276 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
276 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
Cellular Roaming: The New Deals
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Traveling with a cellular phones gets easier
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as carriers work together toward a nationwide
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network
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By Karen Kleiner
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How often would you take your cellular phone
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out of town with you . . . if you knew you
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could make and receive calls wherever you went?
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Cellular roaming technology is continually
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evolving toward this goal. Ultimately, we'll
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have a seamless communications network that is
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as extensive as it is simple to access.
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According to Kevin McKeard, director of
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intercarrier services at McCaw Cellular, the
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largest nonwireline carrier in the U.S., "The
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goal is to have the roamer able to use features
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as easily as in the home market."
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For cellular companies, making roaming easy
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for the customer is a difficult task. To
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accomplish this task requires new technology
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and increasingly complex agreements among more
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and more carriers. Yet, the results of the
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carriers' efforts appear promising.
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The FCC divided the United States into 306
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Metro Service Areas (MSAs), or urban markets,
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and 428 Rural Service Areas (RSAs). Today, all
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MSAs have regular service available. Of the 428
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rural markets, approximately 150 now have
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cellular service. By June 1992, cellular
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service should be available in all rural
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markets, enabling the cellular user to roam in
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any part of the country.
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The Federal Communications Commission
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licensed two carriers within each urban or
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rural market. There's an A carrier (the
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nonwireline carrier) and a B carrier (the
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wireline carrier), usually affiliated with the
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local telephone company. For example, in Los
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Angeles, the A carrier is L.A. Cellular, a
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company that deals exclusively in cellular
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communications, while the B carrier is PacTel
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Cellular, owned by Pacific Bell, the local
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landline giant. There are approximately four
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hundred such cellular companies that hold
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licenses to the numerous markets throughout the
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country.
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You must choose between the A or B carrier
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when you sign up for service in your home
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market. However, when you're roaming, you can
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alternate as you like between the A and B
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providers in the host service area. Cellular
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phones have an A/B switch, which allows you to
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choose between the two. You may want to switch
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for a variety of reasons. For instance, the
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alternate carrier may have lower rates, or it
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may provide a wider coverage area in the city
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you're traveling through. Also, your carrier
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(the A carrier) may not have a roaming
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agreement on the A band in the market you're
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traveling in, or may have an agreement with the
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B carrier in that market.
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When you become a cellular customer, your
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carrier will give you roaming capability as a
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standard feature. You must pay for all airtime
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(as with local cellular use), whether you're
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making or receiving a call. Rates vary from
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approximately 50 cents to $1.00 per minute. If
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you're calling long distance, additional
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charges are paid either by you or the person
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you're speaking with. Most cellular companies
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also charge a roaming rate of $2.00 to $3.00
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per day. A few companies, like MetroPhone in
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Philadelphia, charge no extra daily roaming fee
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to their subscribers.
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The procedure for placing an outgoing call
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varies, depending upon which carrier you're
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signed up with, which market you're roaming in
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and the agreements your cellular company has
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made within that market. Every cellular carrier
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provides specific information on dialing
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procedures in its roamer guide, which you can
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obtain by calling an information number. In a
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host city, you can call the carrier directly
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and inquire about roaming procedures.
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A good additional resource for keeping on top
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of the market boundaries is The Cellular
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Telephone Directory, published by
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Communications Publishing [(800) 366-6731] This
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reference guide contains maps of all coverage
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areas. It also includes instructions for
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sending and receiving calls in all cities, as
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well as an 800 number for each carrier.
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Placing Calls as a Roamer
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When you're away from your home area and able
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to roam, a roam indicator LCD or verbal display
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will light up on your phone. Usually, you'll be
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able to roam automatically, dialing out without
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any prior arrangements with the host carrier.
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Many carriers offer special roaming features
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that truly benefit the customer. For example,
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"Proactive Roaming," offered by BellSouth
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Mobility, takes the initiative and calls you
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when you enter a new market. The service
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welcomes you to the city and gives general
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roaming information. "The call is free to the
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customer," says Joanne Blout, director of
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strategic market planning for BellSouth, "and
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we give the customer the option of not being
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called again when he or she returns to that
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particular market."
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Dialing "*711" in most markets will connect
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you with a roaming information line. The
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information line generally provides a tutorial
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on roaming and in some cases uses interactive
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voice response.
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Receiving Calls As A Roamer
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As a rule, if you let callers know when and
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where you'll be, they can reach you by dialing
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the roamer port access number in the city
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you're in, followed by your ten-digit cellular
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phone number. To expedite the process, you can
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leave a message on your outgoing voice mail
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informing callers where you'll be and the
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roamer port access number to reach you. If the
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caller chooses to reach you on your mobile
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phone, he or she pays the long distance phone
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charge and you pay for the cellular air time.
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Several services exist that make reaching a
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roamer easier. One such service, called "Follow
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Me Roaming" (FMR), provided by GTE
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Telecommunications, is available primarily
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through B carriers. Another, Appex
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Corporation's "Roaming American"--sometimes
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called "Nationlink"--is available primarily
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through A carriers.
