In one simple moment last week, when all my usual technology aids disappeared, the need for the United States to have a 3G spectrum policy that uses the same frequencies as the rest of the world crystallized.
It was just a minute of panic, really. I had checked into my quaint hotel in Antibes, France, and wanted to check on my kids back in the States. I tried to call out, quickly realizing I had forgotten to look up the access code for international calling from France before I left. No problem. I would find it on the Internet.
However, the hotel’s telephone wall plug was not compatible with my computer. I looked for a phone book. No such luck. I tried to dial out directly. I got a busy signal. I tried dialing the long-distance operator to place a collect call on my home calling card. He did not speak English. I don’t speak French.
I panicked. I was in a strange country, with no e-mail or phone connectivity. I wanted to know my children were OK. I should have rented a mobile.
A moment later, I tried to direct dial again, and it worked. The kids were fine, of course.
Later, I reflected on how much I depend on technology and the wonders of 3G, which will bring universal connectivity. Ericsson and Qualcomm understood that significance when they brokered a deal that would ensure interoperability between wideband CDMA and cdma2000 standards. Except, I realized, I would have to buy a dual-standard phone.
At least 3G devices will all operate on the same frequency, I assured myself. Except in the United States, where the government is “studying” numerous bands, none of which come without problems.
Does President Bush understand the significance of phones that operate in the same frequency on different continents? Does he ever stay in quaint hotels with no Internet access? No, he stays in plush hotels with business centers. He has technology aides who take care of his technology needs.
Certainly the wireless industry will deliver this message to him, I thought. No one is better than Tom Wheeler at getting that point across. When the time is right, Wheeler will explain it all to Bush and his people.
Except Sprint and WorldCom occupy the 2.5 GHz band that the rest of the world plans to use for 3G. And Sprint and WorldCom have no intention of giving up their billion-dollar-spectrum.
And slowly, the same panic that I felt when I couldn’t connect in France returned…
I have heard several times at this show about how it is done in the world, and then how it is done in the United States.
Will that continue?
