Dead Zones

Cell Phone Sales Tips

2010-03-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

How To Blame Carrier Operations For Missing Your Quota

Are you in sales or sales management and under severe pressure from your boss to sell phone service in territories that have horrible coverage? We can appreciate the difficulty you might be having when the carrier you work for has a bad reputation of service in a territory that has been assigned to you. We can help you cover your ass with intelligence to give to your boss that proves customers hate us in this market and what are you doing to support my marketing efforts. We have thousands for complaints that can be used as ammunition if you ever need an excuse why you can't sell your service. We will build you a list of complaints from real customers in the market that you can give to network operations and ask them what they are doing to fix each location. How about dealing with these complaints first "Mr. Boss" before holding me to a quota that is unrealistic.

There is clearly division within the largest carriers to grow but it doesn't appear that all divisions are in sync and believe in each other. For example: I hear marketing blaming sales, sales blaming network operations, network operations blaming sales. I blame it all on your customers who are frustrated with the continued bull shit slinging (aka coverage maps). Transparency is the key to business theses days and honesty is the best policy. See our AT&T Service Map, Verizon Service Maps, Sprint Service Map, T-Mobile Service Map and email use if you want specific details on territories.

iPhone Battery Life is AT&T's Biggest Problem

2010-03-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

iPhone Battery Life is AT&T's Biggest Problem, NOT Data Usage

My contrarian indicators are now hinting its not the much publicized iPhone usage of video and data competing for access on cell phone towers thats causing capacity problems. It's a signaling issue causing the majority of AT&T's network congestion issues for the iPhone. iPhones and other smartphones are continuously pinging 3G networks and making constant queries of the network as they move among cellular sites to push email, access social networking tools and conduct other repetitive actions. For instance, an IM (instant messenger) user may send a message but then wait a couple of seconds between messages. In order to preserve battery life, the iPhone moves into idle mode. When the user pushes another message seconds later, the device has to set up a signaling path again. Signaling traffic is out-pacing the growth of actual mobile data traffic by to 50%, if not higher.

The cell phone base station controller is spending a lot of its extra resources trying to process the signaling so it can't do other things like allocate additional resources for data. As a result you'll see dropped calls and data service degradation. Moreover, even when the signaling resource is released by the smartphone, the network can't react fast enough to allow for the next station to use resources until several seconds and sometimes minutes. One of the ways iPhone and other smartphone vendors try to alleviate this problem and save battery life on their devices is by incorporating a fast dormancy feature.

Apple upset several operators last year when it implemented firmware 3.0 on the iPhone with a fast dormancy feature that prematurely requested a network release only to follow on with a request to connect back to the network or by a request to re-establish a connection with the network. Apple soon after released firmware 3.1, which removed the feature but spurred complaints among iPhone users when it came to battery life. While fingers point at BlackBerry devices for also being signaling pigs, RIM argues that its devices don't have to wake up as often to query the network.

This is why carriers are continuing to look at a variety of solutions to reduce signaling traffic while preserving battery life including 3GPP which Nokia Siemens began selling this year at Mobile World Congress. There are a number of other solutions operators can use to ease the congestion by offloading data traffic onto femtocells or Wifi hotspots and adding more network resources. HSPA+ (Evolved High-Speed Packet Access) that will enable the networks to reduce their transmission time from idle to active state and should help ease the congestion. Carriers can also monitor and control which devices and applications are generating excessive amounts of signaling or hogging more than their fair share of bandwidth. With this information, carriers can have increased awareness of the overall cost of delivering specific applications and services and can even map out their smartphone portfolios accordingly.

How to Complain About Cell Phone Service

2010-03-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

Show AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile & Sprint Poor Coverage Areas

Here is a short video on how to add coverage complaint where your mobile phone does not work. The short video explains how to add pins (dead zones, dropped calls or data congestion areas) to the Deadcellzones.com consumer generated coverage map.

A special thanks to a young lad named Caleb located somewhere in Europe for creating the video without any coaching from us. Special thanks to Mr. Technoi Geek. One thing Mr. Technoi Geek does not mention in the video is the importance of using the search box to locate your area and browse the other pins submitted by users in the area. To do this select a layer in the upper right hand corner. You can follow him on Twitter/Mrtechnoigeek

Wifi Cell Phone Towers are the Future

2010-03-15T07:58:00.000-07:00

American Tower, Crown Castle or SBA Communications Should Buy Skyhook Wireless

The promise of using Wifi to make phone calls everywhere could be the future if there was enough information available where you could make VoIP phone calls. It looks like Skyhook Wireless is headed in that direction now that they have a very massive database of locations. I think it would be prudent for a cell phone tower management company like Crown Castle, American Tower or SBA Communications to have some vision and realize they might not be in the tower real estate business in the future and start to think about Wifi as a hedge against 4G and LTE hiccups. My speculation is that someone like Google will ultimately drive adoption because of their tremendous location based advertising reach.

BOSTON, MA - March 15, 2010- Skyhook Wireless® today announced a new service called SpotRank and its availability via SimpleGeo, provider of a comprehensive location API for developers. Based on groundbreaking data never before made available, SpotRank will change the way that location-based apps are built. Skyhook is showcasing SpotRank with real time location data from this week's SXSW festival in Austin and other spots around the world. To see SpotRank in action, visit http://www.skyhookwireless.com/spotrank/worldwidemap.php.

SpotRank data is based on hundreds of millions of anonymous location lookups processed daily through Skyhook's Core Engine. This location platform powers positioning requests on tens of millions of devices and applications around the world. Skyhook continually mines this data to create detailed behavioral intelligence profiles for over half a billion 100 meter "spots" around the world. Providing brand new insight into the movement of crowds through out urban areas, these profiles are based on historical trends in location lookup volume and time of day. Read more.

