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The Wireless Outpost Newsletter Issue #13 Vol. 3
Wednesday, August 8, 2001
Another issue of the Wireless Outpost Newsletter. This newsletter
is for the soon to be educated cellular phone user community. If you know of
anyone else that may have an interest in our newsletter, make sure to forward
them a copy. Now we move forward at Mach II speed!
[Note: This newsletter is delivered Bi Weekly on Wednesday.]
OUR NEW FACELIFT AND OTHER UPDATES OF POSSIBLE INTEREST
The www.cellularphonenews.com
website is now up and operational. The newsletter archives will be stored on the CPN website from this time forward. You can toss our newsletter like yesterday's newspaper because you can always come back to the archives to find them again.
A new forum has been included which has around 15 boards for you to post messages. We included a board that has a "Buy & Sell Notices" for wireless products only. There is no charge for posting messages to this board. We have included a forum for carriers, cell phone manufacturers, and some of the more odd ball
boards, one of them being "disposable cellular phones."
Because disposable cell phones are such a hot topic lately we decided to give it a board for
its own. We get quite a few inquiries on disposable phones and we thought this would allow those of you interested in this product to share and learn from one another. We also created a "late breaking news" board so that those of you who want can post articles you think will be of interest to other forum members.
We plan on expanding on the CPN site but we will need to know from you what you would like to see. Therefore, we also created a CPN suggestion box so that you can tell us these things. We anticipate that it will take about 6 months or so before we see any heavy traffic to the forums and CPN website.
In the meantime, we would ask our subscribers here to register as forum members and make posts to the forums as needed. We won't be able to make it a worthy resource without your assistance. All the boards are moderated to ensure that we remain civil in our posting. If you have any problems that need immediate attention, then by all means feel free to contact us by email. That can be done by clicking on the moderator's profile which will contain the email address for us.
WHO IS THE REAL FATHER OF THE CELLULAR PHONE AS WE KNOW IT
You may have read the cellular phones first came out in 1947. Not exactly true depending on how you look at it. The concept was born in 1947 and then used in mobile two way radios. Even so they only allowed for 23 conversations to take place simultaneously in the same area. A big radio pack with a phone piece attached to it with a limited service area would not be what I would consider to be a true cellular phone. I would see it as being closer to a Ham Radio or CB type of device.
When I think of a cellular phone, I think of a device that allows you to dial numbers, sends &
receives calls, and is small enough to be stored in a briefcase or something. I would further venture to say that the mobile two way radio allowed for the birth of the cellular phone. I consider the two of them to be quite distinct although they use the same technology. That is the key to their having a common denominator.
It was in 1973 when the race to build the first true cellular phone was on. The competition was between Motorola and the Bell Labs. Motorola made the wise decision in hiring Dr. Martin Cooper as a project manager. He is the man who created the first functional cellular phone while employed with Motorola.
[We actually own one of the first models that came out to the public and have an issue of Popular
Mechanics detailing the first cellular phone prototype in 1973. The prototype phone that was featured in the article and the one that was initially offered to the public are quite different in appearances.]
Dr. Cooper made it quite clear to his rivals who was first to create a functional cell phone. He set up a base station in New York and put in a call to his rivals over at the Bell Labs using his prototype phone. We can all imagine the shock they must have felt when they got that call from him. That one call solidified his position as the Father of the Cell Phone.
As a side note, we actually had one person criticize us because our company name had the word "cellular" in it and "everybody knows it is called wireless." Really? We must have missed that fact somewhere. We will keep the word Cellular in our website name because it is our way to pay tribute and honor to Dr. Cooper for making our existence a reality. Without his ingenious invention, we wouldn't be here and you wouldn't be reading this newsletter.
SPRINT SUES CALIFORNIA PUC AND GETS FINED 200K FOR STUPIDITY
I may be making some enemies here for myself and the company but I just have to tell you all about this one. Isn't there a saying that goes something like greed will force people to make stupid decisions. If not then there should be. Here is what happened.
Sprint PCS went to the California PUC demanding more numbers for activating cell phones in Beverly Hills. To soak up some of that celebrity business or something. They wanted those numbers bad enough that they sued the California PUC for more phone numbers. They also failed to inform the CPUC about 3 prefixes or 30,000 numbers for California residents they had already been given by the CPUC in a 6 month period of time.
They almost got away with it until they sued the CPUC for more numbers. It was that act that allowed the CPUC to find out that Sprint PCS already had 30,000 numbers for California customers. This in turn created a situation where Sprint PCS was fined $200,000 for filing misleading information.
