TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Hello, You're in the Dead Zone / Region's Cellphone Users Still

Hello, You're in the Dead Zone / Region's Cellphone Users Still

Monty Solomon (monty@roscom.com)
Mon, 30 Jan 2006 01:53:25 -0500

Hello, you're in the dead zone
Region's cellphone users still have problems making, keeping connections

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff | January 29, 2006

You're driving along, talking on your phone. It could be something as
mundane as trying to determine which cereal to pick up at the grocery
store or as crucial as trying to seal a business deal.

Then come the unexplained silences, the fragments of talk, and the
sudden realization that the other person's just not there.

You've been trapped. In a cellphone dead zone.

Even as cellular phones have become necessities of modern life and
companies have tried to improve service, it's still possible to find
yourself in a dead zone in Boston's western suburbs, according to
residents and a survey by Globe West.

"Our area is full of cellphone dead spots," said Stephanie Price, a
33-year-old Cingular Wireless subscriber who lives in the Waban
section of Newton. "There is literally no way to drive to my house
and not drop a call."

To examine how reliably the phones work these days, a Globe West
reporter took comparable phones from the four companies serving
Massachusetts -- Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, and
Verizon Wireless -- on a 150-mile tour of the area.

Calls were made on each phone from the same location within a
one-minute period, and a record was kept of whether calls went through
clearly on the first try, had an obviously weak connection, or failed
to connect after three attempts.

A total of 480 phone calls were made from 120 locations ranging from
Newton to Boylston and from Norfolk to Lincoln.

Sixty-two of the calls, or about 13 percent, didn't connect on the
first try.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/01/29/hello_youre_in_the_dead_zone/

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