FCC Violates Our Trademark

2010-03-12T15:47:00.000-08:00

FCC Stop Violating Our Trademark!

The FCC recently launched an application to test mobile broadband speeds. FCC Consumer Broadband Test & Deadzone Report. We would like to politely ask the FCC to stop using our trademark for a product that competes with us. We are pursuing this matter through the press so we do not waste additional taxpayer dollars on lawyers that are not needed to resolve a simple issue. Our request is similar to Verizon's violation of our trademark in 2008 using their Dead Zones Commercial back in 2008 during the Super Bowl. They kindly cooperated thanks to some helpful Verizon PR folks and the term has not been used in a commercial.

We request that you name your mobile measurement product anything other than Dead Zones, 3G Dead Zones, 4G Dead Zones, LTE Dead Zones, Dead Cell Zones or Dead Zone(s) as we have worked very hard to build our brand and don't need the government stepping on our efforts. It should not be too hard to change the name since this is the first day in use and this is your first notification. Their are plenty of other terms available to use that make the point such as: Slow Connections, Poor Connections, Dropped calls, Dead Spots, Dead Patches, Dead Areas, Poor Coverage would be terms that would be more appropriate and might be available without violating our trademark.

We have spent almost ten years building our brand and don't want it destroyed by big government and the lack of due diligence . The FCC has 1,900 employees and is supposed to act as an "independent agency" of the US government with an approximate budget of $466 million which is funded by $1 million in taxpayer appropriations and the rest in regulatory fees paid by the largest telecom companies in the US (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Cox, Comcast, TimeWarner, CableVision, etc. It doesn't sound too independent when 99% of your revenue comes from the companies you are supposed to regulate. $465 million of your dollars are funded by organizations that don't like our service because it exposes their bullshit coverage maps.

If you want to work with us please set up a time to sit down at the CTIA Wireless Conference in 2 weeks, call or email me and we are happy to share our data with you. I am still disappointed that after 10 years in operation no one from the FCC organization can be reached by our organization despite numerous outreach efforts by email and phone. We have offered to donate our data for free to you and yet we are still ignored. The lack of cooperation, insight and outreach is appalling. It doesn't take a billion dollar company or government to solve some simple problems that customers will tell you.

As a side note, if you think using the term "Broadband" as a a loop hole you are wrong. The term refers to cell phone connectivity according to Wikipedia (broadband). Dead Zones can also refer to Ocean Dead Zones (Ecology) but this is clearly under different context and not in violation.

We also have an iPhone in the approval process and guess what its called "Dead Zones" using our trademark.

Big Money Trying to Squash Cell Phone Boosters

2010-03-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

Is Big Money Trying to Squash Cell Phone Boosters?

Are the big carriers "using the FCC as a puppet" to eliminate a problem that doesn't exist? Why now after more than a decade of growth and when companies like Wilson Electronics and Wi-Ex have built quite small businesses compared to the big carriers. Do carriers now feel threatened by the "new kid on the block" MagicJack (FemtoJack under deveopment) who has built an incredible franchise in VoIP and not wants to get into the cell phone booster business as well.
more info at FCC Could Ban Cell Signal Boosters = Bad Idea »

Reply comments on the Federal Communications Commission’s notice of proposed rulemaking on cellphone signal boosters produced some finger-pointing between carriers and equipment manufacturers as well as renewed calls on both sides for the government agency to take action on the issue. The Federal Communications Commission is considering implementing a law that would make cellphone boosters illegal unless they are deployed by a wireless operator or with the consent of a wireless operator, a move that could impact thousands of end users already owning such devices.

Perhaps one of the angrier responses came from YMax Corp., which is building the magicJack femtocell called the FemtoJack that it says could operate under Part 15 rules of low-power devices. CTIA in its comments before the FCC said devices like the FemtoJack should not be permitted to operate unless they are approved by wireless carriers.
more info at RCR Wireless »

Wilson Electronics of St. George, Utah, contended in a filing that "well-designed and -engineered signal boosters actually benefit not only wireless customers but the carriers as well." To ensure the boosters are well-designed, Wilson asked the FCC to adopt three standards for approving signal boosters during routine certification. The FCC, Wilson said, should require all signal boosters to feature:

effective self-oscillation (feedback) detection and automatic shutdown;
effective cell tower proximity detection and automatic shutdown to prevent cell-site overloads; and
bi-directional (tower-to-device and device-to-tower) signal amplification.

Walt Brooks from Wilson Electronics contends that feedback detection and automatic shutdown would prevent inaudible RF-noise-generating over-modulation that "can knock a tower down." Proximity detection would prevent ambient noise from being amplified when close to a cell site to such an extent that it drowns out other calls being made through the site, he added. Such an overload reduces a cell site's capacity to handle calls.
more info at Wilson Electronics »

How to Relieve 3G Network Congestion

2010-03-11T08:15:00.000-08:00

US mobile operators are feeling the strain on their cell phone networks as mobile data usage continues to grow exponentially. In addition, aggressive flat-rate data pricing is becoming the industry norm, and the capital cost to add the needed capacity to mobile networks is no longer being offset by higher ARPU (revenue). Mobile operators need cost-effective methods to increase network capacity and improve coverage to meet ever-growing subscriber demands.

To help address this challenge, companies like Kineto offer both Wi-Fi-based and Femtocell-based solutions for mobile operators. These Wi-Fi-based solutions enable operators like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint to turn any standard Wi-Fi access point into a seamless extension of their mobile network, allowing subscribers to receive all their mobile services when connected via Wi-Fi. Kineto’s Femtocell-based Smart Offload solution enables operators to provide subscribers low-powered 3G base stations for use at home or office to provide ‘five bars’ of cellular coverage. The core problems a dual mode femtocell solve are:

* Solves the data capacity crunch at cell phone towers for voice, data, IMS, not just Internet traffic like YouTube, to the fixed network.
* Resolves the 3G indoor issues at home and in the office where you need it most.
* Addresses VoIP with service pricing based on location.
* Helps battery performance enabling handsets to transmit at lower power thereby increase handsets' talk and standby times.

