On Tue, 6 Feb 2007 12:25:00 -0500, "Don Udel \(ETC\)"
<donudel@ellijay.com> wrote in <eqadle05nk@enews5.newsguy.com>:

>
>"John Navas" <spamfilter1@navasgroup.com> wrote in message
>news:f67hs2llmsqlt5ndvqat1m07p2r4l5g65t@4ax.com.. .
>> On Mon, 05 Feb 2007 21:54:49 -0600, Karl <karlkrandall@sbcglobal.net>
>> wrote in <dvufs21g8elrcflcdmmaoncml1g1kjntj5@4ax.com>:
>>
>>>On Mon, 05 Feb 2007 06:13:49 GMT, John Navas
>>><spamfilter1@navasgroup.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>AMPS will soon be going away,
>>>
>>>Name the date.
>>
>> February 18, 2008
>>
>>>You been scaring folks with that for years, and its
>>>still far off.
>>
>> It's only one year from now.
>
>As I understand it, the FCC decided to no longer *require* A and B carriers
>to support AMPS service as of 2/18/08. That's hardly the same as it "going
>away". The FCC did not mandate a cutoff of AMPS on 2/18/08.

While no cutoff is mandated, carriers are eager to do away with AMPS in
order to migrate valuable spectrum to profitable digital. As noted
below, most industry analysts and major AMPS users expect AMPS to be
turned off very quickly.

>If there are areas that would go uncovered witthout AMPS and a carrier could
>make money with it, why would it go away? I would suspect that AMPS could
>well go away in areas already well covered by digital services. In rural
>areas, where it is the only infrastructure in place, why turn it off and be
>left with no footprint? That just does not make sense.

It does actually make sense:
* Relatively little AMPS revenue
* Cost of maintaining inefficient AMPS service
* Greatly increased capacity with digital
* Opportunity for much greater digital revenue

See "The Future of AMPS" at
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Mobile_Phone_System#The_Future_of_AMPS>:

In Canada, where rural is a bigger issue than the USA:

Rogers Wireless is in the process of dismantling their AMPS (along
with IS-136) network, with full shutdown expected in May 2007.

OnStar is a major user of AMPS in the USA:

... Cellular companies who own an A or B license (such as Verizon and
Alltel) must still provide analog service until February 18, 2008.
After that point, however, most cellular companies will be eager to
shut down AMPS and use the remaining channels for digital services.
OnStar is transitioning to digital service with the help of data
transport technology developed by Airbiquity, but warns customers who
cannot be upgraded to digital that their service will permanently
expire on January 1, 2008.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>