Feature:Cel Phone Service

Chris Blain recently went on an adventure that many of us will experience: Getting a cel phone. He has written up his experiences for those of you on the fence on the issue. It's an excellent piece if you've thought about it, but just didn't have the answers. He also compares various services in his area, which is probably at least a decent example of what it will be like near you.

The following was written by Slashdot Reader Chris Blain Cellular Service Review
Chris A. Blain
[e-mail]
July 9,1998

"Do I really need A Cell Phone?"

I'm not Gordon Gekko, so a cell phone seemed unnecessary. Then my friend Olli f rom Finland came to visit. He has owned a cell phone for over four years and uses it as his only phone. Hmm, he's not Gordon Gekko e ither. Why does he need one? So he doesn't have to wait around for phone calls. So people calling him don't have to worry about if he is at home or at a club or in Lapland. I've had a pager in the past and it always made me feel like I was on a leash. A cell phone sounded like it would have the opposite effect. I wouldn?t have to worry about staying close to a phone. I would be fre e! Add the fact I recently started work for a company where travel would be a regular occurrence and enough reasons to seriously star t considering joining the ranks of the wireless were in hand.

Three issues had kept me from even contemplating buying a cell phone before: co nfusing rate plans, "surprise charges" that you wouldn?t know about until your bill came, and security. The new One Rate Cellular plan f rom AT&T got my attention because it seemed to address these issues. The billing appeared simple and transparent and the new d igital phones are more secure than previous analog phones. I'm interested in telecom, so at a minimum the research into cellular service a nd technology would be interesting enough to warrant the effort.

The Technology

The first and most important caveat to remember is that all cell phones are "ra dio phones". As such, the abilities and performance of the phone will be limited by the same factors that limit other radio transmissi ons. A good introduction to how the cellular system works will educate you regarding the general performanc e and limitations of the system. Right now, America has three digital systems in use: CDMA, GSM and TDMA. TDMA can be conf using because it can refer to a general method of dividing up a channel into different voice circuits and can also be used to refer to a specific standard (i.e., IS-54 or IS-136) which is then just called TDMA. That?s telecom for you though. It gets heavy in acronyms and low-level detail very quickly. I don?t know enough about the fine points of each to say which is superior. I made my c hoice based on balancing coverage with security.

Cellular service is expensive enough without criminals adding to the bill. Desp ite known security issues, this area has improved with the advent of digital phones. The increased security of the digital systems was one reason I didn't even consider plain analog service. However, the option to roam into an analog area if it means the difference between making a call or not is an option I wanted.

Conveniently for those comparing the three systems, most big providers each hav e a different standard. Sprint uses CDMA, AT&T uses a TDMA/AMPS hybrid and VoiceStream uses GSM. Deciding which standard will become the dominant stan dard in the future is more difficult. Depending on the source of the poll either GSM or CDMA is predicted to be the global standard within the next several years. Considering GSM is leading the race right now, the prediction might not be so hard.

Choosing a Provider and a Calling Plan

Choosing a provider can be hard. Deciding which provider has the best coverage, best call quality, best phone and best customer service is a big job. While you are trying to maximize the above you are also trying to minimize the price. One thing that all cellular providers have in common is that none of them offers calling plans. They all offer *billi ng plans* :) (I heard this phrase somewhere but forgot the author. My apologies). A good technique for evaluating providers is to call the ir customer service numbers multiple times with different questions. By talking to the customer service reps, you can find out a lot of information that isn't in the brochures.

Providers

Digital service areas are still mostly limited to major metropolitan areas and freeways. Coverage maps may look disappointing if you want to use digital service anywhere and everywhere. Also, remember that covera ge maps show the best guess of the actual coverage. AT&T, Sprint and VoiceStr eam all have nice looking coverage maps. They would probably be more accurate if they resemb led scatter graphs rather than area graphs. The coverage is not that bad, but changing position can make a difference in reception.

A lot of what I heard about Sprint PCS ser vice was mixed. On the one hand, I heard there were coverage problems. Other stories talked of good results. When Sprint introduced PCS service a year ago they couldn't get the phones to work right outside the big downtown "Sprint Store" where I live. Not encouraging. If I was going to get a phone, it better work wherever I was likely to go. But then, I d on't even really like the phone offered by Sprint. It doesn?t seem like it is worth the money. I?m also wary of Sony?s thinking th ey can build everything. I prefer a company that specializes in manufacturing the product.

AT&T has been d oing digital voice for three years. Other providers have been doing it for much less time and I think it shows. AT&T does not offer "as digital" a service compared to Sprint or VoiceStream. As best I can tell it is a digital extension of analog. Competitors describe it as a digital/analog hybrid that isn't "truly digital". AT&T says the system is totally digital and not digital "piggy-backed" on analog. I don't know enough about the details to know the technical reality. The system seems to have the benefits of both the analog and digital systems: the broad coverage of the anal og system with all the new features of the PCS systems. The AT&T service is not as secure as the other standards that provide better protection against eavesdropping but AT&T does offer authentication for call set-up and is working on encryption of the conversation.