Maybe a competitor had more numbers in which to service Beverly Hills and Sprint PCS was getting desperate. Whatever the case or the reason behind their action, it was a decision of supreme stupidity. An act that will probably cost them
a lot more down the road not only in California but with other state PUCs who regulate cell phone number distribution. It looks to be the first time that the CPUC has fined Sprint PCS.
It is also the first time we have heard of a wireless carrier trying to pull this stunt. That 200K fine could have put up a new wireless tower or something else to improve the cell phone users experience with their service in my opinion. I can only ask what they were thinking. I know we will never know for sure but is sure sounds like they got a little too greedy.
ANOTHER DISPOSABLE CELL PHONE COMPANY COMES TO MARKET
The disposable phone industry is becoming fairly interesting. A new company has
come to market and broke out the bull horn to let everyone know. This could be just more hype or they could be for real; we don't know for sure. Our first impression is to doubt the reality of it.
We can only say that we have a healthy skepticism of the disposable cell phone market due to all the hype.
We know what the underlying issues are to the rollout and distribution of disposable cellular phones. There are plenty of obstacles to be overcome and as a startup they would need plenty of time to iron out the wrinkles. But here is what we know at the time of this writing.
To start, our first concern was when we attempted to send them an email to inquire about their company. The email came back as undeliverable. We didn't get a chance to contact them by phone prior to this
newsletter being written but we will call them. We always do so we can get a feel for the company by talking to the person on the other end of the phone.
However, we were impressed with their design for the disposable cell phone. It has only two buttons and it allows for the user to voice dial phone numbers. We can't say that we are up to date on speech recognition software but hopefully it has improved over the last five years. It must have because they claim to have mistake proof voice activated dialing.
The phone will come with 60 minutes of time. It will even offer operator assistance for directory listings. We are not sure why but it looks like they will also offer informational content such as sports scores, horoscopes, and other types of entertainment information. In theory it sounds like a good marketing strategy but we would have to wonder if anyone would use these services.
What we don't know and what we tried to find out was how much the phone and airtime would cost, if it is for local use only, if it allows for long distance, or if roaming is available. Nor do we know what the directory assistance fees will be. Their website states that it can be used nearly anywhere in the US so that only serves to bring up more questions.
You will have to draw your own conclusions on what they are offering. You can
visit their website
What would probably scare them is that they have competitors (plural as in more than one) who have subscribed to our newsletter so the news will be out. The good thing is that all of them are working on different prototypes for disposable phones. This could turn into an interesting race to the finish line. The first one to come out with a functional disposable on the cell phone market will be known as the King or Queen of disposable cellular phones.
We plan on awarding them a plaque declaring them as such. If we are lucky we can have a little award ceremony and celebration hosted by CellularPhoneNews when that time comes, too. Things are getting very interesting!
FCC COMPLAINTS INCREASE BUT STUDY SAYS COVERAGE IS GREAT
The FCC is getting flooded with complaints from cell phone users due to dropped calls and other service problems. But
the CTIA (an association of wireless companies) says that this doesn't make sense based on a recent study that they had commissioned. Before we go into this, we compare a study done by the CTIA to an analyst who is covering a stock that is a client of their firm. I am about to make more enemies.
As I said, the CTIA is an association comprised of many of the largest wireless companies to include wireless carriers, cell phone manufacturers, and others who are heavily involved in the industry. If this study was commissioned by two entities with one not having a financial interest in the results we wouldn't be so skeptical about the results.
This study of six carriers (the largest who are also members of CTIA?) indicated that the quality of coverage in both rural and urban areas was at 96%. Dropped calls only
occurred at a rate 2.4% in the urban areas and 4.2% in the rural areas. Block calls
occurred at a rate of 1.4% in urban areas and 2.4% in rural areas.
The President of the CTIA said that although there may be a perception of poor quality service, the increase in complaints may be due to the number of new cell phone users. The words of a true politician if you ask me. A non answer type of answer to a problem. Here is the next kicker. Even the veterans in this industry, us included, find that a 96% rating on the quality of service is a bit questionable. The company who did the research refused to identify which carriers were tested and in what markets.
There have been enough complaints that Rep. (D) Anthony Weiner of New York has introduced the Cell Phone Service Act of 2001. The bill would require the FCC to collect data and report on consumer complaints related to cellular phone use. The FCC is trying to avoid legislation so they won't have to do more work by issuing a formal guideline on service performance.
I don't see what the point was in doing such a study in this case. In
scientific circles, the information used to conduct the study is released to prove
its validity. Doesn't look that is going to happen here. A healthy dose of skepticism is warranted then. Just because I may claim to have a million bucks in the bank doesn't mean that I do.
