NEWS: Verizon and AT&T May Both Get Apple Tablet

Why strange? It seems that the over-temp shutdowns are doing what they are supposed to do and don't often cause a shutdown. That it does when you put it in direct sunlight would certainly tax the heat control issues of any electronics device.

If there ever was a place for loser pays lawsuits, this one should be at the top of the list.

No kidding. But this is Steven.

History has already told us that in a REAL disaster, significant amounts of critical communications will likely be carried by amateur radio operators. The cell phone networks will collapse, as well as the wire-line networks. Those with the uninformed, short-sighted view of hams as geeks hogging spectrum which is sorely needed by those sacred "communications companies" need to get a reality check. The first thing to go in our modern society after a major catastrophe will be the commercial communications that we depend upon for everyday existence.

The communication facilities that hams employ (which consists mostly of technology of their own creation when it comes to the most sophisticated among them) is head and shoulders above anything that is found in the commercial world. Anyone with the attitude that hams are just kids that are unnecessarily indulged by the FCC and serve no purpose reveals his own lack of depth of understanding of the real world.

I don't want unsightly antennas. This is the modern, aesthetic world. This is no longer the slash-and-burn is the rule. Cell antennas are being disguised as fake trees and bird houses and all kinds of things. I'm not asking companies to limit their antennas, just make them pleasing or invisible.

In the 1989 Loma Prieta quake the phone system did not collapse. Remember, I was working in the call center business at the time. Secondly, 2-way did not collapse, either. Now, I'm not making any bets that the trunked systems in use now won't collapse since they're dependent on central coordination that wasn't needed when simple 2-way was the norm.

Given that the CHP still uses the "old fashioned" 2-way technology, I'd say that they'd survive just fine, as will small local companies and whatnot.

This didn't happen in Loma Prieta, even though the entirety of SF lost power for 36 hours.

As earthquakes go, Loma Prieta was not all that big. Odds are very high that when (not if) the Hayward fault finally goes, it's going to be a lot worse than Loma Prieta.

jc

So you're saying that all other things being equal, a 800MHz signal and a 1900MHz signal will penetrate typical buildings and other structures equally?

It may not have collapsed but it wasn't exactly working well either. Yes, of course, something like that provokes a massive surge in call volume at the worst possible time.

It took my Bay Area colleages many, many hours to get a message to me overseas; cellphone to NY and then conventional service from NY to London.

What history (other than anecdotes)?

I respectfully disagree.

For which ham wouldn't have helped. First responders were and are in a different service category.

Which is of course quite reasonable. But the cell companies would rather complain about local zoning in the hope of getting license to slash-and-burn, simply because it's more profitable.

Read the cited references.

Which cell phone, and which provider, was able to reach New York from the Bay Area? I want one of those.

John Navas wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

The cellular phone is one of the greatest safety gadgets ever invented....

Simply the ability to call 911 in time of emergency is all that's needed to make your statement moot.

Obviously, you've never been broken down in the middle of nowhere on the interstate....

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (David Kaye) wrote in news:i2ratc$tt7$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

Thanks. We'll make sure no person named David Kaye gets a message out in the earthquake.

Your argument doesn't apply to a neighborhood, the subject at issue.

Cell phones aren't all that dependable. I've been in the middle of nowhere many times with no cell signal. If you really care about safety, then you'll carry a PLB or sat phone. You might as well argue for gas stations every 5 miles in rural areas.