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Analog Cellular Shutdown To Hit Built-In Devices

Posted by kdawson on Sat Dec 22, 2007 04:57 PM
from the can't-hear-you-now dept.
Cellphones
Nick Kilkenny sends us an AP article on the imminent shutdown of the US analog cellular network, now 24 years old. The network is scheduled to go dark on Feb. 18, 2008; some users, such as OnStar, are stopping analog service at the end of this year. Here's a list of devices and industries that will be affected by the shutdown. (Cellular telephony won't be affected much.) "The shutdown date has been known years in advance, but some industries appear to have a had a problem updating their technologies and informing their customers in advance... General Motors Corp., which owns OnStar, started modifying its cars after the 2002 decision by the Federal Communications Commission to let the network die, but some cars made as late as 2005 can't use digital networks for OnStar, nor can they be upgraded. For some cars made in the intervening years, GM provides digital upgrades for $15." Update: 12/22 22:25 GMT by KD : Replaced two registration-required links.
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Submission: Built-In Devices the End of Analog Cellular by nick_name35 (1206798)
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  • is the one saving grace of analog, but in real life tests apparently the GSM technology still outperforms analog in terms of range, so even that one may not be holding... I think that analog is coming to an end in all communications fields, it will soon be the exclusive domain of HAM radio operators again.
    • Why do people insist on capitalizing "ham", as if it were an acronym? It's just a nickname, if you will, for amateur radio operator. You don't see GEEK, or NERD, or QUILTER.

      • Well, because otherwise they might think it refers to pig meat ? Maybe we should get rid of capital letters altogether :)

        I humbly apologize and will never use HAM again but will in the future refer to 'persons that have amateur radio communications as their hobby' ;)

        • Well, because otherwise they might think it refers to pig meat ?

          I agree with you. Uppercase "HAM" is for radio operators and lowercase "ham" is for little piggies. The only time someone should use "ham radio" is this site:

          http://1029thehog.com/ [1029thehog.com]

  • Crap (Score:3, Informative)

    by Dan East (318230) on Saturday December 22 2007, @05:16PM (#21793416) Homepage
    Crap. There goes the entertainment value of my scanner that can receive 800-900 MHz.

    Dan East

  • Goodbuy car and brick phones (Score:4, Interesting)

    by zakezuke (229119) on Saturday December 22 2007, @05:21PM (#21793448)

    The main reason I disapprove of this closure is the existence of 3 watt car phones to which there was NEVER any digital replacement. These are ideal for backwoods environments. Looks like there are boosters but still it's a bit of a hassle.

    I also wonder what will happen to roadside call boxes. Were these AMPS?

    • Re:Goodbuy car and brick phones (Score:5, Interesting)

      by sortius_nod (1080919) on Saturday December 22 2007, @05:40PM (#21793538)
      We had a massive incident here in Australia where a plane came down in the bush, noone for 100's of kms. The pilot had both analog and digital mobiles. The unfortunate thing was that he had no digital coverage and the closest analog tower had been shut down. Pilot & passangers all died from exposure and it came out that if the analog tower was active they could have made a call to get help.

      The digital tower had actually taken the spot of the analog tower. This gave us another few years of analog and a dodgy attempt to get the same range as analog out of digital (Telstra call it Next-G, but it's just 3.5g with a massive boosting system). The solution definately doesn't work, not when techs in the bush call me saying "I used to be able to call anyone from within the server room here, now I can't... *dropout* et *dropout*... *click*".

      • Re:Goodbuy car and brick phones (Score:5, Informative)

        by TooMuchToDo (882796) on Saturday December 22 2007, @06:33PM (#21793830)
        It's easy in your story to put blame on the carrier. Not their fault though. If you're going to be flying somewhere and you're not absolutely sure of the coverage (and you're flying in fairly undeveloped areas), you need to get one of two things:

        1) An iridium phone. They're not too expensive compared to other aircraft avionics. They work almost anywhere in the world. And you can get prepaid versions if you don't want a huge monthly fee.

        2) An ELT. http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?DID=19&Product_ID=7279 [sportys.com]

        This satellite PLB is the smallest, most functional emergency transmitter available. In an emergency, it could quite simply save your life. It transmits on 406 MHz via the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system with a registered unique, digitally encoded distress signal and 121.5 MHz homing frequency. Plus, onboard GPS acquires LAT/LON when the unit is activated, meaning search and rescue crews will know your location within 100 meters. It is unaffected by terrain, obstructions or weather, and works anywhere in the world. It is also buoyant and totally waterproof. Weighs just 12 oz. and measures 1 3/4"d x 5 3/4"h x 3"w. Powered by two lithium-ion batteries.