Cox Wireless Service Ads Miss The Mark

2010-03-10T15:31:00.001-08:00

Home Coverage Is the #1 Consumer Problem. Not Price!

I think the Cox Wireless servicer teaser ads are missing an opportunity and will likely shoot marketing response blanks if this ad launches. Being unbelievably fair is being unbelievably boring and average in the wireless business. Cox has a huge opportunity to kick the crap out of AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint and Verizon where their coverage stinks. Coverage is the issue guys its not about the price war anymore.

Why not go with a campaign like are you one of the 150 million Americans who have poor cell phone coverage in your home? Cox can fix their poor coverage and actually enable to talk on your mobile phone and surf the web. Cox realizes that you talk on the phone nearly 50% of the time in doors and we provide in home coverage to support it. The other carriers can't provide the same level over coverage in your home because they can't put a femtocell (mini cell tower) in your home.

I wouldn't be surprised to see them crank up the marketing volume around the CTIA wireless conference. The critics will be out in full force if they waste a lot of money messaging around this. They are launching in select markets so I don't they will take this campaign to a national level.

AT&T Customers Will Soon Be Happy

2010-03-10T05:22:00.000-08:00

AT&T Customers "Jumping for Joy" about Microcell

Too many customers are competing for data and voice access on the same cell phone towers and this traffic needs to offloaded onto smaller broadband networks. The success of smart phones have put data usage on a growth path that is unprecedented and. AT&T has reported an increase in network data consumption of 5000% over the last 3 years, driven by a minority of customers who own the Apple iPhone. An iPhone user consumes five times more data in a month, compared to other smartphone users and cell phone tower infrastructure can't handle the demand and data needs to be offloaded onto devices like the AT&T Microcell.

Cell Phone Tower Burning from iPhone Data Congestion

AT&T's Microcell
The media and public have finally put pressure on the big carrier to provide what it claims in its ads. The AT&T femtocell has been in testing for almost three years and now it appears they finally have reached the tipping point where they have been forced to roll them out into the network. AT&T is offering them on a limited basis in these locations: North Carolina, Georgia, North San Diego, CA and Las Vegas, NV. The device promises to serve as a solution for people with poor, indoor cell coverage offloading both data and voice traffic over their network. AT&T has also announced a LTE (Long Term Evolution) roll out to start sometime next year and the Microcell (femtocell) will likely offload traffic from the cell towers through broadband as well.

Will Femtocells Payoff?
We think if AT&T focuses on satisfying its customers needs and overcomes the technical barriers rolling out hundreds of thousands of femtocells on their network that it will reclaim a significant advantage over competing carriers like Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile. One think to watch is how aggressive the cable companies like Comcast, Time Warner, Cox and Cablevision get marketing against their customers. It isn't clear how friendly cable companies will be routing wireless voice traffic over their broadband networks. I predict that "he who owns the line into the home is the winner of all services". Voice, Data, TV, Wireless

Beyond 2010 and Beyond: Is AT&T the Network to Beat?

From Geekshuilving, March 9, 2010 - Since mid 2007, when Apple launched the iPhone under an exclusive contract with AT&T, complaints have abounded about the inability of the wireless carrier’s network to handle the load. Tech related blogs regularly include complaints from customers, who either have the iPhone on AT&T or would love an iPhone but aren’t willing to switch to them. Complaints regarding lack of service, dropped calls and slow connections are mainstream topics, whose only positive outcome has been in the form of funny sketches on late night comedy shows. Read the full article. Read the full article at Geekshuiliving.com

Femtocells & Wifi - Can't They Just Get Along?

2010-03-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

Femtocells and WiFi: Why can't they just get on?

It's probably because the two represent radically different business models - rather than just being different technologies - which gives the rivalry added oomph. In the end, though, femto and WiFi will probably both be options on the same hub. Ian Scales reports

Femtos have really arrived: especially in the US and in Japan. According to its supporters there is now an accelerating commitment path, with the number of operators committing to a femto strategy having risen by a full 50 per cent just since November 2009. Vodafone in the UK, Optimus in Portugal and SFR in France have all come forward with offerings. And there are over 60 operator trials in progress around the world today.

So femtos, just ever-so-slightly delayed by the recession (thought its boosters dispute even this, saying the last year saw the industry involved in a sort of last-minute sanity check, hence the slight pause) are now ready for prime-time.

Femocells are the small and (relatively) cheap micro mobile base stations users are supposed to attach to the end of their broadband connections to relieve the radio network from the worst of their 3G data traffic, and to provide indoor voice coverage where this is a bit shakey (with 3G, for instance). To rework a well-known beer ad, femtos are supposed to reach the parts (and carry the load) that the public network can't.

But despite all the cheering, the femto approach has its detractors. These observers usually point out that while femto is a great idea for providing voice coverage where it's weak, it's not a great solution for data offload... at all. They usually think WiFi is the way forward for the following reasons:

WiFi is cheap to deploy in both client and base stations. While femtos look like remaining in the £100 plus camp for the time being at least, WiFi already costs just pennies to deploy in gadgets like smartphones, laptops, games machines and even television sets.

Wifi is already pervasive: because it's cheap it's everywhere and because it's everywhere it's cheap. It's already on laptops, it's on half of all smartphones and that proportion is rising. And it's available in hotels, cafes, hotspots and homes. And it's increasing its grip.

And when it comes to data offload (not voice coverage) WiFi wins because most (like about 99 per cent) of the data it offloads goes straight to the Internet, not into the network provider's core as the femto is engineered to support. Yes femtos can do data 'breakout' to the Internet, but as the whole conception is about supporting the core operator network it's a less than optimum arrangement if it just uses breakout nearly all the time.

