TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: RIP, Sussex Cellular

Re: RIP, Sussex Cellular

Mark Crispin (MRC@CAC.Washington.EDU)
Mon, 29 Aug 2005 17:24:40 -0700

On Sun, 29 Aug 2005, John Levine wrote:

> Are there any other analog-only carriers in the US at all? I can't
> think of any. Even the little carriers in Alaska seem to be doing
> TDMA or CDMA.

Not true.

Copper Valley Wireless (Glennallen, McCarthy, Valdez, Cordova) is
still analog-only, although they are planning to offer CDMA in the
future. Analog is likely to remain important for them, since quite a
few of their customers are on fishing vessels in Prince William Sound.

As far as I know, the carriers serving the Arctic (Kotzebue,
Wainright, Barrow, Prudhoe, Kaktovik) are still analog-only.

Dobson has done a remarkable job in building out the GSM network in
Alaska. This year, GSM coverage seems to more or less overlap the
TDMA network, enough that I decided to switch from TDMA to GSM. I
read complaints about GSM coverage in Anchorage about a year ago, but
I had no problem.

There is very little CDMA in Alaska. I found (at best spotty) CDMA in
Mat-Su and Anchorage. Even in Anchorage, TDMA and GSM are much more
reliable.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.

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