It took only two months after we had just moved to North Idaho for some bozo with a backhoe to slice through the phone lines. That’s what prompted me to get my first cell phone.
Now I’m sure the guy on the backhoe had a big heart. I’m sure that it was his boss that told him to cut the 4-foot wide trench all the way across the road. Not only did the trench sever the phone lines, but it effectively cut off four homes from the rest of civilization. Thanks to our 4-wheel drive Explorer, we were able to get in and out.
Oh, and I didn’t mention that after he sliced across the road, and obviously cut the phone lines, he didn’t bother to notify the Phone Company? Nope, it was noise on the line a few houses up the road that got Mr. Telephone Repairman out.
Did I mention this was on a Friday?
The next day I bought my first cell phone. This was in 1993. The phone cost me $600. It was an analog mobile phone, and I paid $40 a month for 80 minutes of talk time. The battery lasted for 30 minutes, but the phone came with two batteries. And when I got home, I discovered that I could get no signal. But that was okay: by next Tuesday the Phone Company had fixed the broken phone lines.
I mention this bit of historical trivia because yesterday, Sunday February 17, was the last day that analog mobile phone service worked in the United States. Any remaining networks were shut down on that day. We’re all digital now. Ta-da!
Digital Picture Frame Virus. There is apparently a nasty computer virus stored on some of those digital picture frames. The virus is transmitted to your PC when you sync the picture frame with your photo collection. Read more about it here.
I ♥ Cringely Dept. Cyber gossip columnist Robert X. Cringely has an interesting take on Microsoft’s failed hostile take-over of Yahoo. Good, valid points there.
Eclipse. Don’t forget to poke your head outside Wednesday night (2/20) to observe the lunar eclipse. (USA only.)
Our (Australian) Analouge network closed in 2000, I think.
Also, Telstra (the resident major telco, who need to get their act together) were trying to close down our CDMA network, because they’d spent a fortune on building a new HSDPA network called NextG. However, government regulations here state that to close down an existing network, the network who runs it must have the infrastructure that is equivalent or better to what it’s replacing. Guess what? CDMA is better than NextG, something I believe will be true until Telstra gives up. Stupid Sol Trujillo (yes, I know he’s an American, but an Australian telco needs an Australian CEO, not a yankee one). My grandparents got sold two phones on this network (Telstra-branded ZTE ones), which were rubbish. My grandmother had to send hers back twice. Ridiculous! They then had to pay about AU$600 for new ones, LG ones this time (it turned out they were on a contract and were never told. Pity Telstra didn’t get sued…), and they get charged unnescceirly for everything (Telstra seem to enjoy charging you for people leaving you voicemail, touching your phone, etc., etc., ad infinitum). They said that, had they’ve known what they knew now, they would have gone over to Optus GSM.
I use Virgin Mobile, and I am very pleased with the service (except I had to talk to an Indian as opposed to an Australian last time I called… grr!), and have had no complaints about them.
Here’s some info on the NextG network, if you feel so: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telstra#Telstra_Mobile
Comment by Douglas — February 18, 2008 @ 1:44 am
What a coincidence. Moving to North Idaho also prompted me to get my first cell phone. Of course, that was less than a year ago.
Come to think of it, one of the first times it ever rang was right in the middle of one of your campaign speeches. Sorry about that! 🙂
Comment by Bjorn — February 18, 2008 @ 9:38 am
No problem on the phone, Bjorn. At least I never pulled a “Rudy” and chatted with my girlfriend in the middle of a press conference!
Comment by admin — February 18, 2008 @ 9:47 am