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Cellular forums Home > Archive > Cingular cell phone service > June 2006 > NEWS: Cell phone reception reaches to the high seas
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NEWS: Cell phone reception reaches to the high seas
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| John Navas 2006-06-14, 11:48 pm |
| <http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld...ia/14814546.htm>
Escaping work and real life just got more difficult with cruise lines
offering service for $2.49 a minute
...
Not any longer. For good or bad, cell phone reception is coming to
the high seas thanks to a combination of new wireless radio and
satellite technologies. About 30 ships already have the cell phone
access, while an additional 20 will have it by year end.
...
The ships use technology from Wireless Maritime Services, a joint
venture of cell phone service provider Cingular Wireless and Maritime
Telecommunications Network. For each cruise ship, the provider
deploys about 60 antennas throughout the ship that can provide the
access for cell phones. Those antennas transmit the calls to the
ship's satellite transmitter, which then transfers the calls into the
cellular network.
Manuel says that he got a query from a ship's captain about whether
cell phones could have worked on the ocean in 2002. The ships were
already using satellite connections to provide Web access for
on-board Internet cafes and expensive ship-to-shore calls that cost
about $15.99 a minute.
Early technologies didn't have good antenna reach, because a ship's
steel bulkheads could interfere with the radio signals, said Rob
Marjerison, general manager of Wireless Maritime Services. Each ship
costs about $300,000 to outfit, so the technology is impractical for
the smallest vessels, Marjerison said.
The phone calls cost $2.49 a minute, which is the cost of roaming in
international territory. The cruise lines don't charge extra for the
calls, but they do get a cut of the revenue from the cell phone
companies.
...
Based on the volume of calls on cruise ships so far, the technology
is a big hit, Manuel said.
[MORE]
--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ Cingu...less_FA
Q>
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