[sci.electronics] Cellular Phones

JKOSS00@RICEVM1.BITNET (Jordan Kossack) (12/08/90)

In article <3911@corpane.UUCP>, sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) writes:|>
| >pocketphones share many of the same characteristics:  for most people they
| >do not represent a significant added utility, they'd be costly and at times
| >inconvenient, and the infrastructure (in this case, spectrum space) is not
| >there to support a really universal pocketphone system.
|
| I disagree with the above statements. How would they be NOT be a significant
| added utility? You would have the means to talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime
| To me that is greatly useful. As far as inconvenient goes, you can always
| turn it off. Or maybe there will be cellular answering machines small enough
| to be built into pocket phones to take messages when you dont or cant answer
|
     I disagree with the above statements. ;-)  But seriously, everything
you're saying about cellfones re: why 'everyone' would own one in the
future can be said about pagers today.  Hey, they're inexpensive to own
(the physical device itself) and cost per month is not too bad - cheaper
than my monthly bill from Southwestern Bell for residential phone
service.  If you have a pager, you can be reached 24 hrs/day by anyone
via a simple telephone call.  Returning the call is a simple matter of
finding a public phone (non-COCOT, please ;-) which I've never had a
difficult time doing in any urban or suburban area.  So why doesn't
everbody walk around with a pager these days?  They're small, so that is
not the problem.  I think that Henry Spencer is right - they're not
enough of an added utility for most folk. (Neither pagers nor cellular
telephones [nor pocketfones.])


In article <1990Dec3.171539.29346@amd.com>, phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) wri
|> I don't think you have a accurate usage model for this product.
|> The point is not to make a call while you are mobile, it is to
|> *receive* calls while you are mobile.
|>
|> There may be payphones handy while I am out, but how is anyone
|> going to reach me without a cellular phone?

 A pager?   No . . . really!  ;-)
     For situations like these, a pager is better than a cellular
telephone.  With a good alphanumeric pager, you can wait until you
are STOPPED at the traffic light before getting the message.  You
don't have to take the cellular call while you're in the loo - call
back after you're done.  Sure, if YOU need a cellfone in your line
of work or you just think it's a gee-whiz thing to have, then go
right ahead and get yourself one.  I just don't think there is any
huge type of demand for them ... except as a status symbol. :-(

-------

 jkoss00@ricevm1.rice.edu | Jordan Kossack | n5qvi | +1 713 799 2950
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
        Congress has a distinguished tradition of completely
       misunderstanding the Constitution and not having a clue
     about what it's like.    -- Earl Ryan  [ Nightline, 4 Dec ]

phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) (12/12/90)

In article <1791JKOSS00@RICEVM1> JKOSS00@RICEVM1.BITNET (Jordan Kossack) writes:
|via a simple telephone call.  Returning the call is a simple matter of
|finding a public phone (non-COCOT, please ;-) which I've never had a
|difficult time doing in any urban or suburban area.  So why doesn't

This may be difficult for a guy who doesn't have any female friends to
understand, but my wife is not interested in getting out of her car at
night to use a public phone in certain areas.  (and even this assumes
the car has not broken down so that she has a choice) Depending on the
area, I might feel the same way. By the way, if you take the freeways,
you go through such areas more frequently than you might realize.

|     For situations like these, a pager is better than a cellular
|telephone.  With a good alphanumeric pager, you can wait until you
|are STOPPED at the traffic light before getting the message.  You

Don't be silly. I have to park the car and find a pay phone while
my caller waits? Very convenient.

--
We (in San Jose, CA) need at least another two years of drought:
then the farm water subsidies might be given the attention they deserve.

kls30@duts.ccc.amdahl.com (Kent L Shephard) (12/13/90)

Has the thought ever occured to anyone that everybody just doesn't want
to be accessable 24/7.  I think of pager as an electronic leash.  I
sometimes don't want to talk to people.  With a pager it's always "I
paged you.  How come you didn't call back."  Telling people I just
didn't feel like calling back is not always a good answer if it's
your wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend/boss.

I have an answering machine that I can retrieve my messeges from remotely
and I check my machine a couple times a day.  If I want to call back I
do, if I don't want to I don't.   I just don't like the idea of someone
always being able to locate me.

Just my $1.35 worth. (It takes that to buy a gallon of regular gas.)

        Kent
--
/*  -The opinions expressed are my own, not my employers.    */
/*      For I can only express my own opinions.              */
/*                                                           */
/*   Kent L. Shephard  : email - kls30@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com   */

geopi@cbnewsh.att.com (george.p.cotsonas) (12/13/90)

In article <ec2j02At03xC01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com>, kls30@duts.ccc.amdahl.com (Kent L Shephard) writes:
> 
> Has the thought ever occured to anyone that everybody just doesn't want
> to be accessable 24/7.  I think of pager as an electronic leash.

A recent insert in the NY Times or WSJ (I forget which)
on communications technologies and related matters of etiquette
spoke about how today it is a luxury, or a status symbol,
to be incommunicado.

Of course, this was in the context of stories about Hollywood excesses:
how some six movie production execs were out cruising
in a van for appropriate shoot locations, and how five of the six
were in independent conversations on their handheld cellular phones,
as a show of vanity and status.  Cool, man! :-)

-- 
George P. Cotsonas
AT&T BL/CPL
att!hocpa!geopi

rollie@cobber.cord.edu (Craig Servin) (06/23/91)

I wasn't sure where to ask this question, but here goes.  What would it take
to make a Cellular Phone from America work in Germany?  Would it just need
to be programmed with the new number, or would it have to be modified in
some other way?  Thanks for your help.

rollie@cobber.cord.edu

-- 


Rollie@cobber.cord.edu
Concordia College Moorhead, MN

mohr@motcid.UUCP (Wilson Mohr) (06/24/91)

In article <1991Jun23.052443.26307@cobber.cord.edu>, rollie@cobber.cord.edu (Craig Servin) writes:
> I wasn't sure where to ask this question, but here goes.  What would it take
> to make a Cellular Phone from America work in Germany?  Would it just need

The frequencies utilized in Germany are different from the ones implemented in 
the U.S. Additionally, the Air Interface Specifications are different. ( Data 
transmissions, supervisiory signals, etc.)  To get around both obstacles, the
phone would have to be greatly modified. In short, cheaper to buy another phone.

    
-- 
Wilson Mohr - Motorola CIG     		1501 W. Shure Drive, IL27-2315
...!uunet!motcid!mohr  	        	Arlington Heights, IL 60004-1497
        "I'll tell you what ... We're both intelligent, reasonable human
         beings ... We'll do it my way." - overheard