We recently ran two panel sessions at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. One on femtos and one on WiFi and we were left with the abiding regret that it might have been more illuminating to have run a joint panel. That way we could have thrashed out some of the 'pro' and 'con' issues.

However, you can view both of them now and make up your own minds.

Video: Getting it Right for the End-User

Video: Why WiFi? What's in it for Operators?

Video: Femtocells: are they critical for network offload?

In the panel on WiFi it's pointed out that Wifi is for the semi-stable world, when people are not actually on the move. They move and then they stop and do some data downloads from a sedentary postion. I called this nomadic rather than mobile. Our panelists had other definitions

Ubiquity in its Wifi sense is that it's every where you need it to be, rather than simply everywhere. So it is (or soon will be) in all coffee shops, airports, hotels, railway stations, in addition to it being both at home and at work.

We learned that BT has a million hotspots that can be accessed under its BT OpenZone brand and it intends to keep on growing that number towards almost total ubiquity.

In regards to mobile network offload engineered by the network operator in the interests of reducing the strain on the mobile data network, a BT representative said the company was already involved with three operators in the UK to provide a WiFi service for their iPhone customers.

On the femto side, the big conundrum is about how you shape an offer so that people are prepared to buy into the concept - what sort of incentives can be made available? What marketing messages might work?

One approach that appears to be working well, say some of our panelists, is the idea that the addition of a femto marks its user out as a serious mobilist. That way it's not so much a remedy for the inadequacies of the network, it's a personal cell for those who can appreciate it.

That might work. But it seems to me that the job of blending a Femto plus various incentives into a compelling offer needs some work yet.

There are many participants in the value chain, from software providers to the device manufacturers themselves, but what are each of them bringing to the table to enhance the user-experience? As they transform their strategies to accommodate ever-changing user demands, what future challenges are they preparing to face? How is the focus on the end-user changing the industry?

Apple iPad Make Way for the dPad Tablet

2010-03-07T22:15:00.000-08:00

Triangular, mobile, sexy!

They say that chip technology doubles every two years. Doritos disproven that limitation with Spice 2.0. Muli-taste interface is fantastic.

Maybe the dPad will have 3G in its' first version and we won't have to wait for version 2. This version will also have a cell phone booster to help improve dropped calls and data congestion. I wonder if AT&T will be selling this exclusively?

Man Dumps Cell Phone for Telegraph After Too Many Dropped Calls

2010-03-07T07:48:00.000-08:00

Did You Know That Only 25% of the US Land Mass Actually Has Cell Phone Coverage?

The telegraph statement is not true but might feel like reality for some rural customers. Many parts of the US have no broadband or wireless coverage. You won't likely hear about this in the press but many residents are simply ignored by wireless carriers who make false claims about wireless service availability. If 75% of US land mass consists of mountainous, farming and remote areas than we still have a long ways to go for carriers to make the claim that they have "more coverage in more places."

Can You Hear Me Now?

2010-03-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

Can You Hear Me Now?

Are You A Sucker for Marketing Scams?

2010-03-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

Have You Purchased Cellular Service Based on Coverage Maps?

Do You Buy Products Because They Labeled As Green?

Trust the Financial Press & Sell Stock in 2009?

Do You Believe the Nielsen TV and Internet Ratings Are Accurate?

Get Cash For Gold for Only 30 Cents on the Dollar?

Invest in any Hedge Funds of Mass Destruction?

Did You Buy Real Estate With No Equity or Money Down?

Have Anything But the Highest Deductible Health Insurance Plan?

Did You Believe The Iraq War Was For Safety or Money?

Did You Believe These Old Cigarette Ads?

False Advertising of Service Availability

2010-03-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

David (deadzones.com) vs. Goliath (carriers)

After some increased blogger and social media exposure in rural areas of the US we have started to notice a groundswell data from customers located in smaller US cities who are falling victim to continued false advertising from mainly the bigger carriers Verizon and AT&T. We have decided focus our efforts and begin exposing these areas more prominently in our blog and on Twitter @deadzones to show where consumers are getting screwed. Our goal is to raise the level of exposure in these neglected smaller cities in order to help improve service in the local area. The following towns and cities are just some of the areas listed on dead zones map in the last 90 days that specifically highlight that Verizon's Coverage Map is making false claims.

Where Do Verizon's Coverage Maps Lie?
Olinda, California - "No service Verizon even though the coverage map says excellent coverage"
Gresham, Michigan - "Dead zone your coverage maps are a lie"
Bridger, Montana - "Map shows coverage, whole town is dead zone."
Madison, North Carolina - "How does Verizon get away with their coverage maps that certainly do not reflect actual coverage???"
Lake Mack Forrest Hills, Florida - "Bad inside and outside. It was the same with Sprint, but Sprints coverage map showed I would have trouble Verizon's coverage map shows I should have full signal. Verizon wants to blame the phone I am using they are FOS."

Verizon Consumer Generated Coverage Map

Why have we picked on Verizon? Because they are the most aggressive about hyping their coverage maps and someone needs to make them accountable to their claims. We will get to AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and others as well in due time. Here are links to other carriers coverage maps that we recommend you check before claiming the their coverage maps lie on our site: AT&T Sprint/Nextel, T-Mobile, Tracfone, Alltel, Cellular One, US Cellular, Cricket Comm, Qwest Wireless, Metro PCS

Mobile Video 66% of Data Traffic by 2014

2010-03-01T10:13:00.000-08:00

Video Will Account for 66% of Global Mobile Data Traffic by 2014

Cisco's Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2009-2014 Mobile data traffic will double every year through 2014, increasing 39X between in 5 years. The advent of laptops and high-end handsets onto mobile networks is a key driver of data traffic, since these devices offer the consumer content and applications not supported by the previous generation of mobile devices. Chief among these new sources of traffic is video, but other applications such as peer-to-peer (P2P) are already making an impact. As shown below, a single laptop can generate as much traffic as 1300 basic-feature phones, and a smartphone creates as much traffic as 10 basic-feature phones. iPhones, in particular, can generate as much traffic as 30 basic feature phones.

