Sprint, Coverage Getting Worse

Just a heads-up for anyone who uses Sprint in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, or South Dakota (South Dakota wasn't considered native but you're losing 3G roaming). You're about to lose your EVDO (3G) coverage, and use here will be considered roaming as of March 1st, 2011. This area never really had Sprint coverage, it had Alltel coverage. Sprint and Alltel had an excellent roaming agreement that included Sprint considering this area to be native service. AT&T bought Alltel in these markets, and by March 1st, will have begun transitioning customers to the newly-built AT&T network here.

This is a very surprising move, as Sprint pushed very hard for AT&T to be required to both maintain the CDMA network, as well as the roaming agreement, for three years. And they agreed to. So why is Sprint changing their policies here now, and not in 2013 (three years from transaction close)? Only Sprint really knows, but my guess is that without reciprocal roaming - that is, without Alltel customers roaming on Sprint - the costs skyrocket. Again, I have no idea and that is simply an educated guess.

I consider this a good thing. How is loss of coverage good? Because no coverage is being lost. Sprint customers are going to have a worse roaming experience, but people in this area could never become Sprint customers. Maybe Sprint will decide to build their network out here as a result of this? Who knows. They sure weren't going to under the prior arrangement.

How people get here!

Hey guys, I run Google Analytics on my blog. Among other things, it records for me what searches GET PEOPLE to my blog. I don't normally bother to look at these, but decided to today, for my own interest more than anything. Note, I don't know WHO searched these things, and have no way to find out. So it's not violating your privacy or anything. (Though some other software may correlate this information with IP addresses, so never assume you're as private as you think!).

Anyways, here's a list of searches I felt interesting. It's not a representative sample or anything. Most of my hits come from people looking info about the Alltel/AT&T conversion or about the HTC Hero. By far. Anyways, without further ado, look at this list of searches, separated by commas:

i pierced my cousins ears with a gun for her, kindle 3g montana, mark uhde kalispell, tsa backscatter radiation, zenon zap pad ipad, "consumer reports" nonsense, "ymca"'vs health club", alltel at&t missoula, amy chua lenore skenazy, bokeh on dsc-w350, blackberry battery too low for radio use plugged in, cablevision buys bresnan whats that mean, clearplay conspiracy, complaints against kalispell walmart, conclusion unethical billing practices in the construction project, dry ice reactions in root beer, deadly computer program flaw*, e learning bloodspot, kalispell broadcast tv, kid pix full screen, kevin walmart manager, just a quick reminder, kindle reader in kalispell', micro sim defeats purpose of gsm, marc mart buying, missoula chem trails, overpriced cables, nokia netbook ubuntu, new living translation bible for kindle free you version, pad zap i-pad application, skenazy amy chua, ubuntu netback edition children, why doesn\'t bresnan offer adult programming, zenon zap pad

What can we learn from this? A lot. Apparently, someone believes there are "chem trails" in Missoula. I hope they read my opinion on that with an open mind! Also, it turns out I'm not the only one who remembers Zenon's Zap Pad and is interested in seeing it becoming real. We're not quite there yet (and sadly, data caps put the prospect further away), but it's getting here. I'm also not the only one looking at Amy Chua as the anti-Lenore Skenazy. Apparently, someone wishes Bresnan had porno LOL. I'm also not the only one who has my issues with Wal-Mart, especially Kalispell's Wal-Mart (and I'm still wondering why the fire marshall lets them get off blocking mandatory "must remain unlocked while building is occupied" exit doors at night)! Piercing your cousin's ears will apparently get you to my blog too, good to know! That must have something to do with the fact I got my doubles on my earlobes with my cousin there a few years ago and I think I wrote about it. Someone else thinks Consumer Reports is nonsense. Good to know! I, too, wonder what dry ice would do in root beer. And Ubuntu works great for kids. AmazonBasics and Monoprice cables are a much better deal for the overpriced cables person :)

Wow.

Verizon iPhone - I was wrong

So, most of you know I've said there will be no Verizon iPhone. I had good reasons. Having a Verizon iPhone completely invalidates some of Apple's ads. Any that involve simultaneous voice and data. The global roaming and backpacker ones.

All those ads? Meaningless now. All things you CANNOT do on a CDMA phone. They never really were Apple features - more AT&T features. And, in typical Apple fashion, presumably simply never to be spoke of again.

This also seriously hurts AT&T in Alltel markets. There was a lot of pent-up demand to switch to AT&T for the iPhone. Now, not so likely to happen. AT&T's going to have a great network here when it launches next month, with coverage, speeds, and capabilities that are far beyond Verizon. But, without unlimited data, I'd say Verizon maybe the better value on this one. And that makes me sad - I'm staying AT&T (with a free Samsung Captivate and my Alltel unlimited plan!). And I want as many of my friends to be free calling as possible. I was excited for them switching to AT&T.

The good news, maybe this will force AT&T to reconsider their 2GB data cap. And if they do, I'd still recommend people to switch over. Reality is that in well-covered 3G areas (like all of Montana will be), the AT&T iPhone is going to be a much better experience than the Verizon iPhone (faster, simultaneous voice and data, global roaming, SIM card support, etc).

I'm also guessing that this announcement is part of the reason for AT&T's suddenly strong announced Android lineup. So yes, in some ways, it's good. Because competition is always good.

Scary Parenting!

I hate to give into what is clearly a publicity stunt, but this woman is absolutely frightening. She believes that being a "superior mother" means "no playdates," "no school plays," and "no instruments except the piano and violin." I feel so sorry for her kids! She really needs to meet Lenore Skenazy, of Free Range Kids. I'd love to see the two of them get in a debate. Lenore would run circles around her :) Maybe also get Gever Tulley, of Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do) fame, in on the debate :). I'm sure Tom Hodgkinson (The Idle Parent) would have some good ideas too on how to NOT be like crazy-psychopath-from-The-New-York-Times mother. Thankfully, very few people are as insane as Amy Chua. But how many kids are psychologically harmed by lesser forms of the same traumatic "parenting" philosophies?

3G Maps Compared

Do you remember Verizon's "there's a map for that!" ad campaign? It was, of course, severely flawed. The only coverage that really matters is coverage where you need it. Still, with today's publication of a new map from AT&T that shows where they'll be by the end of March, I felt that a good map comparison would be nice, so I made one from the latest publicly-available 3G/4G-only maps. Take a look. Before you give the win to Verizon for looking a bit more filled in, look at where YOU actually spend your time. And maybe take a look at places like Nevada, California, Puerto Rico, etc... It just depends where you will be. Also, remember AT&T's 3G is substantially faster than Verizon's when it works well.



Both carriers are making huge improvements, and neither would honestly be a bad choice for most people. When you're ready to buy your next phone, please consider purchasing from AmazonWireless - they offer a great value, and purchases through this site help support my ability to bring this site to you!

AT&T "Future Mobile Broadband"

Today, AT&T announced their new LTE network will be complete by the end of 2013 - same as Verizon - and is expected to be a complete overlay of their 3G network (does that mean some people on EDGE today will STILL be stuck on EDGE in 2013? We want answers AT&T...). Anyways, what's interesting is that in the promotional materials they have a map that includes "Future Mobile Broadband" - this is the Alltel markets. It says it's expected to be available by March 31, 2011. Which is along the time lines of late Feb/early Mar we've been texted. Take a look here: http://www.att.com/network/? - click the coverage tab.