From: gl4317@yahoo.com   
      
   In article ,   
    Robert Heller  wrote:   
      
   > system is in fact "shockingly backwards and exploitative". I live in Western   
   > Mass. There is NO broadband Internet. The 'shockingly backwards' phone system   
   > (analog copper based, kept barely functional though *minimal* maintenance   
   > efforts by Verizon), barely supports 33.6K modem (I have a 56K V90 modem, but   
   > I have to throttle it back to about 33K because it cannot maintain a reliable   
   > connection at higher speeds).  And yes, Verizon and AT&T do charge upwards of   
   > $90/month for cell phones where they work -- cell coverage in Western Mass is   
   > often spotty, mostly due to the rural, hilly, and forested terrain.   
      
      
   I have a Consumer Cellular plan that costs $22.38 a month including   
   taxes & etc., and includes 1,000 text messages / month and 100 meg of   
   data.   
      
   Last weekend I was in a valley near Mt. St. Helens, pretty well   
   surrounded by stuff ranging from 3,000 ft to 9,000 ft, and received a   
   text message.  I was very surprised as there is supposed to be no cell   
   phone service anywhere near there, and the phone showed that I didn't   
   have any sort of signal.   
      
   I'm guessing that there is some sort of data-only link going on up there   
   that links all the volcano monitoring instruments.   
      
   One nice thing about text messages (and I almost never do text - it just   
   comes with the data plan that I actually want) is that as a data stream,   
   if something isn't received right it can be transmitted again.  This   
   would be very difficult with a phone call, but text data can arrive very   
   slowly, and I imagine it probably did in this case, considering I wasn't   
   supposed to have reception of any sort.   
      
   Somewhat more on topic: if you do get a cell phone plan with text, some   
   of the transit agencies have twitter feeds that let you find out about   
   service disruptions before you arrive at the bus stop / train platform.   
      
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