Travelers’ Tech Tips (for Nomads, Gypsies, RVers & other Travelers) Tip #7 – Cellular/Wireless Phones and Service/Data Providers

This week’s Travelers’ Tech Tip is one of those controversial subjects that can be either opening a can of worms or a Pandora’s Box. The subject is selecting a cellular device and a cellular/wireless data provider. For those of you who, like me, are old enough to remember when selecting telephone service was very simple . . . there was only one to choose from. Everything was very simple back then.

The largest telephone company in the U.S. was the Bell Telephone System, affectionately referred to as “Ma Bell.” The Bell Telephone System was owned by one huge government sanctioned monopoly, AT&T, which originally stood for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. There were numerous smaller telephone companies around the U.S. and many rural areas had their own independent phone companies that licensed the technology from the Bell System. But, for the most part, the Bell System, franchised companies under AT&T, was the largest. AT&T also owned Western Electric, the company that manufactured the telephone equipment used in the Bell System and the Bell Laboratories in New Jersey where AT&T’s research and development was based. Bell Labs is especially noted for the invention of the transistor, which is the basis for the miniaturization of electronics making today’s fantastic technology possible. Of course, there is a lot more to the story and I’ve left out many details, but essentially, this was telephone service in the U.S. from the later 1800’s until the mid 1980’s when the AT&T monopoly was broken up after years of anti-trust litigation. 

I still remember when telephones were very heavy, wired instruments that were hard-wired into your home or office. You could have your phone in any color as long as it was black and it had a rotary dial. There were still many places where phone numbers were only four or five digits for making local calls. In larger metropolitan areas and large cities the phone number exchanges were identified by a word, typically a formal name such as Prescott or Bigelow and so on. That’s the reason phone touch-tone pads (that are large enough) still have numbers and letters on them. A phone number would have seven characters, two letters, typically representing the first two letters of the exchange name and five digits. An example of a phone number from back in the early through mid 1950’s would be PR3-4567 corresponding to Prescott 3-4567. As phone services expanded in the late 50’s and 60’s, the phone company began realizing that they required larger and larger banks of phone numbers to meet the growing demand. So, they dropped the practice of using the word designators for an exchange and just assigned two numbers, thus, creating the seven-digit phone number. Area codes, an additional three digits, were added to make direct dialing of phone numbers outside the local calling area possible. Before area codes were instituted, long distance phone calls had to be routed and connected by a telephone operator. Telephone operator, once a profession requiring a significant number of people, typically women, is another field that has been all but replaced by computer automation.

The Cellular Phone System

Mobile telephones date back to the mid to late 1940’s. They were basically, mobile two-way radio stations that connected through the wired telephone network. They were large, cumbersome and expensive. Very few people or businesses could afford them. AT&T and Bell Labs had conceived of the cellular mobile phone system as early as the beginning of the 1950’s, however, there was no technology in existence to make such a system possible or operational. However, remembering that Bell Laboratories engineers invented the transistor and with continual improvement in radio technology, much of it due to the space program and some through the experimental operations of amateur radio operators, the idea of short distance, point-to-point communication networks became possible. Add to the equation that computer technology was rapidly improving and, viola, the cellular phone system became possible. And, of course, the first cellular phone system was turned on in Chicago under an AT&T company, Ameritech Mobile Communications, in October of 1983. And the rest is history.

The FCC has regulated cellular phone communications since the beginning because the service utilizes public radio spectrum to carry the phone calls. I won’t go into the numerous laws, regulations, companies, mergers and technological advances that brought us to the current state of cellular phone service. I’ll simply say that they were legion. If you’re a technology buff, it’s a fascinating evolutionary study and I encourage you to learn about it on a cold, snowy night some time, if you’re ever that bored. Suffice it to say, we’re a long, long way from the day when Alexander Graham Bell purportedly uttered into his new invention, “Watson, come here. I need you.”

Companies have come and companies have gone since 1983. Technologies have come and gone since that same year. Certainly, in the early stages of cellular phone communication, most people only saw it as a convenience allowing for more freedom and mobility. Businesses were among the first to embrace the cellular phone and it paid great dividends. I didn’t dive into the cellular phone service until 1992, almost nine years since the first cellular phone service was inaugurated in Chicago. I had been an amateur radio operator since I was 14 and had already had a limited phone capability in my car since the late 70’s through my 144 MHz (2 meter) mobile ham station. So, I understood the potential. I even had small, handheld radios I could make limited phone calls with. The major disadvantages were that these phone calls were not private, anyone monitoring the frequency I was transmitting and receiving on could hear everything and the calls could not be of any kind of commercial nature. I acquired my first cellular phone in 1992, as did my lady friend (soon to be wife) so we could keep in touch since both of our professional lives required us to travel regularly. It was an amazing way to keep connected. Later, around 1994 or 1995, I credit my cellular phone with saving my son’s life. And, I can’t recount the number of times it has been instrumental in business, again, since I traveled much, allowing me the freedom to travel and to stay in contact with clients, suppliers and colleagues.

