One possibility is that the six-year-old phone is an analog (AMPS)
> only phone. Six years ago, 1999, CDMA was just starting to roll out
> and relatively few manufacturer had phones out (Qualcomm, Sony and
> towards the end of the year Motorola and Samsung, IIRC). Right now
> Verizon Wireless is in the process of reducing their analog coverage
> to the minimum that they can get away with in preparation to shutting
> down the analog system once they are allowed.
I don't know about "just rolling out." CDMA was accepted as a standard in 1993 and went into operation in 1996.
Therefore, it is possible that the trouble making calls was that the
> area being visited had poor analog coverage, but Choreboy's relative's
> home area still as good analog coverage.
> If this is case the technician still made an incorrect statement;
> either due to ignorance, or because of some policy that blames analog
> coverage woes on the phone rather than a business decision.
> If the phone is an analog only phone, upgrading it will eventually
> become a necessity as the FCC is eventually going to allow the
> carriers to turn analog off.
Analog is not scheduled to be turned off til 2008. It could possibly be that the vendor had a desire to make some> If she likes her present phone and does not want to "upgrade" she
might want to consider purchasing a TracPhone or other type of prepaid
> phone for traveling. The model I use will first try to make a digital
> connection and then switch to analog if that is all that is available,
> making it compatible with the older towers as well as the new ones.
Newer TracFone (note the F) uses GSM so they do not have the fallback to analog AMPS.