As to Cingular I don't believe they have an analog fallback option in
> their system. It might be down to Verizon now and I suspect they have
> plans to cut away from that, but are being held back by GM's old
> analog-based OnStar system.
Cingular most certainly does have analog AMPS in the areas that they had TDMA/AMPS or in the areas that they acquired by acquiring AT&T Wireless. The only areas where Cingular didn't originally have AMPS analog backup were the areas such as California/Nevada and the Carolinas which were GSM from the outset. That's moot anyway since Cingular absorbed AT&T Wireless and the systems that they used. AT&T Wireless used all three technologies AMPS analog, TDMA (IS-136) and GSM. Cingular of course is making every effort to transition all to the "orange" side (original Cingular) and to make the "blue" side (originally AT&T Wireless) to have all customers eventually be on the orange side. Cingular and the former AT&T Wireless (now Cingular blue) both use TDMA IS-136 and AMPS analog in addition to GSM.