Morning Lineup – January 17

Wireless telephony sprang back into the news again on Friday when both Verizon Wireless and AT&T announced some pretty hefty price drops in monthly calling plan prices. Not only is competition fierce, but industrial espionage is apparently alive and well in the cellphone industry because the both “just happened to” announce their price cuts on the same day.

The price cuts apply to their unlimited calling plans and are a hefty 30% drop from the current rates. Beginning tomorrow – Monday – the rate for unlimited talk will drop from $100 a month to $70, and in Verizon’s case, unlimited talk and texting comes down to $100 from $120. Personally, I don’t understand why people feel that texting privileges are worth and extra $20 a month, but apparently enough of them do, so the extra charge is still tacked on. I believe that before too long, the texting fees will be wrapped into the basic calling plans.

But getting back to this new pricing, it is obvious that they are going all-out in competing for the smartphone customer base. And that makes sense because the universe of data exchange is moving rapidly in that direction. While these plans include unlimited internet access, Verizon is still going to charge an extra $10 mo. for the ability to download multimedia such as videos. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that one melt away within six months, too. So, if you haven’t already, start deciding on which is your favorite now – iPhone or Droid – and watch for more price cuts. They’ll keep coming down until everybody has signed up. The price-cutting will take another plunge when Google’s Nexus One starts making a dent in their sales.

All of this headlong move to advanced wireless communications has revived another digital feature that has been dormant lately. That is the concept of a single phone number for all of your phones and devices that you can take with you wherever you live or travel through. The ability to do this exists now, and it can be easily implemented. But…… There is often a “but.” This number portability is strongly opposed by the telephone companies, especially the traditional land-line services. You see, they control the numbers now with the legality of “owning” the numbers that they issue. Number portability removes one more facet of service that keeps customers from drifting to competing companies.

But once this concept is finally adapted, not only will you be able to connect all of your phones to a sole number, making it easier to receive calls, but you can use that same number for all of you internet log-ins, such as your Facebook account or your Yahoo! email log-in number. Just think, no more lists of 40 passwords to keep track of…..just that one number that belongs to you and you only, world-wide. If you’re interested in reading more about this technology that is already to go, read THIS ARTICLE that begins with an interesting history of the “phone number” and then goes on to explain how we are able to dial anywhere in the world now and how we will be incorporating our personal phone number into all of our log-ins.

Catch up on that while we’re waiting for the big Sunday breakfast. Right now, though, let’s get this equipment checked out. I’ll check with cook and get more coffee started. See you back in the day room.

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