I'm sure most of us don't think about how we've transitioned from analog to digital cell phone technology in the past 10 years, but cell phone service providers have slowly adding in digital service, creating more bandwidth for more calls, more data transfer, streaming video...you know the rest. Even if the service levels are a joke compared to what people in Europe and the Far East have come to expect, the equipment is now mostly in place...and that means companies like Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint/Nextel and Cingular want to ditch their old analog equipment, a system known as Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS).

AMPS is venerable: it was the first cell phone technology in the United States, dating back to an FCC program in the early 1980s. It was the bee's knees at the time, but with digital technology has turned into a money drain and according to this article in Consumer Affairs, will be effectively removed from cell networks in February 2008 when an FCC sunset period on AMPS ends.

There are three problems with the end of AMPS that various manufacturers still need to deal with:

• Wavelength Issues: Because digital cell technology uses shorter broadcast wavelengths, it has a shorter range. Right now, AMPS covers areas of the country where digital doesn't reach (the Rockies, Appalachia, etc.) and cell phone providers will need to find a solution to make sure rural customers aren't left without service.


• Hearing Aid Interference: Digital cell phones interfere with hearing aids. Fortunately, the American National Standards Institute has developed something called an M rating for both cell phones and hearing aids that measures interference. As long as the combined M rating of the two devices is 6 or more, there should be no interference problems.


• Alarm Company Transmissions: Most alarm companies use AMPS to communicate between the alarm system and emergency servcies and even though the FCC announced the "AMPS sunset" in 2002, many alarm companies say they won't be ready for the 2008 cutoff.


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Consumeraffairs.com has more information about AMPS and the transition from analog to digital services.