Tower of power...

Have you ever wondered what a "cell tower" looks like, or where they are located? Well, we certainly don't recommend trying to figure this out while driving, talking on the phone, listening to your favorite pod cast, surfing the internet, and reprimanding junior in the back seat!

Here in the U.S., "where" mobile phone towers are located is a big deal. We even have a term for where we don't want them, NIMBY. Not In My Back Yard. But, where towers are located, and how carriers play together on those towers, speculatively, makes a big difference.

This just in from one of our fans:

"It just so happens that my company, just this week, decided to change the service carrier for my on-site phone. ( BCC - What do you suppose this cost the carrier in terms of lost revenue ? )

My immediate supervisor, who manages the projects that I oversee, usually needs to communicate with me several times during a business day. When he needs to reach me, his objective, is to convey time sensitive information that I need to have so that the projects that I drive move ahead according to schedule. And as you know, if schedules miss the mark, the company loses revenue.

Unfortunately, my office is smack dab in the middle of a dead spot. Some of us have nick named this area, 'The Cell Phone Bermuda Triangle'. Two munites after leaving my office, I somehow wander into an active zone and start receiving all of my missed calls and messages. Too late. The information opportunaties are now past and valueless.

So did changing carriers make a difference? Absolutely. I am now in 'Cell Hog Heaven'. Before finding your site, we conducted a survey of our own by asking the people around us that were experiencing acceptable service. The name that continually came up and appears to be the hot ticket in this area is" ( Redacted. Sorry, we're an impartial third party ).

A matter of security...

The first "manefesto" that appeared below the mashup map on the BCC alpha site was written by my developers from what they read in the strategic development brief. It was really quite good, and highlighted two perspectives that I hadn't thought of; one being competitive advantage, and the second safety.

Security and Safety are synonyms ( see Thesaurus.com ), but the point is that I think that as a culture we are becoming dependant on cell / mobile phones in a way that could be a bit dangerous, particularly if the underlying coverage that makes the devices work isn't six sigma reliable in high population density areas.

Cell phones haven't been around all that long, and depending on how old you are either has the telephone. But practices around innovation change quickly. Today, the average pre-teen has a cell phone. Why? Security, the "feeling" that the ability to stay connected and communicate a variety of details from if there is homework, to where they are, or are headed next makes us, and them ( despite their feelings of indestructability ) feel safe.

But, if you're a parent and your cell / mobile, or your kid's can't reliably connect to a network in a time of need that isn't safe!!

Out of bandwidth at the mall...

San Francisco has a relatively new, and beautiful "Westfield" mall on Market Street, and I was there grabbing a bite to eat after MacWorld, on Thursday evening last week.

While in the food court at the mall a week earlier I got a pretty good signal on my Black Berry 8700g, but I had to be in the part where the ceiling goes right to the roof, and that beautiful skylight about 200 feet in from where the entry to BART is.

But last week - ZIP ! I wandered around this whole area hitting re-dial, and got failure after failure. Then, in talking with someone that was also up for the MacWorld show, we speculated about the possible lack of bandwidth, due to maximum consumption by all the conference goers. 

While I didn't personally experience this, many conference goers were reported to complain that even the "Edge" network ( used to deliver email to PDA's ) was knocked out, so, perhaps the towers aren't tuned for the kind of consumption peaks that come with heavy conference traffic. 

But, isn't San Francisco a conference destination town?

Update - I happened to have dinner last night with one of the top cellular technologists in the country, and perhaps the world. In our conversation the phenomena of "network breathing" came up. Apparently, this is a BIG PROBLEM for non-CDMA based carriers, as the network actually expands and contracts ( hence the use of "breath" ) in a way that isn't exactly consistent with demand. So, in effect, a carrier can actually increase coverage in a particular geographic area, and then NOT completely serve demand influxes on the system as population and use in that area increases.

Why we set up the mashup and blog...

Like most things, it started with an idea, and in this case the idea included a vision of more flexibility from a cell phone. 

The salesperson ( actually a man ) was excited when I said I was looking at the Palm Treo, and the Black Berry for the email feature. He was a certified Treo carrying "specialist", and I was soon headed down the Treo path. However, nary once in all this did he mention that I might experience less than satisfactory call functionality on my new Treo gadget because of some technological goo, gah ( to me, it's all "magic" anyway ) explanation, but that is another story. 

Now let's fast forward to actually using the device as a phone, and here is where things started to get a little spotty ( pun intended ). You would think that driving down a major street, surrounded by houses, in a major metropolitan area ( not to mention the birthplace of many, life changing technological advancements ) that you could make / receive a call with some regularity and quality. But NOOOooo! Nope, not even close! So, I began to inquire about how this might be improved.

One day, after SEVERAL conversations with various people, departments and the related voicemail message maze, which seems to accompany many big company "customer service" strategies, I decided to pay my bill at the local office. In the process I thought I would inquire about my coverage issues, but while standing in line I was struck by the imagery, and related "promises" the company was making relative to my satisfaction and connection quality.

Finally, after several months of no change I decided it was time to move on ( the carriers call this "churn" ), and went to a different carriers local store. Not five minutes into the conversation this salesperson brought up a local map, and asked me to pinpoint where my lack of coverage issues were occurring. There it was, right smack in the middle of a major street, the one with houses all around, in a major metropolitan area was a BIG GAP where two full circles DID NOT overlap. The salesperson frowned, and explained that "their ability to provide quality coverage in this area would be questionable too".  There it was, the truth, and I was so impressed that I decided to forge ahead with a "test" of a new device and the new carriers service, I was happy!!

Now let's segue back to my original carrier, and here is where their service promise REALLY gets broken. I had sent a "final check" not once, not twice, but three ( 3) times, and had even talked to someone in the "corporate offices" that sounded competent enough, but strangely even she was NOT ABLE TO CLOSE MY ACCOUNT, so much for their 100% satisfaction guarantee!?! So, there I was trying to get rid of these people, and they were like a dog with a new bone, they just kept chewing on my time and patience, sending me threatening letters, etc., etc., so, I hired a lawyer!

Then the issue seemed to cleared up pretty quickly ( THANKS C.G. YOU ROCK !! ), and I even got a small refund check back, but I was so mad that I felt I only had two options:

     1) Try to tarnish the offenders reputation by slugging it out in internet chat rooms, there was already more than one site doing this, and the company was a least smart enough to purchase all the "XYZCarrierSUCKS" URL(s) you could think of...

     2) Build this website as a way for other consumers to hopefully avoid these problems, and build some true consumer data, which may someday help change the carriers ideas relative to the cost of churn vs. the cost of providing the GREAT SERVICE they advertise providing in the first place. We are also heartened by the fact that Joint Venture Silicon Valley has a committee focusing on cellular service improvement, and perhaps they might recognize these sites as a valuable tool in helping to achieve that goal...

So, that's the story. What's your story? Map your "Dead Spot"(s), and let us know!!