Analog bids Adieu

By on Dec 26, 2007 at 7:17 PM
News December 26, 2007

2008 is going to be a sad year for anyone that still remembers the early days of mobile technology. Not only is the TDMA band, currently the massive monkey on AT&T’s back, set to go black, but it looks like the old school analog cellular network will also be put to rest. Analog has remained in use primarily due to its presence in rural areas that have yet to reap the benefits of the "shiny new" digital network. With the seemingly exponential increase in signal penetration by America’s wireless carriers, however, it seems that the analog bands have run their course. Fewer than 1% of phones currently in use are functioning on the analog network, but if you suspect that your handset might be one of them now would be a good time to check. As many as 500,000 GM On-Star-equipped vehicles will also be affected.

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  • Galvatron

    Sad you’ll hear this on off the hook for sure.

  • jim

    you shouldnt have analog by now anyway

  • Dual keyboard addict

    Also affected are people’s home security systems installed before 2006. Many of those burglar alrams used cell network as a backup, to send a signal in case a crook cut the land line.

  • Jeff B.

    Well…sucks for them. Good thing I’ve got a BJ and a Tilt that’re in action. Although I’m not too sure about the bit for my alarm system…*runs to check it out*

  • Galvatron

    aw crap her goes the offic security systems

  • tony

    Bye bye analog, good bye Zack Moris phones and finally goodbye annoying dail tone. Truly its about time I have been using GSM digital service for about 10 yrs now. I started with a small regional GSM provider called Omnipoint back in 1998. and at that point analog was stillgoing strong but the sound qualty was pretty bad for the most part while GSM was nowhere close to having national coverage, but the sound qulity was awesome it sounded better then my landline at the time.

  • Robert

    I am gonna have to update my CTS I wonder how much that upgrade will cost me….

  • Lito Francoise

    This digital thing is just a fad… when the age of digital darkness comes (and it’s coming, trust me) I’ll be standing there with my Motorola StarTac, a can wrench, punch down tool and a lineman’s test set charging fools $10.00 a minute to use their choice of analog services.

  • Quint101

    In my area, Alltel is going to shut down its Analog network in February or March… this shows me that even the rural carriers want more spectrum. If I am not mistaken, At&t has already shutdown the TDMA back in August/September in these parts as well…

    TriMode phones are going to be digital only within months! YAY!

    As far as the OnStar and burglar alarms go, they had at least two years’ notice… plenty of time for upgrades and notifications.

  • H4MM3R

    Next on the chopping block GPRS.

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