High-End Handsets and Laptops Can Multiply Traffic

Cisco has estimated the amount of smartphone traffic that can be offloaded through dual-mode devices or femtocells see below. The offload factor for each country is a combination of smartphone penetration, dual-mode share of smartphones, percentage of home-based mobile Internet use, percentage of dual-mode smartphone owners with Wi-Fi fixed Internet access at home. In many developing countries and regions, the offload percentage declines, while in developed regions, the offload factor steadily rises throughout the forecast period. The declining offload factor in developing markets is due to a decreasing number of mobile data users with Wi-Fi at home. Since dual-mode devices are primarily smartphones, the overall offload amount in the current year is much smaller than shown above, since non-smartphones still account for approximately half of handset traffic.

Dual-Mode and Femtocell Traffic Offload as a Percentage of Smartphone Traffic

Comments appreciated on this topic below.

Wireless Operator Internal Corporate Conflicts

2010-02-27T11:06:00.000-08:00

Carrier Network Operations (Tail) vs. Marketing (Dog)

Top 10 Reasons Why Network Operations Don't Like Femtocells

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard carriers give the poor excuse that the mini base stations aka femtocells are too costly and expensive for consumers. In my opinion its a horrible excuse and here are 10 reasons why. Marketing 101 class in business school always preaches, go to market with a with high price point and then lower it to reach the masses (ie. iPhone). I know many people that live in high end homes in Southern California that have expensive things and yet have zero coverage at their home. You are telling me that they wouldn't be willing to spend $200 or $10 per month a service like this? Bogus comments from ivory tower executives who are simply puppets to their internal politics.

Carriers have barely even tried testing price points for femtocells in U.S. and I believe the "tail is waging the dog" internally at these wireless operators. What do I mean by this? Marketing teams are constantly saying I can't sell phones in Palos Verdes, CA because we don't have good coverage there. Network operations people are saying I can't handle a fire house of new mini base stations to manage on the network. Who is right and who will win. Apparently, Vodafone seems to be the first carrier that has cracked the internal marketing politics and are starting to push the products not without resistance however.

Top 10 Reasons Why Carrier Network Operations Don't Like Femtocells:

1) Carriers are lazy and don't want radical change to their networks
2) Network operations folks don't know how to handle thousands of additional nodes
3) Wi-Fi offloading is cheaper and less reliable
4) Fear of another iPhone like mistake underestimating demand
5) Fear additional customer service issues
6) Who ever owns the fixed broadband line into the home (cable) wins

7) Wire line broadband companies like Cox, Comcast & Time Warner have control

8) Admitting deficiencies in the network is against the culture

9) Fear of legal liability or class action using their own coverage maps as leverage
10) Technical interference issues with base stations too close together in neighborhoods

So far carriers that are considering femtocells are: Vodafone UK, AT&T (trials), Verizon (must pull teeth to get it). See Vodafone UK's promotion and reportedly gaining some success with its ‘Sure Signal' femtocell product (albeit after a disastrous launch). Orange and T-Mobile have both stated a preference for Wi-Fi could see the operator community split along technology lines for in-building coverage.

Not considering femtocells are: Orange, Deutsche Telekom, (T-Mobile) Good article to read here as well: Femtocells remain too expensive, claims Orange VP

Wireless Product of the Year Candidate MobilePro

2010-02-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

Wilson's Cell Phone Signal Booster a Finalist for 2010 'Mark of Excellence Award'

Wilson's MobilePro Signal Booster a Candidate for 'Wireless Product of the Year'

St. George, Utah - Feb. 25, 2010- Wilson Electronics, manufacturer of North America's top-selling line of cell phone signal boosters, announced that the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® named the MobilePro signal booster one of only four finalists for Wireless Product of the Year in the association's 2010 Mark of Excellence Awards.

The MobilePro from Wilson Electronics (Wilson) is being considered for the award along with:
· The TPMC-3X Isys i/O® Handheld WiFi Touchpanel from Crestron Electronics, Inc.
· The LG Electronics Network Blu-ray Disc Player from LG Electronics
· The Voyager Pro UC by Plantronics

For a complete list of all 2010 Mark of Excellence Awards categories and finalists, visit

"The Wilson MobilePro is unique among cell phone signal boosters," said Joe Banos, COO of Wilson Electronics. "It's easily movable from home to vehicle and back to the home, and boosts your cellular signal by about 15 times. We're honored that the Consumer Electronics Association has recognized the MobilePro as a finalist for the 2010 Mark of Excellence Awards Wireless Product of the Year."

CEA's Mark of Excellence Awards honor excellence in innovation and achievement in custom home electronics products, services and installation technologies. Award entries are submitted in Supplier and Systems Integrators categories and reviewed by a panel of industry experts. Each category will feature a platinum and gold level award in recognition of outstanding industry achievement.

The Mark of Excellence Awards are presented by CEA through the association's TechHome Division. Winners will be announced at a reception March 26, during the eleventh annual Electronic House Expo (EHX) in Orlando, Fla.

About Wilson Electronics, Inc.
Wilson Electronics, Inc., a leader in the wireless communications industry for more than 40 years, designs and manufactures a wide variety of cell phone signal boosters, antennas and related components that significantly improve cellular communications for both mobile and in-building situations. All Wilson products are engineered, assembled and tested in the company's U.S.-based headquarters. Wilson amplifiers fully comply with FCC regulations for cellular devices and are FCC and Industry Canada type accepted. Wilson Electronics has developed and patented microprocessor-controlled amplifier technology, which protects cell sites by preventing network interference from oscillation and/or cell site overload. For more information, visit www.wilsonelectronics.com.