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FMR can be accessed in over 300 cities
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nationwide. You can tell if the city you're
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roaming in offers it by looking in your roamer
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guidebook. When you're ready to activate the
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service, you simply dial "*18" and press SEND.
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You'll hear a confirming beep tone or message.
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Then press END. Within fifteen to thirty
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minutes, callers can reach you simply by
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dialing your mobile number, without even
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knowing where you are.
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Some slight disadvantages to Follow Me
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Roaming should be pointed out. For instance,
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when a caller uses FMR to reach you, your
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account is charged for both cellular airtime
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and the long distance tolls from the caller's
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city to the city you're roaming in. Also, when
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FMR is activated, your voice-mail cannot be
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used. This means if you're away from the car,
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on the phone, or your phone is turned off, your
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calls will not be answered.
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If you leave a market or wish to deactivate
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the service while there, you simply dial "*19."
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At midnight every night, FMR automatically
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deactivates, so if you want to continue the
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service, you need to reactivate it the next
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morning. When you travel to a new market, FMR
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must be reprogrammed in order for calls to
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reach you.
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Similar to FMR, Nationlink allows a caller to
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reach the roamer simply by dialing that
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particular phone number. The roamer pays both
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airtime and long distance charges. Nationlink
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also provides an option called "Caller
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Notification," which enables the roamer to save
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on long distance calls. In this mode, the
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caller hears a message stating, "The customer
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you are trying to reach is not in the service
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area." The message then gives the caller the
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roamer port number for the city the roamer is
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in. With this option, the caller, rather than
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the roamer, pays the long distance charges--if
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the caller chooses to proceed with the call.
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Call Delivery
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A still simpler method of receiving calls is
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currently available within limited geographic
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areas: call delivery. This service relies upon
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a network of computers belonging to different
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carriers in different markets to communicate
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and deliver calls.
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PacTel's call delivery service, "Auto-
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Access," requires just one activation to be
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kept on indefinitely while you travel,
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eliminating the hassle of programming it again
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the next day, as you would have to with most
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other roaming plans. PacTel currently offers
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this service to its subscribers in many cities
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in California, as well as in Reno, Nevada. It
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plans to expand the service to other cities,
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including Las Vegas. Other carriers have
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similar networks in Florida, the Great Lakes
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region, the Northeast, the Pacific Northwest
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and in Canada.
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McCaw Cellular currently provides a call
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delivery service in both the Pacific Northwest
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and Florida. Their "Cellular One" network
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provides service along all major interstate
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corridors in Washington, Oregon and British
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Columbia. By October of this year, it plans to
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introduce a "seamless network" in which
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computers from those regions, as well as
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California and the Northeast, will be linked.
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By December, McCaw will add Texas and
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Minnesota. Call delivery will be offered
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everywhere in the system.
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Bob Ratliffe, vice president of
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communications for McCaw Cellular, says that
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"when McCaw finishes its national network, all
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home market features will be available for
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roamers." For example, voice mail that is
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inoperative when using Follow Me Roaming will
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be available with call delivery when the
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network is fully operational.
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Nationwide Cellular Switchboard
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The overall goal of the industry, according
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to Norman Black, director of public affairs and
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communications for the Cellular
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Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA),
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is to provide nationwide automatic call
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delivery. He believes that if the technology
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progresses on schedule and Judge Green (the
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magistrate in charge of the AT&T breakup)
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issues a waiver, the entire industry will have
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call delivery in place by the first quarter of
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1992. This means that all the computers
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throughout the country will be able to
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communicate with each other. All calls will
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find the correct customers, no matter where
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they are, and without them having to do
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anything other than pick up their phones!
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A national network will have other benefits,
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as well. Presently, roamers sometimes lose a
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call while moving to a different market. "Call
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handoff," available in some regions, prevents
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this from occurring. The computer passes the
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call from one system to the next without the
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roamer hearing any clue of the switch. As
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different types of carrier computers become
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compatible with each other, call handoff will
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be easier to achieve on a national basis. Any
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custom features that subscribers have in their
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home market will be transferred and accessible
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in the market in which they're roaming.
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With the arrival of a national network, the
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industry may also find innovative solutions to
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the problem of cellular fraud, which resulted
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in $100 million in losses last year alone. For
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one thing, call validation will become that
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much simpler for the roamer and more accurate,
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helping to insure calls are not illegally
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charged to a user's number. Likewise, computers
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in the market that the roamer enters will be
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able to identify customers and know whether
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their credit is good even before they place
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their first call.
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In the future, cellular phone numbers will
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truly be identified with individual
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subscribers, regardless of their location. This
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will be a major step toward what many
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visionaries see as a new communications age: An
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era where we will have a go-anywhere personal
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communications device with us at all times.
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This pocket-sized unit will retain all the
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features and simplicity we're used to from our
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present home landline phones . . . and more.
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