MHz and EGSM900/1800MHz frequencies and many hundreds of millions of customers. Way back in the early 1980s Ronald Regan and the FCC made some pretty long reaching (in)decisions regarding the then, new digital cellphone technologies to be introduced across the USA/Canada and take over from the old analog cellular services. (There are also some tri-band GSM cellular phones which can support the GSM frequency band of 1900MHz, which is used only in the USA /Canada, but GSM cell technology, coverage and penetration is much, much lower than the prevailing alternate digital cellular technologies.



Like I said earlier, it's all about subscriber numbers which have a direct impact on investment returns. Incidentally, the term 3G or 3rd generation cellphone technology is being rolled out across these same 200+ operators worldwide. It also has the label UMTS, aka Univeral Mobile Telephone Service. IOW, one cellphone number that would work anywhere in the world, but you can guess what happened again can't you? Right! The USA/Canada goes their own way again, (protecting commercial interests rather than providing the US/Canadian cellular customer with the same standard of services, phones etc. demanded and received elsewhere in the world.



The bottom line is that the regular US/Canadian cellphone companies cannot take advantage of the economies of scale enjoyed by the subscribers in the other 200+ cellular networks around the world. Even Iran and Iraq use the GSM standard!! I believe it is fair to say that cellular technology in the USA/Canada is about 2 years behind the rest of the world.



In Europe right now, standard cellphone data transport speeds are in excess of 43kbps, almost twice as fast using HSCSD/GPRS. Messaging functions are now compound by nature; by that I mean messaging comprises regular text, graphics, pictures, photos, sound and since Christmas 2002, new and emerging 3G networks are providing high speed cellular data access initally in the metropolitan areas, (IOW, pseudo-broadband T1 access on your cellphone where you can receive for instance, network broadcast quality, edited sporting highlights from Monday night football! which can be "Bluetoothed" (aka personal short distance WiFi) onto your PC whilst you're reading this) or any other compatible multimedia screen that are now being increasingly fitted as standard in new vehicles these days. Where will it all end... ... ?



Apart from smaller and more feature rich cellphones, dispensing with beepers and pagers is possible for instance, because these functions are in-built as standard with GSM. Likewise, I'm sure everyone would appreciate significant improvements in cellphone coverage across the states. In Europe, it is not unreasonable to travel a distance comparable with a coast to coast trip in the USA without losing cellphone coverage once.

 

[TowPro]

My wife and both have one. Out in the sticks where I live, Cell phones are cheeper to use then a regular "land line" phone, plus better quality voice sound.



I still have the land line though. Still have to allow all those A$$ H(L#S to call me dinner time

 

[Mike Ellis]

I will probably get one for my wife to use for emergencies, but that's about it. I'm one of those guys that doesn't like to talk on the phone much.

Cellphones are sure becoming common at schools, when the classes break the kids arms come up to their ears the instant they step out of the building - the way men used to put on their hats. It is interesting to watch the girls in particular as they stoll along yakking, oblivious to everything around them. Makes you wonder about the security implications for a young woman not aware of their surroundings, dangerous habit with all the sexual predators out there.

I don't see much long-term benefit from having a high frequency radio transmitter beaming energy into my skull at contact range on a frequent basis, but a very large % of the world population does so on a daily basis and it is supposedly safe.

 

[HoleshotHolset]

Mile Ellis: There is currently an advertisement/PSA running in the UK and Ireland that addresses the safety issue of being preoccupied with a cell phone.



The advertisement shows a young group of boys and girls, in particular one boy and one girl, walking home from school. They are sending text messages back in forth in a flirting manner... .



To make a 30-second story shorter... the boy gets hit by a car because he is too caught up with his text messaging. Blood, graphic/emotional images... the works.



It made me think twice about text messaging a young girl!

Seriously, this is a valid concern and the PSA was in my opinion very powerful and effective.



Matt

 

[homeka45]

Two of 'em in the house neither of them mine. I hate the damn things!

 

[Doc Tinker]

I voted none, but that isn't exactly true. . I have a Nextel that my employer provides, but I rarely use it. Mrs Doc got rid of her's a few months ago, but is talking about how much she wished she still had it.



Doc

 

[rkressg]

There are 4 people living in my house, yet we (my family) has 5 cell phones and a house phone.

 

[lschultz]

3 I got one make maybe2-4 calls month. My previous employer had a thing where we could get one and the only cost to us was if we made a call. Got it for the wife when we moved out of the city. But she did not want it thought there was no need for it so I kept it. Then her work offered them so she got one and one for my daughter. Daughter is on it all the time. At least we know where she is or if something happens to her. Came in handy couple of months ago when she slid off the road and wrecked her car. Get calls from daughter in law sometimes to pick up granddaughter on our way home Son had one for himself and his wife but he had them disconnected. Wife kept using up her minutes and then some. He warned her once. Second time it happened he disconnected it. Most be a chip off the ole block.