Cellular Providers Start Pulling the Analog Plug

Fri Jun 1, 2007 6:44PM EDT

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In the U.S., analog cellular services will start being terminated in early 2008, but reports are starting to trickle in that analog services are now being disconnected in Canada, our friendly neighbor to the north.

So far, the news is pretty mild: Analog cell phones haven't been available for many years. The story at the Star, linked above, focuses on a cell phone user who bought an old 1970s-era DynaTAC on eBay and used the over-a-pound brick pretty much as a ploy to get attention at Starbucks.

Of course, more serious effects are in store for many analog users: OnStar's imminent discontinuation of analog services will leave about 500,000 people without emergency services in their cars. January 1, 2008 is D-Day for analog OnStar, and all American analog cellular service should vanish before March 2008.

Meanwhile, at least two other Canadian telcos are still offering analog service, with no specific date on when those services will be shut down for good. However, it's a safe bet that they'll be put out to pasture around the same time as U.S. services in early 2008, since analog roaming will no longer work across the border.

Analog holdouts, it's time to upgrade! 

LINK: It's last call for analog holdout 

Comments on Cellular Providers Start Pulling the Analog Plug

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  • 1 Posted by shellyejo on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    Thank goodness analog is going to be a thing of the past. I currently can't roam when I go back to my hometown in West Texas because their service is still analog and my phone is digital.

  • 2 Posted by wovan@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    It had to happen sooner or later. Whether it is for the best is yet to be seen. I, too, live in West Texas, but have been using a digital phone for a couple of years. I don't know why shellyejo cannot roam with a digital phone, as the major carriers( Cingular, Alltel) have reasonably good coverage most places now. Having said that, there are a few places that the old "bag" type analog tends to do better. I guess that will be a thing of the past very soon.

  • 3 Posted by wxgddss on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:51PM EDT Report Abuse

    This comment is regarding your blog in general: the low point of my week is Friday afternoon, when I know the next Christopher Null column won't be published until sometime on Monday. Thanks for all of the awesome reading and ideas.

  • 4 Posted by cnull on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:27PM EDT Report Abuse

    thanks, wxddss! just FYI I almost always create a blog post on Sunday evening, if you're really jonesing...

  • 5 Posted by myrenne@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:31PM EDT Report Abuse

    It reminds me of them good olden days, like 1968, when my company built the Melabs 'Attaché Phone' a sleek normal kind of handset phone embedded in a croc leather covered attaché case. Costing about $1,200. We took one always along to electronic, scientific, and trade shows. It absolutely silenced dining room conversations at the usual three-martini lunch or dinner settings when it would RING (arranged by our employer), and we would put the handset onto the ear and chat from the dining table. - Oh well .....

  • 6 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    I wonder who you can even connect to with an analog phone anyways... I still have mine, and I still own the phone numbers for them - they were early direct purchases, so I own everything for them outright.

  • 7 Posted by mz.buttacream on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:32PM EDT Report Abuse

    I think cellphones are very convient.But i'll have to say some phones very expensive but at the same time they look good and have a lot of features on them which what I like. But I dont care I can Afford any cellphone that I want!!!!!

  • 8 Posted by ibe1946 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:22PM EDT Report Abuse

    I don't understand the mechanics of analog vs. digital. I'll have to say though, when I bought my very first cell phone from Cingular, it was a disaster. The reception was extremely bad and I got to hating the thing. A few years later I signed up with a different provider and voila, I got super reception for the first time.

  • 9 Posted by byronshire on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:15PM EDT Report Abuse

    I was surprised when I came to the states in 2004 and discovered analog still existed here. I ended up just buying a Cingular SIM card for my Australian phone and haven't looked back.

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