        Yes, these two items are expensive. But no more then an annual on your plane or the radio equipment onboard. Blame rests solely on the pilot for the safety of himself and those who he/she carries.

      • Bag phones are still made, and are in digital. link here : http://cellphones.about.com/od/motorola/a/prmot_m800m.htm [about.com]

        Motorola m800
        That's cool! CDMA only but thanks for the update.

        GSM would be better, but at least Motorola recognizes a highly useful item.

        • I wonder if GSM is better than CDMA or not. I haven't been able to find anything decisive about this.

          At one point there was a lot of talk about how GSM was insecure and everyone could hack it. But that was maybe 8 years ago. Considering that every other country does GSM it seems to me that GSM might just have an advantage that CDMA carriers aren't telling us about.

  • List of services affected (Score:3, Insightful)

    by kbahey (102895) on Saturday December 22 2007, @05:31PM (#21793510) Homepage
    The list of affected services is on a registration required site.

    Here is a link from Associated Press [google.com] that does not need registration.

  • Not only OnStar (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kent_eh (543303) on Saturday December 22 2007, @05:31PM (#21793512)
    When my employer (a cell company who shall not be named) killed off our analog system we sent out notices to all analog subscribers over a year in advance.
    And 6 months in advance.
    And each month for the last 3 months.
    2 weeks before shutdown one customer, an alarm company, threatened to sue us to keep it on the air because they hadn't had enough advance warning to get their customers' installations upgraded.

    Apparently they didn't believe we would actually do it.


    And, yes it is worth shutting it down. The power savings alone were significant. Rack space and floor space as well.
    It also freed up a lot of spectrum for re-deployment for high speed data and other stuff that I'm not allowed to talk about yet.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Zadaz (950521)
      In software one year is a very long time.

      In hardware it can be the blink of an eye.

      Posting a sign "Bridge out 100 ft ahead" is enough warning for a bicycle and most cars, but if I'm driving a freight train I'm fucked.
      • They had a year to say something. Instead, they sent a lawyer's "OMFG" letter 50 weeks after we told them what we were planning to do.
    • When you consider the economics of the number of digital channels you can carry in an analog band and the amount of physical hardware space it's a no brainer.

  • No!!! (Score:3, Funny)

    by GreyWolf3000 (468618) on Saturday December 22 2007, @07:28PM (#21794118) Journal
    You can pry my Zach Morris [wikipedia.org] out of my cold, dead hands.

  • NOT a mandatory shutdown. (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2007, @08:25PM (#21794416)
    This is in fact not a mandatory analog shutdown, but the date that cellular phone companies are ALLOWED to decomission analog. They're required to keep analog UP until this date, not shut it down at that date. The good word from AT&T is they are shutting analog down as soon as allowed. Verizon, I've heard both that they are shutting it down ASAP and that they aren't (I'm guessing it's up to each Verizon region to decide if they do or not?). I thought US Cellular had specifically said they plan to keep analog up in some areas until at least 2012. And, local providers, they may decide if it's not broke, don't fix it.

              This doesn't negate the point of the article, since many places will lose analog. But, I'm guessing some of these ultra-rural desert and forest type situations, the local provider may keep analog up, at least for a while. Ultimately, though, there's no new equipment available, and indeed I've heard service parts are low too, so it'll have to go once it's unservicable.
    • In case you lock your keys in the car or you need a tow?

        • Re:OnStar (Score:5, Informative)

          by tacocat (527354) <tallison1@@@twmi...rr...com> on Saturday December 22 2007, @07:05PM (#21793998)

          Here we go again ladies and ladies. Strap on your aluminum boxers and hide in the basement. Mega-Corp is coming to get you again!!!

          I'm so tired of hearing about all this ignorant spew about how evil all this technology is. So I'll just recap what's already been posted a hundred times about OnStar.

