On Apr 3, 10:45*am, "Adam H. Kerman" wrote:

My AMPS phones all had menu options controlling whether to prefer A or B
towers, allow roaming to the other one, etc. *You couldn't port your
number from one carrier to another at the time, but at least you could
keep your (expensive) phone when switching.

Yeah, I recall. Ever have a Digital AMPS handset? hancock will have to
answer for himself if he meant that the subscriber could retain his handset
when switching carriers, or his telephone number.

In the earliest days of AMPS many (most?) users had the phone
installed in their automobile because the early units were still
fairly large. "Portable" phones consisted of a "bag phone". Truly
modest-sized 'handsets' (like the Motorola flip phone) didn't become
widespread until later.

Accordingly, switching carriers would mean keeping the handset, though
getting a new number. But I don't think very many people bothered to
switch carriers.

Anyway, as technology evolved, the old policies went out the window.
Indeed, in one piece of old literature I saw, the billing time meter
ran from send to end on _all_ calls, even those where the line was
busy or there was no answer. There was also an "activation" fee. As
mentioned, by the time I got my phone, the handset (an older simpler
model) was free, there was no activation charge, and only answered
calls were charged.


[snip]


When they switched from analog to digital, some people said remote
areas would have problems. People in those areas retained their older
bag or car phones because they were higher powered and needed to work
in remote areas. How that was handled by digital I don't know.

It does seem that anywhere there is a tower of any kind (high tension
line, water tower, building, etc) there are cell phone antenna
attached to it. Some old water towers are covered with antenna, kind
of freaky looking.