-SH> middle of a call and you still  end up paying. In addition,
-SH> since the
-SH> technology is so god damned crappy, and in adition since
-SH> the handhelds have
-SH> such low power, they cannoot ever get a clear signal, and
-SH> thusly must go into
-SH> roam mode if you want to make a local call. And of course
-SH> that makes the
-SH> customer pay an extra 75 cents per minute. (and I'm sure
-SH> the cell companies
-SH> have no intention of ever fixing the problem because hey,
-SH> are they going to
-SH> complain about getting an extra 75 cents for roaming
-SH> calls?)
If you don't have enough power to hit the home system, how are you going to 
get into a neighboring system?
Handheld phones are as convenient as can be, but they're a tradeoff, I'd 
never have one as my only phone but I like having one to use occasionally 
when I'm outside the car. Anyone using one inside the car deserves any noise 
and dropped calls that they get.
-SH> Then we have the issue of privacy and pure deception by the
-SH> CTIA who misleads
-SH> congress with blatent lies as well as misleads the public
-SH> into a fals e sense
-SH> of security while scapegoating the estinmated 30 million
-SH> radio hobbyists in
-SH> this country and taking away their right to listen to
-SH> ceartain frequencies (a
-SH> la the ECPA).. The CTIA promised digital technology 10
-SH> years ago when they
-SH> went before congress, and that promise has still went
-SH> unfulffilled because
-SH> theyd rather screw everyone else in the country and take
-SH> away scanners rights
-SH> to listen rather than installing some equipment cause you
-SH> know... that would
-SH> cost them money, god forbid that..
You hit that one right on the money, even simple speech inversion would stop 
the casual listener.
I don't understand how the cellular carriers could get away with that, it's 
similar to a bank that leaves your money out on the sidewalk for anyone to 
take or a company that does not protect any information that it has on you.
Oh well, digital is hear, it will catch on, and analog will be a thing of the 
past, (in 10 or 20 years) so it won't matter anymore.
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