The Cellular System, Data Services and the Smart Phone

So, here we are, near the end of 2011, a mere 28 years since the first cellular phone system went “on the air” and nearly 20 years and, for me, six generations of cellular phones, later. The wired phone system that has existed since the latter part of the 19^th Century is rapidly becoming obsolete. More and more residences are dropping the traditional wired phone service and using only cellular phones. There nearly five out of every seven people alive on the Earth today have a cellular phone. Long distance service, formerly a premium product and generally an additional expense, is free for all but a minority of people in most developed and even developing countries. The quality of cellular phone calls has generally continued to improve with the continually developing digital technologies. The digital technologies have allowed the networks to handle many times more calls simultaneously then at any time in the past. And, of course, between the continual development of digital technology, miniaturization and the Internet (not to mention software developers), the telephone, once a large box, hard-wired to one central point in a home or business, is now a tiny, multi-functional (even the most simple) device carried in nearly everyone’s (men, women and children) pocket, purse, backpack, brief case, book bag, etc. And, it can be taken with you around the world very inexpensively.

Currently, the cellular service still provides the basic mobile phone service, albeit, much improved, that it provided in October of 1983 when it first hit the streets. However, it is now so much more. Another technological advance, the PDA or Personal Digital Assistant, which is a pocket-sized computer that provides all kinds of mobile data assistance, has been combined with the cellular phone. Additionally, including a still camera, video recorder, dictation recorder, mp3 player with the computing capabilities, the “smart phone” was created. By downloading literally tens of thousands of application programs (or “apps”) of every kind imaginable directly from the Internet, the cellular smart phone is literally becoming the central communication/networking and micro-computing capability in the lives of more and more active people every day. I state it this way, my smart phone allows me “personal freedom” I’ve never known before. The familiar American Express slogan certainly applies to the cellular phone/smart phone – “Don’t leave home without it.”

Selecting A Cellular/Wireless Data Service Provider

This can be a real challenge. As I indicated earlier, once upon a time, it was easy. There was one telephone provider in your market (a monopoly), there might have been a few choices of phones and a couple choices of plans (party line, private line and such). Today, there are more choices of phones then there are brands of automobiles and car models. The choices for service providers are like looking through the phone book at a list of restaurants and the menu options are numerous with each provider.

The deals are tantalizing – free phones, deeply discounted phones, contracts, no contracts, pay as you use it, flat rate, unlimited or limited data plans, family plans, business plans, no texting, limited texting, unlimited texting, etc. How do you choose? If you go on a contract plan and you don’t like it there is a hefty financial penalty to break the contract. If you go with a month-to-month plan, will you get the service you need or want? If you’re a traveler/nomad will you have the coverage in all or most of the regions you’ll travel to/through? If you use the Internet a lot for personal and/or business what choices should you make? Choosing a cellular phone and a cellular provider can be like selecting a health insurance policy – and, in some cases, nearly as important.

First and foremost, don’t believe all the advertising hype. Always remember that there are advertising agencies who are paid huge amounts of money to convince and persuade you to go with a certain product and service just like with any other kind of product or service. Also, remember that cell phone sales people are NOT your friends. They are sales people whose best interest is in removing their money from your pocket. Sure, that’s cynical and, believe me, as an entrepreneur, I’ve been in sales and marketing all my life, so I resemble these remarks. I learned early in my career that in order to accomplish my objectives, which was to finance my habits of eating, having a roof over my head, clothes on my back and some entertainment, I needed to treat the customer/client any way I had to in order to find out what they needed and then do my best to fill that need. Sure, I always wanted my clients and customers to be happy and satisfied with their investment in whatever product or service I was providing them with. However, the reality was and always is that if I didn’t sell something, I didn’t eat. A well trained and professional sales person will always make you feel like your needs and satisfaction are paramount – and that’s true – because you have their money in your pocket.

I’m not sure that you’re feeling any less dazed by this topic after you’ve read this article, but I hope I’m at least enlightening you a bit and possibly making your decision process a little easier.

The next time we’ll discuss what you need, what you want, sifting through the confusing number of phone choices and features and, ultimately, choosing a phone. Then, we’ll walk through the myriad of choices in providers and service plans. And, just to throw a little confusion on the fire, we’ll discover and discuss how only certain cell phones and smart phones are available through only certain cell phone providers and why that is. This is important in making the final choice of the cellular device you select.