          • It won't make you sterile.
          • It won't put banner ads on the top of your windshield while you are driving.
          • It can unlock your car if you want to.
          • It won't call the mothership and tell Big Brother were you are.
          • It will call OnStar as a 911 Emergency Service call if you activate your airbag via tree or some other appropriate activity (and have OnStar service).
          • Once it is deactivated by Onstar (or you can rip it out of the car if you want) it cannot do any of the following:
            1. Call the mothership and tell Big Brother where you are. (Trick question -- it didn't before)
            2. unlock your doors.
            3. Cause you to go sterile -- that's your own problem. (Again, a trick question)
            4. It will let you quietly die in a serious accident because it doesn't work anymore.
            5. In fact, if you know anything about cellular telephony -- it will not register or accept pages after deactivation.

          Despite all of these facts being repeated over and over I know that only 0.0001% of the aluminum boxer fan club will take any heed of this information. So kudo's to the one person who thinks.

          Now, even though I work at GM/OnStar I should probably state that my opinions are statements are not necessarily a reflection of the opinions of GM/Onstar and as such GM/OnStar can not be held liable for anything I say, real or imagined, factual or fantasy.

          So -- I can call you a jerk and get away with it. But I'm only going to call you a jerk after to slam me for working at GM/OnStar and that I'm obviously lying to keep the capitalistic pig corporations afloat despite all the evil things they do to babies and little furry animals. I only say this because I know someone will do just that in the next ten minutes. It happens every time.

          Unfortunately, those who run around screaming such falsehoods do more damage for the cause of privacy and personal empowerment than they know -- for they appear as jerks and makes everyone else who says anything about privacy that much easier to dismiss.

          • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

            by Anonymous Coward
            > It won't put banner ads on the top of your windshield while you are driving.
            >(...)
            > I work at GM/OnStar

            Most of your points are all well and good -- I'm not in OnStar's target market, but you addressed the tinfoilers pretty nicely. But... dude... seriously. There are some ideas that didn't need to be thought up. And that was one of them. And you just thought it. Worse, you posted it publicly to a website. Now, please, please, please swear to all of us that you'll never utter that phrase,

    • Re:OnStar (Score:4, Informative)

      by KillerBob (217953) on Saturday December 22 2007, @05:07PM (#21793374)

      Who wants it anyway? I don't know a lot about this system, though, and maybe I'm missing something, but I see it like a spy in your car. Can someone tell me why some non-business drivers may want this stuff?

      Roadside assistance. Remote entry (in case you lock your keys inside). Directions (GPS locator). Automatic 911 activation in the event of an accident. Car diagnostics. There's more.

      There's a number of things the service offers that would be very useful to the average user. *shrugs* But it's worth pointing out that the $15 digital upgrade is a discounted price... the actual price is about $300, but you get it for $15 if you purchase a 1-year subscription to the OnStar service, at a cost of $400.
      • Think of it as a combination of every gadget you could ever want for your car with the simplicity of a single-button user interface.

        Gee, one could almost think of it as a four-wheeled Macintosh.
      • Have you ever locked your keys in your car? Got lost and tried calling someone, only to discover they don't know where you're at either or you can't through to anyone?

        Nope, never happened to me.

        I used to lock myself out of my call all the time when I was younger. I only did it once or twice when I was 16, and then I started carrying a backup key in my wallet. Never again was locking my keys in the car a problem. It still happens about once a year, perhaps. I just get the backup key out of my wallet and
        • There's always another thing of doing things, this takes about 5 contingencies and wraps them into one device. I could see an argument from the big brother angle, but violently resisting an easier way of doing something? I'm sure they could figure out a way to bluetoothify it so you can use your own cell phone for hands free operation. You could also forward your calls, if you so desired, I'm sure.
          • They could, but they haven't (AFAIK). I've definitely heard of other cars which do have built-in handsfree systems using Bluetooth to interoperate with your regular cellphone, and they don't charge a monthly fee.

            Again, this OnStar thing is crap; it's giving you stuff you already have, at a monthly fee. I already pay enough monthly fees for things, and I pay much less than many others since I don't have cable TV, satellite TV, etc.
            • Most of the onstar features you never want to have to use, if that makes sense. But you'd probably be really glad you have them if you need them.

        • Think of it as a combination of every gadget you could ever want for your car with the simplicity of a single-button user interface.

          Think of it as a poorly-implemented waste of money.

          I tend to agree with you. However, there is one feature that seems pretty neat. If they detect your airbag deploying and they are unable to contact you, then they automatically alert emergency services.

