Tinman wrote:

> In fact it's just the opposite: most of AMPS will be shut down with only a
> handful of rural operators--statistically insignificant--that cling to AMPS.

What you don't understand is that those handful of rural operators,
while insignificant as far as their own subscriber numbers, are
providing roaming coverage to tens of millions of Verizon and Sprint
subscribers (and getting revenue from doing so). I don't care that a
company like Golden State Cellular has only a few hundred thousand
subscribers, they still provide CDMA and AMPS coverage to me in many
areas where there is no other coverage at all. GSM users are SOL in
those areas.