Cingular Prepares To Shut Down Legacy Networks by 2008
This ought to be fun.
The service providers want to cut the expense of legacy TDMA/Analog networks, but will not provide a working solution for rural users. Great! 😕
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it's not just the carriers, did u read the article? the government is requiring this, but not requiring or offering a rural solution. i hate to say it, but if you're living in East Bubu F**K,you may have to give up some of the benifits of today's modern society, but i guess that's why you live in Tim-buck-too
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No sorry, I do not live in Tim-buck-too, or whatever your genius reference was, I work for the world's largest company (hint! oil-and-gas, drilling for oil...), and I set up cellular repeaters and networks in these rural areas. In a lot of these areas, I set up TDMA/analog systems, because no matter what kind of boosters/repeaters I setup, I cannot get a reliable GSM signal from the closest service provider/tower. Therfore, the dissolution of TDMA altogether, from a business perspective, means a lot to me, and that's why I comment. I couldn't care less "why" it's going away, all I care about is that it's going away.
As far as your insipid comments about "modern society" and "East Bubu", consider them ignored.
As far as your insipid comments about "modern society" and "East Bubu", consider them ignored.
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i just love how you sarcastically call me genius, and procede to misuse the word 'insipid'. my comment was absolutely appropriate, thought provoking, and was not intended as a cheap shot.
people who live in rural areas participate in a different culture from those of us in urban areas, one with different values and perspectives. The whole idea of a cell doesn't fit as well with rural areas as it does with the fast-paced hectic lifestyle. People who choose to live in rural areas are choosing not to deal with city life, and there are some perks they're giving up too.
since you aren't really the bumpkin i thought u were, your personal opinion is irrelevant since you don't live in one of these rural areas. it's your employer's problem...
(continues)
people who live in rural areas participate in a different culture from those of us in urban areas, one with different values and perspectives. The whole idea of a cell doesn't fit as well with rural areas as it does with the fast-paced hectic lifestyle. People who choose to live in rural areas are choosing not to deal with city life, and there are some perks they're giving up too.
since you aren't really the bumpkin i thought u were, your personal opinion is irrelevant since you don't live in one of these rural areas. it's your employer's problem...
(continues)
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all i know is that here my part of pennsylvania, it is mostly rural areas. and cingular is the carrier that works best in these areas. ok so you don't have full reception in every place, but you don't need full reception, 2 or 3 bars will do. now in places like montana or something of course it's different, but not all rural areas are cursed by the tdma monster. it does fine here. i'm sure they can come up with a solution for these other areas.
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Hint:
The world's largets company in terms of what? If we're talking employees, Wal Mart is #1 and the New AT&T (SBC+Bell South+Cingular) will be #2.
Cingular cutting costs on old systems has allowed them to spend $7bn on new towers last year for GSM only and another $7bn this year. If they keep it up, I doubt there will be many (if any) places TDMA works that GSM doesn't. I am proud to say they are my carrier of choice for their decision to stop all off-shoring of employees (even call centers) and they're very focused excecution on their vision.
Goodbye cheap TDMA customers! (I know bones boy you're not a cheap TDMA customer, but most are)
The world's largets company in terms of what? If we're talking employees, Wal Mart is #1 and the New AT&T (SBC+Bell South+Cingular) will be #2.
Cingular cutting costs on old systems has allowed them to spend $7bn on new towers last year for GSM only and another $7bn this year. If they keep it up, I doubt there will be many (if any) places TDMA works that GSM doesn't. I am proud to say they are my carrier of choice for their decision to stop all off-shoring of employees (even call centers) and they're very focused excecution on their vision.
Goodbye cheap TDMA customers! (I know bones boy you're not a cheap TDMA customer, but most are)
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Obviously none of you go outdoors and explore parts of the US that are rural.. I'm a west coast metropolitan snob who uses TDMA and buys my phones from overseas because when I'm out in the back country or in areas biking that you can't get good GSM coverage it would be nice to know that I can call for Help. Go ahead and tell me that I shouldn't need a cellphone outdoors but whatever.. obviously you can't relate to bones boy and don't get out enough. Cingular is my provider and just to note yes I think they are a good company and I know its not their fault the coverage is going away but it is stupid to say the least.
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Actually, I was a bit shocked, amazed and appalled to see that all of my favorite camping spots along the pacific rim trail had at least enough coverage to get a text message out, all thanks to Cingular. I'm all over the place, my side job is teaching SCUBA, so I get out to some pretty remote mountain streams, rivers and lakes, plus a lot of time on the coast and I honestly can't remember a time my Cingular GSM phone didn't work when I wanted it to.
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I probably shouldn't bother responding to this, but if you (pauldg) had bothered to read the article (and understood it), you would have realized that the government is not mandating anything at all. All the government has said is providers may choose, if they want, to eliminate AMPS service. The providers are under no obligation to do so, and some won't for some time (there are still some providers that are all AMPS). The government has said nothing about TDMA. The government has only removed a mandate, but has not imposed any new obligations. That should be simple enough.
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and honestly where tdma was they already have a gsm overlay... and if the only signal you are getting is from analog, no one is going to be supporting that for that much longer...
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Hello Moto said:
and honestly where tdma was they already have a gsm overlay...
Not true. Most rural areas, not near a major highway, will render your GSM handset useless. Try it sometime.
Look at Cingular's GSM service map. See all those white areas labeled "no service"? There are people in some of those areas...
Maybe by 2008 the situation will be better.
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bones boy said:Hello Moto said:
and honestly where tdma was they already have a gsm overlay...
Not true. Most rural areas, not near a major highway, will render your GSM handset useless. Try it sometime.
Look at Cingular's GSM service map. See all those white areas labeled "no service"? There are people in some of those areas...
Maybe by 2008 the situation will be better.
Actually, what he said is true. Cingular's GSM overlay is complete. So, everywhere that has tdma signal will get a gsm signal on Cingular's network. So, tdma customers can get a GSM phone and be ok. The only thing we are talking about now is analog. If you think Cingular wants to lose it's exis...
(continues)
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Quite frankly, I dont understand why Cingular should care if some users are going to be left out.. it is not the government and hence its duty is to its shareholders and not to the people living by their own free will in rural areas.
Hence a corporation should do what is good for its bottom line as long as it is legal and ethical. Spending money with no ROI makes no sense.
Hence a corporation should do what is good for its bottom line as long as it is legal and ethical. Spending money with no ROI makes no sense.
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the article indicated that there are 2.5 million customes still using TDMA. I know in the scheme of things that doesn't seem like a lot, but these customers are all paying at least ten dollars a month for their plans right? That's at least 25 million dollars a month they lose by "leaving out" those customers. Keep in mind, this is an obscenely low estimation, so actual values should be higher. Any shareholder would balk at the prospect of ignoring that much income.
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Not if the cost of keeping those customers (continuing to provide them service) is more than the loss from seeing them leave. Plus, it seems almost all of them will simply buy a new phone.
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Dont worry... there will be ALOT of UMTS/GSM expansion by 2008. Most likely there will be reception in those areas shortly as long as there is land and spectrum.
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This forum is closed.