About CEA
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $165 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also sponsors and manages the International CES - Where Entertainment, Technology and Business Converge. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA's industry services. Find CEA online at www.CE.org.

About EHX
Electronic House Expo, a Tradeshow Week magazine Fastest 50 event for five years running, is the fastest growing trade event of the $13 billion custom electronics industry. Held annually and sponsored by CEA's TechHome Division, EHX attracts a large and dynamic audience of custom electronics integrators, retailers and allied trades to interact with leading suppliers of audio/video entertainment, digital convergence, networking and communications, comfort and control, and security and electrical products. For more information, visit www.ehxweb.com.

Mobile Blackspots Map for the UK

2010-02-25T13:47:00.000-08:00

We are huge fans of the fact that Vodafone will start advertising femtocells. Its impressive to see Vodafone stepping up and taking the industry lead educating consumers about the new products to consumers in the UK using the brand Sure Signal. Vodafone's Sure Signal guarantees you a great 3G signal at home, no matter where you live and promotes the fact it might be an emergency risk if you are living in a coverage hole. This is something the U.S. carriers have tried their hardest to ignore. See their promotions and web site above and watch the stories of people from around the UK who have been rescued from their mobile signal problems. I am quite proud of a carrier finally admitting that they have coverage holes and giving consumers the ability to do something about it. Kudos to Vodafone UK!

It will remain to be seen if the U.S. carriers still want to "blow smoke" up our asses with their ridiculous commercials touting their great coverage. AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint & T-Mobile have been dragging their feet for years "testing" femtocells in the U.S. and not educating their customers that they actually exist. It also amazes me that Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon in the US yet it seems so against Verizon's arrogant culture to admit they actually have coverage problems with their network. Do you think Verizon's marketing executives who came up with their moronic coverage map promotion commercials are going to be able to keep their jobs or are they going to have to do an "About-Face" (look in opposite direction) if they start selling femtocells in the U.S.? Hmmmm . . . we shall see.

As a result of Vodafone's leadership Deadzones.co.uk has launched a new "Consumer Generated Mobile Blackspots Map" asking where mobile customers don't have problem areas indoors and outdoors. Even if Sure Signal can solve the problem indoors at your home or office there are still many bad patch locations around the UK. We ask for users to contribute pins in our map for 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone. Please also see this UK Blackspots Facebook discussion board we started under Vodafone's profile.

Find this map at Deadzones.co.uk & Deadcellzones.com/uk.html

Underutilized Spectrum

2010-02-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

Where Is Spectrum Underutilized and Who Owns The Local License?

Reallocating spectrum is a difficult problem to solve and the carriers want the issue to stay complex as long as they can so nothing will get done and they can maintain the monopolistic market positions. There is a BIG problem with US government allocation and the FCC when you compare us to Europe. For example, Germany has 5 times more spectrum and 1/3 as many users than the US. Something is wrong here and I suspect there are some fat cat companies which big bank accounts sitting on spectrum to corner the marketplace. Is it a pricing issue going forward or an allocation issue. The term auction for spectrum just doesn't seem like the best method if you have the consumers best interest in mind.

Ironically it doesn't take a genius to understand where reallocation of spectrum is needed based on our map of US dead zones. Also, it was recently explained to me that only 25% of the United States land mass actually has cellular coverage. So there is lots of opportunity regionally for entrepreneurs to take advantage of an allocation system that is broken if the government can simply get out of the way.

FCC Could Ban Cell Signal Boosters = Bad Idea

2010-02-24T08:48:00.000-08:00

People Don’t Seek Solutions Unless There Are Problems!

Comments on the RCR Wireless Article FCC to address cellphone boosters, jammers

The Federal Communications Commission is considering implementing a law that would make cellphone boosters illegal unless they are deployed by a wireless operator (DCZ: Wireless operates hate signal boosters b/c they are not under their control) or with the consent of a wireless operator, a move that could impact thousands of end users already owning such devices. (DCZ: What problem are they trying to solve that the network operators have not dealt with for years?)

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking before the FCC addresses an ongoing controversy within the wireless industry and could impact devices like MagicJack (DCZ: this product is not a booster its VoIP. However, they have a product called FemtoJack under development) and other femtocell solutions, as well as local and state governments that want to be able to use cellphone jammers to prevent prisoners from unauthorized use of cellphones. (DCZ: Or schools who want their kids paying attention to the teacher) Depending on whose argument you believe, the eventual ruling could even have an impact on net neutrality rules. (DCZ: I don't see how this applies to Net Neutrality) One proponent of signal boosters and jammers said that making boosters illegal won’t address the products already in the market, nor will it stop the sale of signal boosters. (DCZ: There are a handful of big companies and thousands of people employed by them with hundreds of thousands of devices already on the market.)

Wireless industry trade association CTIA in 2007 filed a petition for declaratory ruling at the FCC, asking that it outlaw the sale and use of any device that can enhance or impair cellphone calls. (DCZ: Might have worked under the previous corrupt Bush Administration) The petition was a surprise to some third-party retailers, who called RCR Wireless News at the time and thought the story had to be wrong. Therein lies the crux of the problem: a cellphone booster can enhance coverage for a customer, but also has the potential to interfere with someone else’s signal (DCZ: How often and how can they prove this?). Yet, cellphone boosters have been marketed to carriers and end users alike as a way to improve the cellular signal in areas where coverage is less than satisfactory – and the reality remains that cellphone coverage in some locations is spotty. (DCZ: Carriers need to get their act together with Femtocells first before they decide to outlaw something like this. Signal boosters provide a lot of value in the car.)

