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Last Words Archives: 1 / 2001, 2 / 2001, 1 / 2002, 2 / 2002, 3 / 2002, 4 / 2002, 5 / 2002, 6 / 2002,
1 / 2003, 2 / 2003, 3 / 2003, 4 / 2003, 5 / 2003, 6 / 2003 , 7 / 2003, 8 / 2003, 9 / 2003
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Last Words, 9/2003 Archive
Flo Boarding
Nokia Game 2003 mobile adventure is now open for registration. The game will be played from November 19th to November 28th.
(16/09/03) [perm link]
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Self Regulation
The biggest U.S. wireless carriers voluntarily adopted a list of principles, The
Consumer Code for Wireless Service, aimed at boosting satisfaction, while trying to ward off government regulation.
Here are the ten new commandments:
Disclose rates and terms of service to consumers
Make available maps showing where service is generally available
Provide contract terms to customers and confirm changes in service
Allow a trial period for new service
Provide specific disclosures in advertising
Separately identify carrier charges from taxes on billing statements
Provide customers the right to terminate service for changes to contract terms
Provide ready access to customer service
Promptly respond to consumer inquiries and complaints received from government agencies
Abide by policies for protection of customer privacy
The list looks goods, hopefully all of those will be implemented and followed. Maybe the number portablitity could be added to the list. Wireless carriers will have to annually re-certify that they are in compliance with the Code, and according to CTIA, each carrier's competitors will be watching other companies' compliance. Let's see how well it will work.
(10/09/03) [perm link]
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Antenna Installation of the Month
Mobile carriers seem to be doing everything they can to provide good inbuiling coverage (huh!). Cambridge Chronicle writes about how Nextel antennas were installed within 10 feet of neighbour's bed. What were they thinking?
 This is very poor cell planning. I bet RF designer was forced to take this location when no other cheap candidates were available, or rollout quotas need to be filled. No RF planner is proud of this site.
 This is PR nightmare. Expect community groups making it really difficult to build new sites in the future. They will also apply more pressure on local government and politicians. No PR manager is proud of this site.
 This will increase resentment towards mobile carriers just before number portability will be introduced. In the future all carriers need more sites in this suburb, how easy do you think next site acquisition will be? No site acquisition manager is proud of this site.
 Expect a large metallic/aluminium sheet appearing soon in front of the bedroom windows. Wind will move the sheet nicely to allow people still to make phone calls, but constantly moving reflections will guarantee large amount of call drop, making this sector even more useless. Metallic sheet would also attenuate the signal. No network management team is proud of this site.
 Installation below rooftop level is generally more difficult than on short poles on a roof, but antennas would still have been placed below the tree line in this care. No antenna installation team is proud of this site.
 Bad sectors do not generate much traffic and revenues, and all these issues cause soaring acquisition and rollout cost. No mobile operator is proud of this site.
This is no isolated incidence. Mobile carriers can only blame themselves for concerns of the general public and difficulties acquiring sites. Making better sites does not necessary mean more expensive site costs. Network rollout team needs to better educated how to build better sites and deal with the community in long term.
One good site can handle the coverage of two or more bad sites. The legacy of poor designs will be ugly roof tops of sites, which do not meet the coverage requirements. Operators will have to work with the community, but why do they always learn the hard way?
(08/09/03) [perm link]
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