OnStar cracked up to be, in a crack-up like this?

by Fatfreek 22 Replies latest jw friends

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  Jourles

  Well it was odd as there were 4 people in the vehicle, 3 different cell providers between all of us and nobody had service but Onstar worked!

  That's another small advantage most people don't have these days when traveling. With OnStar, you are using a 3 watt transceiver with an external antenna. Whereas with your portable phone, it is limited to a maximum of .6 watts. Put that portable phone in a metal cage along with possibly having a metallic based window tint applied, and then drop yourself in a remote area, there's a good chance you won't call out on that little phone.
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  Jim_TX

  "Well it was odd as there were 4 people in the vehicle, 3 different cell providers between all of us and nobody had service but Onstar worked!"
  
  Jourles is correct. Plus - there is also another factor. You didn't say how long ago this incident happened... but the OnStar unit may have been one of the older Analog units.
  
  Analog cell phones seem to get out further than the digital ones. This was tested, and observed during the testing phase of the units that we were beta-testing. Have you ever noticed that the cell phone towers that they originally put up were spaced further apart? That is due - in part to the ability of the Analog signals to go further. When digital cell phones came out - they had to go back and erect more towers - spaced closer together. Digital signals do not travel as far, and are much more susceptible to drop-out. (Analog signals tend to 'fade' - where digital signals are like a light switch - on or off.)
  
  Not only that... other things come into play... the antenna. Your cell phone has a small antenna built-in to the handset. The angle of use - the fact that the person was most likely using the cell phone from inside the vehicle (which will shield part of the signal due to the metal in the roof and doors of the vehicle), etc.
  
  The OnStar antenna is hard-mounted on top of the vehicle - using a large groundplane (the metal top of the vehicle) - which gives the signal a much better VSWR match - and allows for greater signal to be transmitted - or received.
  
  You may have gotten a good signal if - you or one of your friends had climbed 30-feet up the nearest telephone pole.
  
  There is a lot of technology involved in these things.
  
  One other detail that hasn't been mentioned. The GPS portion of the equation. On the ground - when we use these GPS gadgets... we are only RECEIVING the signal from the satellites (usually 3 or more). We are NOT transmitting to the satellites. The signal that we are receiving is very small, too. This is why - on occassion - there may be only 1 or 2 satellites that we can get a good signal from - and it takes 3 or more to be able to trianglulate a location.
  
  Regards,
  
  Jim TX
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  Jourles

  Analog cell phones seem to get out further than the digital ones. This was tested, and observed during the testing phase of the units that we were beta-testing. Have you ever noticed that the cell phone towers that they originally put up were spaced further apart? That is due - in part to the ability of the Analog signals to go further. When digital cell phones came out - they had to go back and erect more towers - spaced closer together. Digital signals do not travel as far, and are much more susceptible to drop-out. (Analog signals tend to 'fade' - where digital signals are like a light switch - on or off.)

  Well.........

  It's not the technology that allows a cellular transmission to carry further, it is the frequency. The original cellular networks were and are still based on the 800-900MHz band. The lower the frequency, the farther a signal can travel and the better the penetration into buildings. When the FCC auctioned off the PCS frequencies in 1996 and you started to see a slew of new network providers breaking the "duopoly" that existed in markets back then, these new carriers used those PCS freqs which are in the 1800-1900MHz bands. These higher freqs required more cells to be built to penetrate into buildings. The higher the freq, the less penetration and distance. This is why more PCS cells are needed to cover a typical city compared to the 800MHz bands. Some carriers that exclusively use these PCS freqs are Sprint, T-Mobile, Cricket, MetroPCS, and a couple others. They don't own any cellular bands. The top two carriers that own the 800MHz spectrum are AT&T and Verizon(these two carriers also own PCS freqs as well). A few minor regional players also own this spectrum too, but they don't have a fairly nationwide footprint like the big two do.

  When you used to hear static on an analog call, the equivalent sound on a digital call would sound like chopped speech and warbling. The greater the static on an analog call, the less audio you would hear on a digital one.

  And one more thing - I know it sounds like the PCS bands are worthless compared to the cellular bands, but the higher the freq, the more bits-per-hertz you can push back and forth to a subscriber. This is one area where PCS spectrum can outshine cellular spectrum. It is much more efficient in terms of data throughput. A PCS carrier can also service many more subscribers using a smaller slice of spectrum compared to an 800MHz carrier.