Yet
again, a significant wireless network outage has caught users unaware. See https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/business/att-outage.html;
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/22/tech/att-cell-service-outage/index.html.
There’s an inverse relationship between one’s growing reliance on wireless
networks and their reduced reliability compared to less elegant wireline
technologies the carriers want to abandon.
Our
near exclusive reliance on wireless cellphone service increases the risk of both
carrier responsible outages and a subscriber self-induced service disruptions. These outcomes are an inconvenient truth:
centrally managed, software driven networks regularly fail. When they do so, emergency 911 service also
fails. On the consumer side, cellphone
batteries typically need daily recharging.
If the electrical grid has an outage, cellphone batteries cannot get recharged. Even standalone battery charging units also
need recharging as they lose power over time.
Once
upon a time, telephone companies of the world championed “toll grade” sound
quality, redundant, “self-healing” networks, and high quality of service. They generated their own power with 99.9999+
percent reliability. On the other hand,
they did have financial incentives to “gold plate” networks, because doing so supported
higher rates, more revenues, and larger profit margins. Now, the incentives work the other way.
Scrimping on maintenance enhances profits and market concentration makes it
possible to avoid any major subscriber churn to another carrier perceived as
offering more reliable service.
Today,
some inconvenienced AT&T Wireless subscribers may get ticked off, but they
have no recourse at the FCC, the court of public opinion, and the
marketplace. The FCC has no perceived
upside in imposing quality of service minimum standards, outage reporting,
refunds for service disruptions, truth in billing disclosures, etc. Such
consumer protections would make the wireless carriers howl about overreach given
how robustly competitive and self-regulating the wireless market operates. The court of public opinion already loathes
the wireless carriers, but having a oligopoly of three national carriers means
they do not suffer when outages occur, providing poor customer care, and engaging
in “consciously parallel” conduct such as collusion and price fixing.
Does
anyone truly believe a market share of 95% shared by three carriers forces
sleepless afternoons competing and innovating?
That “free” video streaming service you get with a wireless subscription
and the not free “on us” carrier handset has less value when you cannot use
them.
Carriers
to customers: “Get a grip and deal with it. We will restore service as soon as
we can.”
