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Analog Service Hanging Up on Customers

Digital networks soon only option, but service has its kinks

By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 21, 2008 3:01 AM CST
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(Newser) – Phone customers still dialing up using old analog networks will be out of luck—and service—beginning Feb. 18 when the nation’s wireless companies shut down the outdated technology and switch to digital. Of the quarter-billion American cell phone users, the vast majority use digital networks, but some 1 million people still phone the old way, reports the Washington Post.

Many of them, located in thinly populated regions, are worried about the switch because digital signals aren’t strong in remote areas. “Digital is like a highway with potholes and analog is the tar that patches the holes," said one backwater resident. Even some OnStar tracking systems, sold in car models as recently as 2005, are digitally challenged, the Post notes.

General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner speaks about GM's OnStar service at his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008. Older versions of OnStar, the communications system installed in many cars, will stop working next month, and GM says some cars made as...
General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner speaks about GM's OnStar service at his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008. Older versions of OnStar, the communications...   (Associated Press)
On Feb. 18, wireless networks across the country will start shutting down the old analog networks that launched the cellphone business 25 years ago, the Washington Post says. Now, with the vast majority of the country's quarter-billion cellphone users calling and texting over digital networks, only about 1 million customers...
On Feb. 18, wireless networks across the country will start shutting down the old analog networks that launched the cellphone business 25 years ago, the Washington Post says. Now, with the vast majority...   (Index Stock)
  (Index Stock)
Customers who use old analog networks may be out of luck, and phone service, starting when Feb. 18, when wireless networks across the country will start shutting down the old analog networks that launched the cellphone business 25 years ago, the Washington Post says.
Customers who use old analog networks may be out of luck, and phone service, starting when Feb. 18, when wireless networks across the country will start shutting down the old analog networks that launched...   (Index Stock)
area east of Seattle. Unable to get a digital signal with his cellphone, a friend climbed a nearby hill and found an analog network for just long enough to call Torralba's wife in Portland, Ore, the Washington Post says. She gave their location to a rescue squad, which picked up...
area east of Seattle. Unable to get a digital signal with his cellphone, a friend climbed a nearby hill and found an analog network for just long enough to call Torralba's wife in Portland, Ore, the Washington...   (Index Stock)
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Home alarm systems will also have tough time making the switch
Great Falls Tribune

The switch to digital TV won't affect most people
Green Bay Press-Gazette

 
FCC • Verizon • General Motors • AT and T • Sprint Nextel • phone service • Alltell • digital networks • analog networks • T-Mobile

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