AT&T offers the new Nokia 6160 phone. The research I did indicated Nokia to be the current leader in digital phones. I like the features and interface of this pho ne. The large screen makes navigating the numerous menus easy and quick. The phone is also very compact so I would be a less conspicuous cellular phone user. This phone can easily fit in a shirt pocket. There are also four built in games. It seems to have a lot of hacker potential. You have to assume that a phone with a Swedish drinking song as one of the custom ringing tones was built by people who like to have fun. There is an infrared port at th e top of the phone that allows you to play "death-match" games against someone else who has the same phone. In addition, software allows you to enter your phone book entries into your computer and then transfer them to the phone. The manual doesn?t mention this, but Olli says its true for the phon es he?s seen in Finland.

VoiceStream (or your local GSM networ k member) was the third choice. As mentioned above, GSM is arguably the current global standard. It has been offering features just introduced in A merica with PCS service for years. GSM, in a statement from the PacBell site, handles encryption in this way: " Before the connection is completed, the call is digitally encrypted to prevent scanners from eavesdropping on the conversation or stealing and cloning your telephone number." This sounds se cure.

There is a choice of four phones from VoiceStream but the Nokia 6190 (same as t he 6160 ascetically and functionally save for being GSM) is the best one to choose. Of the phones that VoiceStream offers, the 6190 is the only one with an analog roaming capability. This is accomplished by placing a surfboard shaped "dual-mode sleeve" between the phone and the battery. In this configuration, th e phone feels twice as large. However, you have a lot of versatility. Due to the fact the 6190 is not a dual mode phone it is much cheaper than the 6160. For $149, you get the phone and the Li-Ion battery standard. The 6160 in this configuration would cost over $200.

Calling Plans

Now comes the hard part. Not only do you have to decide how much you are going to use the phone but also where. Will you roam? How much long distance will you use? Will you call more during peak or off-peak hours? All of these qu estions and more may enter into your decision. You won't really know how much you will use the service until you ?well?use the service. You might use th e phone for all the calls you make now. You might also use it for all the calls you can't or don't make now.

Advice on calling plans is difficult to give other than broad recommendations. If you are going to use the phone a modest amount or use it constantly, your choices are easy. Most providers offer very reasonable plans for those usi ng the phone less than 100 minutes a month or more than 600 minutes a month. Also, providers sometimes run unadvertised specials, so you should be su re and ask what is available in your area.

All of the providers give you the basic PCS features: caller-id, call waiting, call forwarding, three-way calling. Generally, voicemail and text messaging are extra, although all the providers offer plans that include voicem ail. I haven't made up my mind about text messaging yet. It seems cool but I'm not sure it is really useful. Voicemail is a must have. It allows you t o decide if you want to use airtime or not. Therefore, while it costs extra, it is very helpful as a tool to control your airtime usage in addition t o is primary purpose.

VoiceStream has very simple plans that can be quite economical depending on you r usage. For example, VoiceStream has a special for college students or employees of Chamber of Commerce member companies where you get 70 minutes a mo nth for $14.99. A bonus to the VoiceStream plans in my area is there is no long distance charges in the home area, which in my case is considered to be the northwest. Another special they are running is 300 free long distance minutes a month for 6 months to anywhere in the contiguous 48 states. That could be a big saving for you depending on your usage. However, if I was to roam out of the home area I would be charged $0.49/minute for roaming plus $0.20/minute long distance.

AT&T has simple plans but depending on which you choose you might be using a lo t of long distance. Your home area is considered the area code of your phone. If you are out of your home area and someone calls you, they will be cha rged long distance of course. But so will you! Out of your home area and you want to check voice mail? That will be a long distance call. This can get t o be very expensive. It isn't mentioned in the brochure. A consolation is that AT&T offers the lowest long distance rates on average. I can roam n ine western states or the whole U.S. (depending on the choice of plan) without being charged any roaming fees. Roaming fees savings could balance long distance charges depending on your usage and plan choice. With the One Rate plan there is no roaming or long distance charges, just a flat $0.15 - $0.11/minute rate (the rate depending on the number of minutes you buy) for "everything".

The calling plans offered by Sprint are more complicated than those by AT&T or VoiceStream. This is due to the notion of peak and off-peak usage that is not a part of the other providers plans. With Sprint you may have to wo rry about where you are calling from and when you are calling, Sprint does have a "Home Rate USA" feature that lets you roam the Sprint PCS national network. Long distance, however, is extra and the rate can vary depending where you are calling from. Sprint does have a northwest home area that is toll -free. Sprint seems most likely to cost the most to use.