          That's the one part of OnStar I'd actually be interested in using... but they don't appear to offer only that servic

          • I tend to agree with you. However, there is one feature that seems pretty neat. If they detect your airbag deploying and they are unable to contact you, then they automatically alert emergency services.

            That's the one part of OnStar I'd actually be interested in using... but they don't appear to offer only that service. You have to pay an outrageous amount of money to get all the other "features" that come bundled with it.

            I agree; that can be a useful feature. But it's disgusting that they wrap it up with a

            • Well, if you are actually a customer then you might mention it to them. Otherwise I'm not sure that they'll here you.

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by tacocat (527354)

            Well... It's $200 a year for OnStar. I pay $100 a month for my cell phone, $90 a month for cable TV, $15 a month for TiVO, $15 a month for NetFlix. The question of paying about the same price for OnStar is as relevant as people who choose to purchase these other services. Suit yourself?

            As for the airbag calling issue -- There have been a few cases where the unit doesn't fare too well -- but that's generally an accident of such severe nature that fatality is usually result regardless. I don't have the

        • I used to lock myself out of my call all the time when I was younger. I only did it once or twice when I was 16, and then I started carrying a backup key in my wallet. Never again was locking my keys in the car a problem. It still happens about once a year, perhaps. I just get the backup key out of my wallet and I'm back in.

          Here's hoping you never lose your wallet. Assuming your address is on your license, your pickpocket will have your address and a key to your car.
          • Keypad entry. Best feature ever.
            If I go to the beach or something I don't even carry my car keys with me, I just toss them under the seat and lock the car.
            Normally I never lock my car anyway. I don't keep anything in my car, and you really can't reasonably steal a modern car with passive theft prevention, and vandalism just doesn't happen around here.

        • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

          by gb506 (738638)
          Reasonable Person: "we have this indoor toilet, it's a convenient way to eliminate waste, but there are small water and sewer costs..."

          Grishnakh: "why would I want to pay water and sewer fees associated with an indoor toilet when I can just use my outhouse?"

          And regarding the key in the wallet move, most car keys nowadays have integrated fob-type plastic bulbs that do not work well on your wallet. Unless, that is, you keep your wallet in one of those manpurse fannypack fagbag things, which I suspec
          • +1 FUNNAY

            Thanks for the laugh.

            --Mike

          • Actually, that fob is only on the OEM keys, and is only needed for starting the car (assuming it has an anti-theft chip in it). A cheap copy made at the hardware store works fine for the door, and is flat. Also, they make plastic credit-card shaped spare keys where the key folds out from the plastic card. Made for the wallet.
      • Have you ever locked your keys in your car?

        In the age of key-dongles, do people really lock themselves out anymore?

        I used to lock myself out once a year or so, but not once since I bought a car with a remote entry dongle. For the same reason I don't lock myself out of my house. There's no way to lock the door without the keys, at least not the way I habitually lock the door.
        • Take key out of ignition
          open door and lock it out of habit.
          Put down keys, pick up groceries in the back seat.
          Shut doors.

          Hey look. Keys are locked in the car.

          • Pick up brick.

            Throw it at the window.

            Problem solved.

          • Thats the point, with a key-dongle your habit should not be to lock the door by hand. Mine, at least, will not lock the door if the door is open, thus making it impossible to lock the keys in without doing the old-time manual lock plus close-door-with-handle-open, which is most definitely not my habit so I'd never do it to accidentally lock my keys in.
      • Have you ever locked your keys in your car?

        Is that even *possible* on a modern car? On mine you need to use the zapper to lock it.. sure you can lock it from inside, but you have to open the door to get out...

        I actually have a spare 'manual' key but have never used it. Even then I can't see a way of actually locking the door whilst the key is inside and I'm out.

    • Europe started off with a patchwork of different, incompatible, analog mobile phone networks that were replaced by a common digital standard (GSM.) The US started off with a single analog mobile phone standard, and then allowed operators to deploy whatever incompatible digital standards they choose. The result is that until the last few years, it was common to go into an area and find no operator running the digital standard your network used, with only AMPS available as a fall back.

      So there was no real

    • I don't think that's really the case. AFAIK the rural carriers will probably keep analog around if it's makes sense to do so.

      It's just that the high density areas are suffering because Analog is still around. There's a lot more digital channels that they could run in the cities if they could remove the analog equipment. So they have a lot of incentive to remove Analog.

      But I'm not aware that anyone is making them do it. They are just permitting it and some companies are choosing to ack on it in early 2

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