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Security Company Asks FCC To Keep Analog Lights On

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They need to keep it on!

mw717

Oct 9, 2006, 5:06 PM
AMPS is still used frequently in the US and digital is just not there yet! I frequently need to use analog for rural areas where being able to make a call matters most. My car depends on analog for telemetry services. The cost to build the network has already been recouped years ago. 2 more years won't kill the wireless companies!
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ShadowScorpion

Oct 9, 2006, 10:23 PM
I agree.

I live in a place that still isn't covered by digital service (yes, yes), so having AMPS coverage is priceless.

When digital coverage equals or exceeds that of analog, then they can shut it down if they want. But until that day, shutting down AMPS means losing my wireless service.

Yes, AMPS is a battery-eater, has horrible sound quality, has inexistent security, doesen't offer a quarter of the features digital service does... but I can call just about anywhere using AMPS, and that's what matters most.
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lang

Oct 10, 2006, 12:29 PM
I'm not sure when the FCC said that the cell companies can do away with the analog lines, but it has been a long time. With the money that the companies are spending on keeping the old analog running, new towers and upgrades can be installed instead. The CLock is ticking.
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cing25

Oct 10, 2006, 12:41 PM
I agree. As of Febuary 2008 the wireless industry can do away with the old network and even though they just set the date a month or two ago, whoever is still on the network and all the money they spend on maintaining it you would think someone would be smart about this but i guess not due to how people are responding. Also the security companies have had plenty of notice about this change. My dad work for a home security company and has known about the change for at least 2 years and always said how it would come down to this but the big CEOs dont know how to make a company better just hurt the people they service mostly in the wallet
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mw717

Oct 10, 2006, 3:02 PM
The analog network has been paid for over and over again. Maintaining it is extremely easy because the technology is so simple so cost really is not the issue. Wireless providers want that frequency space to broaden the digital spectrum which is okay. But, North America is not to the point where digital is saturated enough to do that. It's easy for someone to say "shut 'er down!" when they live in a big city and only travel on the major interstates.
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JFR

Oct 10, 2006, 8:53 PM
It costs us a LOT of money in transport and tower space costs. It doesn't make good business sense to have a T1 that is 99% idle as there is very very little AMPS/TDMA traffic. I'm a network engineer and I can't wait to shut it off! It's a total waste of time, money, and resources.
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mw717

Oct 11, 2006, 9:26 AM
would obviously be partial to shutting it down. Your company doesn't have much use for it because your phones cannot revert to it when there is no digital coverage. Instead, your customer's see "NO SERVICE" GSM isn't even half of what AMPS covers in the US for customers that can actually use it. Your 'current' coverage maps clearly depict that. If it were Europe, then yes there is absolutely no need for AMPS and I agree that it needs shut off. But this is the US and all of us do not live and travel in MSA's.
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japhy

Oct 11, 2006, 11:07 AM
He knows what he's talking about - you don't. NONE of the carriers give [an instance of excrement] about you any more or less than any other, so don't act like "Cingular is an unfeeling jerk, and so is everyone that works for them."

Disclaimer: I work for them, too. Just stickin' up for a brotha! 😉 Then again, I'm not such a fan of Cingular the corporation, but that's another story. . . . 🙄

The point was: JFR correctly stated that the analog networks are VERY expensive to keep on (for ALL the carriers that still have them). Yes, the initial equipment costs have long been recouped, but that's a fraction of the overall price spectrum. And for the relatively microscopic amount of customers (in the hundreds of thousands ...
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lang

Oct 11, 2006, 7:15 AM
But there is a cost. I'm no expert, but there has to be a substantial cost if ALL of the carriers are frothing at the mouth to shut it down. Again, people have known for YEARS that the day of reckoning is coming, and now that it is around the corner people are panicking because they haven't gotten their hoops in gear. Feb of 2008 it will go away.
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Shakaree

Oct 11, 2006, 11:53 AM
The cost of keeping analog is tremendous in many formats. One is the amount of revenue companies like Verizon and Cingular and Sprint for that matter who are trying to offer 3G to the whole US like the Europeans are doing but can't until spectrum is cleared. Also the renting spaces are not such a big deal because when they shut off analog, there going to take the analog equipment off and out digital equipment in its place. The maintenance of these towers are expensive since Verizons company owned coverage is about 35% analog. GSM carriers are going to have the easiest time with this switch but CDMA is going to suffer because the CDMA carriers still rely on Analog. In my overall opinion shut this antique service off and move on with the rest ...
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