Can you hear me now? Analog cellular networks shutting down next week

***georgeandoh*** · #1 (**permalink**) 02-15-2008, 08:10 PM

Can you hear me now? Analog cellular networks shutting down next week

This weekend may finally be the perfect time to drag Grandma into your local mobile phone shop to update that brick she keeps in her purse along with the Circus Peanuts. Come Monday, the FCC is allowing cellular providers to shut down their analog networks, and most of the major players are planning to do just that. Owners of devices ranging from cell phones to home alarm systems and even in-car assistance services may be in for a rude surprise.

InfoWorld reports that both AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless, the only two major providers with nationwide AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) analog networks, will be shutting their networks down on Monday. Even most small, rural providers appear ready to pull the plug on the deprecated technology in favor of all-digital networks.

Both AT&T and Verizon both profess they have a "very, very small" number of customers still clinging to analog service. Verizon's estimate that "less than one percent" of its roughly 60 million subscribers are using analog phones means that there could still be almost 600,000 customers that will find themselves without service come next week.

Analog cell phone owners aren't the only ones with something to worry about come Monday. Plenty of other devices, such as home security systems and car alarm services, are still using analog transmitters. Home alarm systems may especially be affected, as providers report having customers in areas with little to no GSM reception (though that number is estimated at just under 400,000 as of six months ago).

GM's OnStar service for its cars is in the middle of a rocky transition too, as the company preemptively shut down its analog service on January 1, 2008. Though GM began warning its analog customers last year, upgrading a car with a digital transmitter can cost hundreds of dollars, which customers must pay out of pocket. Upset over the costly change, two OnStar customers in Pennsylvania have filed a lawsuit against GM and are hoping to turn it into a class action.

After Verizon, AT&T, and Alltel pull the plug on their networks next week, though, only US Cellular and a handful of small, rural providers will still be going the analog route (Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile's networks are all digital). US Cellular plans to shut its analog network down by year end, and the smaller carriers will eventually follow suit, meaning that customers with obsolete handsets will be forced to enter the digital age at last.

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