Rise of the cell phone

[Hawkmoon]

I was in Big Bend National Park for a few days last month. In much of the park, cell coverage was nonexistent. The lodge DID have WiFi you could use for talk and text. I found out my lady friend's IPhone could pick it up about 75 yards further away than my Samsung phone would.

About 30 years ago I dropped AT&T as my cell carrier because AT&T didn't give me any signal at my house, or in several areas around the town where I live. Verizon did. It was only a very few years ago (just before the pandemic) when I had to make weekly visits to two project sites in the northeast corner of my home state. There are no cities in that corner; it's referred to as the "quiet corner." There's also very sparse cellular coverage. I had no signal at all at one site, and at the other site I could get one or two bars in a stepped out of the field office and walked about 20 yards south. The guys with AT&T didn't have it any better on either site.

Verizon coverage map: https://www.verizon.com/coverage-map/

AT&T coverage map: https://www.att.com/maps/wireless-coverage.html

[JTHunter]

Most people I see having conversations over Bluetooth earbuds are white. Now those having the loudest and lively animated ones are usually black.

When I see a PoC on their phones, they are frequently holding it flat in front of their face and talking (usually too loudly) with NO buds so we are hearing BOTH sides of the conversation.