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FCC Fines Verizon $5 Million for Failed Rural Calls

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We Live In America

rwalford79

Jan 26, 2015, 5:47 PM
We live in America, not some 3rd world nation where cellular service is enjoyed only by members of the wealthy government overseeing the poor citizens...

There is absolutely, 100% no reason, NONE, that we cant provide service to people in rural areas successfully. Stop blaming the cost, the client ratio, the percentage of calls made vs other areas, and just run towers, lines and the links out there. There is no reason we live in America, yet we boast about our tech advances, but haven't been able to get cell service to the upper central region of Montana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, etc...

Get it together!
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pfs2009

Jan 26, 2015, 7:07 PM
I concur.
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gfondeur

Jan 26, 2015, 8:27 PM
You mean we live in The United States of America?

Last time I checked America was whole CONTINENT not just one country.
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rwalford79

Jan 27, 2015, 3:46 AM
Don't be a smart ass you know exactly what I meant!
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T Bone

Jan 26, 2015, 9:26 PM
"There is absolutely, 100% no reason, NONE, that we cant provide service to people in rural areas successfully."

Yes there is, that reason is called 'technical limitations'. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to provide cellular service in rural areas? It's not as simple as just waving your hands and saying 'make it happen'.
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meager73

Jan 26, 2015, 9:44 PM
Minus the state politics its take less than a week. I have seen 2 tower with data up in running in less than 3 days. i have seen themoverhaul towers that serviced data after huricanes and tornadoes in less than a week and one as f5 tornado. So to answer your question not very with a good company. So if the money, land, and permits are squared away a week in good weather. its a matter of them putting up the money to do it
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T Bone

Jan 26, 2015, 11:10 PM
It's not a function of the number of towers. Nor is it a question of the amount of money that is invested.

We are talking about very vast, sparsely populated areas, often covered with hills, trees, mountains, rivers etc all of which get in the way of the signal.


Unless you're prepared to chop down every tree, blow up every mountain, flatten every hill, dry up every river, it is always going to be difficult to provide coverage in those areas. The #1 problem is simply geographic in nature. There is no easy way around that.

I mean, for heaven sake, there are places in this country which are so remote that can't even get cable TV, internet or even a landline phone. You think providing mobile phone service is going to be easy i...
(continues)
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rwalford79

Jan 27, 2015, 3:47 AM
Well when you already have POTS phone service and central offices to service those areas, it is not that difficult to run microwave Rx/Tx along those rural areas.
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navydave

Jan 27, 2015, 11:48 AM
Looks like place you should invest in. Get your money and start building towers in the middle of nowhere.
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cainthecavebear

Jan 27, 2015, 5:56 PM
Yes. Because really the amount of electricity needed to run a 9v POTS line is equivalent to running a base station microwave tower. Seems legit.
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Charmed179

Jan 28, 2015, 3:41 PM
I'm pretty sure Verizon can afford it!
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jmmeister

Jan 28, 2015, 12:31 PM
A great thought and I would love to see every American receive cell phone reception, but we have to remember these companies are businesses. The primary goal for every business is to make money. So, if the costs outweigh the profit return, I wouldn't expect them to put up too many towers in rural America.

I would like to see government grants to smaller cell phone carriers that are willing to put up towers in rural areas. But, then we're creating more of a deficit to our federal budget. It's a really tough subject.
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T Bone

Jan 28, 2015, 4:12 PM
It is true that cost is an issue, but that is why the Universal Service Fund exists to covert the cost of providing phone service to the poor and those in rural communities. The main reason for lack of coverage in rural areas are technical, i.e. difficulties dealing with things like hills, trees, etc.
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poncho524

Jan 28, 2015, 4:47 PM
"I would like to see government grants to smaller cell phone carriers"

I would much rather like to NOT see my money sent to subsidize bad business ventures. Leave that to the independent investors (like you, if you're so passionate about this cause).
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rwalford79

Jan 30, 2015, 5:42 AM
That already happened, then the FCC and DOJ let the major carriers buy them out. Alltel was one of the big ones, Cellular One, Dobson, etc and so on.
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poncho524

Jan 28, 2015, 4:44 PM
If you don't like Verizon's coverage, then switch carriers.

You have no right to FORCE or MANDATE any company to do something special just for you.
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