Why cell phone service here sucks

Gary Krakow Columnist • E-mail

A recent trip to Europe startled me in a number of ways. First, discounting the fact that the dollar isn’t worth all that much these days, there are a number of factors I encountered which prove that Americans should count their blessings -– and one glaring example where we are really far behind.

For instance, I rented a car while traveling. It would be considered a small car by Americans but a good-sized car for Europeans.  It was very roomy inside and it had a 4-cylinder diesel engine which averaged more than 30 miles per gallon at legal highway speeds up to 81 miles (130 km) per hour.  That’s a good thing because diesel fuel averaged a little more than $5 per gallon. I noticed that gasoline prices are 20 per cent higher than diesel. Coming home to skyrocketing U.S. gas prices are a little more tolerable after paying $60-$90 each time I filled up my compact rental car.

Plus, there were the highway tolls to factor in.  I traveled one stretch of super-highway for less than two hours. The toll was just over $30. We’re lucky. Driving a car over there is a very, very expensive proposition.

On the other hand, Europeans have it all over us when it comes to cell phones. They pay about the same price each month for their wireless services, but that’s where the similarities end. Their phones do more and Europeans do more with them -– more messaging, more use of online services and, of course, making and receiving more phone calls.

There’s a good reason for the difference -- their service is way better than ours.  Through all my travels -- in major cities, on highways, on country roads and even “the middle of nowhere” -- my cell phones (I brought a few to test) always worked. They constantly received near perfect signals. My boss had a similar experience recently. Traveling through Wales -- in cities, towns and even on rural, one-lane roads -– he and his wife were able to make phone calls without dropouts, static or any problems at all.

The phones seemed to work everywhere.  I was able to hold conversations inside buildings -– in basements of department stores, in the back of restaurants, in the subways.  I was even able to browse the Web and tend to my email while traveling on subway trains. This was not a hit-or-miss proposition. I was able to do this every time I tried. No way that’s going to happen here in the United States.

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