My Choice

A friend who has had analog cellular service for many years told me go with AT& amp;T because of the customer service. AT&T had taken care of problems quickly and to his satisfaction. My friend is demanding as to customer service so I didn't take the recommendation lightly. This isn't to say the others offered inferior customer service -- I just didn't know anyone who has dealt wi th them. In my "test calls" to AT&T customer service, I found them very helpful. They also had the most technical knowledge at their fingertips or could quickly access a technical rep. VoiceStream was also very good in this area. Sprint was the most difficult to get technical information from. I was transferred a half dozen times to different departments and when I finally did get a technical support rep, they just read from a spec sheet to answer my question. They were busy when I called so this might not have been their best showing. AT&T customer support was very busy when I first called (sometimes 5 -10 minutes+ waits) but recently the call times have improved and the wait is nominal.

In my area, there is another option to the One Rate plan: standard AT&T PCS ser vice plans. The One Rate plan didn't appeal to me because I don't think I will need 600 minutes (the plan minimum) a month and I didn't want to p ay $89.99 a month for service. A plan with 300 to 400 minutes costing $30 - $40 a month would be a better fit. I would be traveling so I needed a plan that inclu ded roaming or offered cheap roaming as part of the package. One of the standard plans allows for roaming nine western states with 200 minutes a month for $39.99. A bonus was a special that added 100 minutes to the 200-minute plan for the same price. I chose this. It seemed like an affordable way to try out the s ervice with enough freedom for me to discover how much call time I would need. AT&T doesn't charge for switching plans. If my usage increased dramatical ly, I could switch to the One Rate plan.

Using the Service

I bought the phone on a Sunday. The electronics store I went to had an ample su pply of Nokia 6160 phones plus a surprise: the Nokia 6162. This phone differs f rom the 6160 in that it is a flip phone. You can answer and end a call by opening or cl osing the flip. This technology belongs to Motorola so Nokia had to license it from them. This added to the price of the phone according to my salesman. The two ph ones are nearly identical save for the flip feature and slightly different butt ons on the 6162. Despite a $50 price difference between the two phones, I was tempted to g et the 6162. Then visions of the flip breaking started to sour me on the idea. The streamlined 6160 seemed the way to go. I went.

But not before the salesman sold me a belt holder and an extended warranty. For some reason, a belt holder seemed to suck all of the "cool" out of a cell phone. I might just as well get a pocket protector to go with it. The belt holder serves a dual purpose: it gives you a place to put your phone when you don't want to hold it and protects the phone from the elements. The co ol was sucked back into the phone when I spilled water all over my desk and my cell phone was protected from the flood. The extended warranty was a har der sell. In general, these are a rip-off and I avoid them. The plan the salesman was offering was two years protection for $19.99. The first year of co verage was offered by AT&T and the store extended the coverage for a second year. If anything other than theft or intentional damage happened to the phone, a replacement would be overnighted to me wherever I happened to be. Thi s would also serve as "obsolesce protection". If my phone broke at a point where it was no longer "current", I would most likely be sent the new and improved version. I got a deal on the belt holder and the activation fee was wa ived (note: this was due to my choice of plans. If I had chosen the One Rate Plan, there would have been a $25 activation fee.)

Activation was simple. Charge up the phone (it has to be charged for 24 hours i nitially) and call the activation center. In about a half-hour I was live Activation was simple. Charge up the phone (it has to be charged for 24 hours i nitially) and call the activation center. In about a half-hour I was live on the air. The signal is strong most everywhere I've tried the phone in my cit y. I even have a decent signal in the underground parking garage in my building. The call quality is between that of a cordless phone and a corded pho ne. Better than I had expected. Now to take it on the road.

Wednesday morning I left for the Bay Area on a business trip. This would be an excellent test for the phone. I knew of capacity problems in the Bay Area so I could also test the service in a high traffic area. I flew into the San Jo se airport where the service was available but marginal. The phone has a four-segment signal strength indicator. At the airport, the indicator had two s egments lit. If only one is lit you can?t make a call. I tried a call and got the low end of the quality spectrum. I hoped for better elsewhere.

In the rest of the South Bay, the quality was better, averaging three to four s egments lit. There was one notable exception: the offices of my company in Cupertino: ( I couldn?t get any of the indicators to light. This might have bee n due to problems related to a large amount of electronic equipment in the building. I've had pagers fail due to this. Once I went outside it was better. I also had no problems making calls in San Francisco. People who tried to call me did have problems on a few occasions. They received a "there are not en ough available circuits to connect your call?" type of message. Was this much of a problem? No, I had voicemail so they just left a message and I called them back later. All in all a good showing.

"Is it worth it?"

Yes. After having used the phone for three weeks I would have trouble going wit hout it. It has saved me time and I?ve had fun using it. I have yet to get my first bill, so some of the fun might be lessened when I do . Deciding on service was hard. The exact plans and specials will most likely vary in your area, so you still have a lot of work to do inorder to deci de on service for yourself. The time will be well spent because service is too expensive not to have it work the way you want.

The next thing I really need is global coverage. I'll have to start looking in to those satellite phones... :)