I pray that I am not a victim of the "kill the messenger" mentality of the old days. For all I know, I have already been black listed from employment with any company that has more than one employee. But keep reading because I will be making even more enemies. All death threats should be sent in care of the company.
MORE BAD NEWS FOR COMPANIES BANKING ON CELL PHONE
SHOPPING
It might be time for employees of companies that are looking to offer WAP phone shopping to start hunting for another job. Right now there are several companies out there trying to open up a market that doesn't exist. Consumer apathy towards this type of service continues to increase with each passing month.
An industry analyst said that these types of companies shouldn't pin their hopes on the next generation of wireless either. He went on further to say that WAP phone shopping also known as M Commerce will remain on a
minuscule level for at least another five years. That is an important statement because it usually takes startups that length of time to even gain any traction in the hopes of becoming profitable. At best these companies are looking at a minimum of 10 years before they can throw down a root.
Carriers and service providers are going about the introduction of WAP services in the wrong way. It is not only apathy that is causing a late start, price has a factor on those who would have an interest. Those that would have an interest are a minute minority of cell phone users. Then the services currently available just aren't of interest to consumers.
I would seriously doubt that any of the companies out there offering WAP services are going to survive over the next five years. The one area where most of them have a common failure is in their doing market research. Many of them started up when the internet craze was in
its boom. Throw out an exciting business plan and venture capitalist money was thrown at you. We can all see what happened with the "new economy" now that it is pretty much bankrupt and many people lost
their shirts.
If this continues, we may have to start up another company to go out there and show these people how it is done. I may have ticked off enough people that the company may have some barriers to overcome there. Like my shooting off my big mouth on
occasion. I only do it out of frustration with the industry. I will just have to apologize for telling the truth I guess.
Back to the serious side. There are plenty of reports that can be purchased for only a few thousand dollars each which would tell these people if they were on the right track or not. I cannot understand why they wouldn't have made such an investment before dumping all this money into these endeavors. Maybe I am the one who is the stupid here. We will see.
COMPLAINTS OF RACIAL PROFILING BY POLICE MAY BE IN DANGER
Racism. A subject that is very controversial and can raise the ire of many people. A taboo subject and one you wouldn't expect to see in this newsletter. For this article it is relevant to mention it as an issue. But we do not intend to go into the surrounding issues, but to touch upon racism as an issue only.
That show that comes on at night that videotapes sting operations and police pursuits. Maximum exposure or something like that. I watched it a couple or three times where the criminal was absolutely busted on tape and they began to scream discrimination and/or that they didn't do anything wrong. Arresting somebody for a crime is discrimination? They didn't do anything but it was caught on tape? Interesting. I don't care what color you are. If you did the crime then quit whining and do the time. That is what brought this subject to my attention.
The one thing that will irritate me to the bones is wasting taxpayer money. It is my money and everyone else who works for a living. Now if a complaint is legitimate then I wouldn't have a problem with it. But when it is a blatantly false accusation by a criminal who is obviously trying to beat a rap, then I really have a problem with it. If I have to pay taxes then I want to see it spent wisely on something of benefit if not for me then for my children, not on investigating a BS complaint.
Let me clarify that I have seen racism on both sides. White on black, and yes, Black on white. So I know it exists and is running rampant on both sides of the fence. I also think that there are complaints of racism that are being exploited where none exists. The police of Lincoln, Nebraska, seem to think the same thing and are ready to prove it.
Nebraska passed a law that will be effective as of Jan. 1st, 2002, which requires police officers to document the race, gender, and age of anyone who is pulled over even if a citation is not written. A wireless data company called Aether Systems has designed a software to be used by portable devices such as PDAs and laptops to help police officers track this information. The police hope that the system will prove that they do not practice racial profiling on traffic stops. Police in Arlington, Virginia, are also testing the new tracking software.
Not that the documentation by an officer cannot be disputed. But we must first look at the fact that many officers are trying to serve the community. It is not fair to the police officers who risk their lives and live in fear day in and day out to be stereotyped. Then we also have to consider that many cruisers come with a video camera to back up an officer's activity.
Aether Systems is the company that created the software that is used in patrol cruisers to allow police officers to check for outstanding warrants and other information. Aether created this software to help officers prove they are not practicing racial
profiling. The software should be available to most police departments this month.
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when you aren't looking. If you want your name to vanish from our list because our newsletter is just too boring or someone else signed you up, let us know. We will reluctantly take you off of our newsletter list. And we still reserve the right to make faces at you when you aren't looking.