The FCC’s definition of signal boosters is fairly broad as it includes amplifiers, repeaters, boosters, Distributed Antenna Systems and in-building radiation systems that enhance CMRS signals or Part 90 signals. CTIA is asking that the commission rule that companies must have an FCC license to operate a signal booster or have the consent from an FCC licensee (i.e., operator), and that the sale and marketing of devices to unauthorized parties (i.e., end users or commercial building owners) is illegal.

CTIA also says that wireless microphones, jammers and new products like the MagicJack femtocell device also are threats to the network. (DCZ: What happened to letting entrepreneurs create technology to help the industry progress?)

“Unlike wireless handsets, which are under the control of the wireless licensee’s base station, signal boosters cannot be controlled by wireless licensees. However, it is clear that the commission’s rules require carriers to control and govern the use of signal boosters and amplifiers. In fact, this control contemplated in the commission’s rules exists for very good reasons. Signal boosters, because they are not controlled by the base station, do not operate at the lowest possible power. Rather, these devices are intended to operate at much higher power, which raises the noise floor, harming spectrum efficiency and causing interference that leads to degraded or dropped calls unless the devices are properly installed and overseen by the carrier,” CTIA said in comments on the NPRM.

“To address the harm caused by unauthorized signal booster operation, the commission must affirm its existing requirements, which prohibit the sale or marketing of signal boosters to unauthorized users. Currently, many manufacturers and retailers market and sell these products to end users with the knowledge that these devices do not and cannot comply with the commission’s licensing and interference control obligations. Under FCC rules, the use of signal boosters is only permitted by licensees or parties authorized by licensees. However, illicit sale and operation of these devices will continue to proliferate – and will be impossible to effectively enforce – if the commission does not take prompt action to affirm these requirements.”

Not everyone agrees. Howard Melamed, CEO of CellAntenna, said a blanket “make them illegal” mandate doesn’t solve the problem. It will just force end users in need of a solution to buy products overseas. “People don’t go out seeking a solution unless there is a problem.”

Howard said some of his clients are hospitals that have needed coverage but not been able to get satisfactory coverage from the carrier. Instead of a blanket mandate, the FCC should force signal-booster manufacturers to tighten the design specifications. He’s also advocated that a registry be created where people can register their signal booster with the FCC so in the event the signal booster is affecting the network, the carrier can know who or what is causing the problem. Melamed also joked in an interview with RCR Wireless News that he is a “persona non grata” within the wireless carrier community.

Wilson Electronics in its filing with the FCC argued that mobile amplifiers should not be subject to the same rules as larger, traditional fixed power boosters. Wilson also said the mobile boosters, designed for personal use in a car, for example, are an example of net neutrality initiatives at the FCC that are designed to allow any device to attach to the network.

CTIA disagrees with that assessment, as well as comments filed by The DAS Forum that recommend a code of conduct be followed, rather than more regulation.

Both CTIA and Howard agree that poor-quality boosters can cause problems. But Howard argues that not allowing U.S. companies to sell boosters that meet FCC certification standards will only lead people and businesses to buy poorer quality boosters overseas. Signal boosters are sold throughout the rest of the world, he said; the controversy only is occurring in North America. (DCZ: Pointing the finger in the wrong direction)

Jammer issues

But cellphone boosters are only half of the FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking. The commission is also reviewing the sale of cellphone jammers, which block signals. Jammers can only be sold to federal authorities under the way the law reads today. Melamed argues that state and local authorities need to be able to use jammers, especially in a society when cellphones are used to remotely detonate bombs and are the No. 1 device illegally snuck into prisons. However, the FCC may not be the final authority on the use of cellphone jammers at the local and state levels. The Senate in October passed the Safe Prison Act, which allows the director of the federal bureau of prisons or the CEO of a state to seek FCC approval to deploy cellphone jammers in their jurisdictions to block wireless coverage in correctional facilities.

RV Cell Phone Signal Booster

2010-02-23T12:22:00.001-08:00

An RV (aka Recreational Vehicle) on the move can have significant cell phone coverage problems depending on the location its traveling in. A good way to minimize dropped calls and increase reception to cellular phones / broadband data cards is to install a Cellular Repeater Kit on the roof. A Cellular Repeater Kit will allow you to make calls when very little cell phone signal exists or one or two bars. This booster will also reduce dropped calls and increase internet speeds. We have heard of lots of success stories with Wilson Electronics Repeater kits customized for use in Motorhomes & RVs. Wilson Electronics is well regarded in the industry because of their high quality.

Cell Phone Boosters or Repeaters are very simple to setup and they do not require expert installation. A Repeater kit consists of 3 major components; an external antenna, an amplifier or booster and an internal antenna that gives cellular coverage inside the RV. Kits can range from $300 Single Pohne Booster for a single-phone style amp to $600 Multiple Phone Booster for a more powerful amp that can support multiple cell phones and/or broadband data cards.

few of these kits are listed below for a Single Cell phone and Multiple Cell Phones or Data Card:

My Carl Icahn Moment for AT&T & Verizon

2010-02-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

10 Year Stock Charts for AT&T & Verizon showing -50% Returns

Have you ever had a Carl Icahn moment while following a mismanaged company and say "I Can Do Better"? Carl Icahn is infamous for hostile shareholder takeovers of companies he believes where management is not creating shareholder value and I think an opportunity is slowing emerging right before our eyes. My "aha moment" came this fall when I first saw the Verizon ads touting how wonderful their cell 3G phone coverage map is compared to AT&T. AT&T stupidly responded by suing them for false advertising and lost. If I had a billion dollar checkbook some shareholder support we could do some serious industry damage and salvage what could be two dieing giant super powers.

