Re: Colnago C60

On Thu, 9 Jan 2025 18:22:09 +0100, Rolf Mantel <news@hartig-mantel.de>
wrote:

Am 07.01.2025 um 22:46 schrieb Jeff Liebermann:

On Thu, 22 Aug 2024 20:02:16 -0400, Frank Krygowski
<frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
 

To tell another anti-AT&T tale: The first time we went to continental
Europe, we (or rather, my wife) had a flip phone through AT&T. I called
AT&T support to ask whether the phone would function in Europe. The tech
support guy I got told me it absolutely would, no problem at all.
>
Of course when we landed, we found the phone was useful only as a
paperweight. IIRC, the phone wasn't even capable of dealing with the
frequencies that Europe used. And when I took it into a cell phone store
of some kind, asking if something could be done to make it work, the
tech guy there said "We've never even seen a phone like this one!"
>
Ah well. We got by for six weeks anyway, mostly by using internet cafes.

 
Approximately what year was your visit to Europe?  Which countries?
Any clue as to the maker and model number of the flip phone?
 
Europe switched from 2G and 3G to 4G (and now some 5G) protocols,
which also included some added bands.  Shutting down the 2G and 3G
networks is still work in progress.
 
"A Complete Overview of 2G & 3G Sunsets"
<https://1ot.com/resources/blog/a-complete-overview-of-2g-3g-sunsets>
 
My guess(tm) is your flip phone was 2G or possibly 3G which is why it
didn't work on a 4G network.

>
Many European country regulators decided to postpone 2G shutdown
indefinitely due to the large number IoT entities using it (I find it
interesting to see from your link that France went the opposite way of
shutting down 2G and keeping alive 3G).
However, by disallowing new installations, operators with no active
customers can sunset their IoT network earlier.

Thanks.  I have no idea what happened in Europe.  However, I did have
some experience with the Verizon 2G shutdown in the USA.  There were
multiple threats that Verizon would turn off 2G at some specific date,
followed by "nothing happened" and 2G continued.  Eventually, the
major bands were temporarily split in two for each protocol.  (You
don't want to mix protocols on the same frequencies).  Eventually, 2G
devices (most low speed data) were shoved into a small part of the
bands and left to rot. 

As additional bands were added, the number of busy signals and
incoming calls going to voice mail were greatly reduced.  The problem
was that the existing 3G phones didn't work on the new frequencies.
What saved the industry was SDR (software defined radio) and digitally
tuned RF filters.  These handsets would work on almost any frequency
band and eventually became known as "world phones".

While vendors were trying to move users to 3G phones and frequencies,
4G arrived with more frequencies and additional incompatible
protocols.  Once again, the process of convincing customers to upgrade
to the latest protocols and frequencies became a problem.

As soon as LTE cell sites were widespread and functional, 5G arrived
with exactly the same problem (new protocols and frequencies).  Add to
the problems were 5G exclusive features that nobody seems to want or
at least want to pay for, such as watching HD videos on a cell phone.
There were also performance and coverage problems on the microwave
bands.

I'm not going to try and cover the entire history of the cell phone.
What I've mentioned are a few of the major problems involved in
upgrading phones and technologies. 


--
Jeff Liebermann                 jeffl@cruzio.com
PO Box 272      http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann      AE6KS    831-336-2558