It makes me nauseated to see billions of dollars wasted marketing "coverage maps lies" to consumers that no one actually believes. Both companies are guilty of ridiculous advertising campaigns like "There's a Map for That" and the old school management style is losing credibility quickly with the demands of educated customers. This is the same old school management that has insulated itself for years with huge layers of bureaucracy in order to keep their high paying jobs. Have you ever asked yourself why the United States lags way behind the entire world when it comes to wireless innovation while their parent companies have lost a combined $250 billion dollars in shareholder value the last 10 years?

AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) both have huge dividend yields of 6.5% per year have lost -50% of their market cap value in the last 10 years. It appears these cozy senior management teams are highly skilled experts at insulating themselves and keeping their high salary jobs. Insiders own less than 5% of the stock and every list director makes a salary of more than $1M. Just to make my point AT&T's Ralph de la Vega makes $1.5M per year stock options and Verizon's Lowell McAdam makes $1.7M + 10m of exercised stock options. Ivan Seidenberg made off with $17.5 million in 2009. Sounds pretty cozy to me when you can just pay off your Board of Directors and shareholders with huge dividends instead of investing adequately in your customers and infrastructure. Ivan What happened to CEO's like John Chambers who makes $1 salary and is compensated entirely on creating shareholder value. My perception as an early stage investor for the last 10 years and as an industry outcast is that there is a lot of "cool-aid" becoming drunk by every employee in the telecom industry and its about to change. How? Its simple: Google is developing disruptive technology and advertising business models that AT&T and Verizon can't compete with.

The United States is laughed at around the world for our lack of innovation and I blame this on the stagnation of innovation caused by the two largest bureaucratic giants AT&T (based in Atlanta) and Verizon (based in Dallas). These two cities are not exactly technology hubs throughout the world and each company has 80,000+ employees each. It makes me sick to see that the two largest companies who own 66% of the entire US market or 160M+ wireless customers have done virtually nothing to innovate. Even with AT&T's brilliant move of getting an iPhone exclusive contract and their stock is still flat and can't manage to go up.

Here is what I would do if I had the backing of a private equity group and the "balls" of Carl Icahn. I would fire the CEO's of each company and the teams responsible for marketing. I would then invest heavily in femtocell and location based advertising technology (mini cell phone towers for the home or office). At $100 per unit cost I would give femtocells to half of my customers who had coverage problems and that is about half 40M. It will cost your roughly $4B and the payback would likely be within one year if advertising was sold in conjunction with it. At the same time I would buy an advertising company who had location based adverting to help subsidize the cost of the devices.

I am a stock market technician and do not like what I see on these long term monthly charts as each stock nears the bottom again. Perhaps their needs to be a management shake up in both companies as companies like Google Voice, Clearwire, Comcast, MetroPCS, Tracfone and Skype start nipping at their heals with disruptive innovation. I am calling it right here and now that if the stock falls below the 2002 / 2003 lows of $26 on VZ and $19 on T that there will be a shareholder revolt and soon after a management shakeup. Out of full disclosure I am not short or long the stock.

Verizon Has 5X More Lies Than AT&T

2010-02-22T10:06:00.000-08:00

Verizon Dead Zones Map Showing Where They Lie

In the fall of 2009 AT&T sued Verizon over its "There's a Map for That" ads and I think rightfully so. Ultimately, AT&T lost the case in court but I think because they lacked the insight how to turn the argument back on Verizon to highlight their false advertising. If I were AT&T I would have simply said "we all have coverage problems and here is exactly where Verizon is lying". Exhibit A above. The print and television commercials, try to articulate how much theoretical 3G coverage Verizon has from a 50,000 foot level on a red versus blue colored maps of the US. AT&T's complaint seemed to focus on the choice of the white or blank background in the two different 3G coverage maps, which implies "no coverage", but actually should mean something else in the AT&T map, as there still exist AT&T's 2.5G/EDGE coverage in theory.

At some point consumers will get fed up with Verizon's arrogant campaign and it will come back and bite them in the ass. There are lots of up-and-coming wireless operators who are hungry like Google, Comcast, Cox, T-Mobile, Sprint that are looking to take advantage of the fact that Verizon can't get seamless coverage into 50% of homes in the US. My prediction is that karma will get the better of them soon. "Jump the Shark" is probably the best way to describe their fate. We think honesty, integrity and transparency with quality coverage will win wireless customers over in the next decade.

Verizon Femtocell Sells For $249

2010-02-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

Check for Availability in Your Area

After all of the "Can You Hear Me Now Commercials" and "AT&T Coverage Map Bashing" Verizon Wireless still has incredible amounts of Dead Zones to fill in. You would never know from their misleading commercials but less than 50% of US homes have seamless wireless coverage and could use a femtocell to improve home coverage. However, in order to improve Verizon's coverage in your home you the customer must pay for your own personal mini cell phone tower at at cost of $249.

Sprint was one of the first carriers to launch femtocells with Sprint Airave (awful close to the trademark name Airwave) in 2008, but Verizon was not far behind in bringing femotcells to the masses with a Verzion Wireless Network Extender in January of 2009. AT&T 3G Microcell is also in trials in North Carolina, Georgia and San Diego and is expected to launch nationwide sometime in the Spring of 2010. T-Mobile is also in trials with Ubiquisys and Huawei and is expected to launch something this year as well. The black box will send out a CDMA signal covering up to 5,000 square feet of the home or office with support for up to three simultaneous calls. Like Sprint's solution, the Wireless Network Extender uses GPS to verify that you're not creating little tiny Verizon networks outside the U.S. and plugs into the internet source of your choice via Ethernet. It'll be available in Verizon stores and online for $249.99. Pretty expensive if you ask me and not clear if an additional monthly subscription or long term contract goes with it. We have only read reviews online that are quite negative about the price but would like to hear from consumer who actually use the product in our comments section below.

Our Verizon Wireless consumer generated coverage map