Curious why this would apply to the communications industry but not to others. Safety/reliability statistics are available on automobiles and the hope is that consumers have more information to make a choice and manufactures are motivated to improve their rankings. Why would it not be the same?

I got two Cingular phone a few years back from a store less than a mile from my house. My wife and I literally could not call each other from the front yard to the back. I had to use my home phone to call Cingular to complain. I got the rudest most insulting customer service person on the phone who I have ever had to deal with. I was told that it was my fault for not knowing the reception in my service area. I returned the phones within the 15 day opt out period, and Cingular still attempted for months to charge me $244 for a disconnect fee. The store where I bought the phones attempted to charge me $50 because I had not saved the cardboard box the phones came in.
It took months to resolve this issue, with several threats made to slander my credit score.

I'm not really sure anyone cares...virtually every provider has a 30 day policy allowing you to cancel service if it's not expected. Thats how market driven economies work.

This is more about the liberal media looking for more ways to bash the government's anti-terror efforts.

Find some real news to report on. You guys are not helping the situation in the US. You believe you are the 'watch dogs' bug in reality, all you're doing is training a generation of young Americans to distrust the government.

Everything is national security now - what a crock. The reason why you are on the no-fly list - national security. Can you do anything about it? No, because you have no idea if the information is accurate.

Reasons why you can't acesss cell phone outages? National Security.

Reasons for highway accdients in a certain area? National Security.

Noise complaints about military aircraft? National Security?

Complaining about your lack of Fourth Amendment rights? Definitely national security.

Liquids on board aircraft? Is there really a risk? Is it even possible to make an explosive? Sorry, National Security.

What about your shoes? Why do you have to remove them to Xray them? Can the Xray machines detect explosives? No? Really? Sorry, thats national security.

The courts need to grow a pair, and tell the feds that national security is a crock. In order to invoke 'national security,' the agency needs to provide a cogent, intelligent and probable tie-in of the information requested to a plausable scenario. Knocking out cellphones on I-94 in central Montana is NOT a national security threat.

If cell towers are not reliable, then they should be fixed so that they are. How is a record of what happened in the past relevant to terrorists blowing up or disabling cell towers tomorrow? This what I mean when I say the courts need to make the agency come up with a cogent and intelligent explanation for secrecy. Otherwise, who wants their work product revealed to everyone?

This article seems logicle to me. How are the cell phone records a matter of national security? It is not. This is related to consumer security. I wonder what those reports say about my new cell phone company, especially after the lines got crossed one day with my wife and another individual. She was led to believe that I was cheating on her as a result...

It would be helpful if MSNBC provided the web link to ask for FOIA. Perhaps if there's a large public reaction, the feds may change their mind?

Thanks, Vince Black

it's typical of the fcc. I called the fcc back in the 80's when cell phones were first introduced to my area here in upstate ny. one of my questions was about coverage and the fcc said that the cell companies were alowed to buy into certain areas or franchise areas that they bid on. they then set up there towers in lucrative areas (high volume areas) around large cities and interstate road systems and THEN LATER were supposed to move out into the rural areas with less traffic. well, it happening at LESS than a snails pace for rural coverage. screwed again, no coverage in the hinter-lands even though large state roads travel through those areas. i'm sick of them. the fcc didnt make them hold to their deals.

Doesn't surprise me at all. In a few years, Native Americans won't be able to reclaim their land from the federal government with simple drone-like response: "it may become a precursor for terrorist training grounds within the US." When is this whole BS gonna stop?!

In Georgia, it's easy. Metro Atlanta... Cingular. Anywhere in the mountains north... Verizon.

All the other's are garbage thoughout.

Keep pushing for this... Sure, I can see where some companies don't/wouldn't want this kind of information public and like the article says. There is no true "national security" issue with this, it's just a PAC pressure to keep it secret....

If the government is going to prevent the consumer from having the ability to make an educated purchase, they should prevent the companies from creating ANY time-defined contractual agreements with the consumers. No multi-year commitments, no penalties for cancelling the service...

I think it would be a benifit to national security to release this data. If something were to happen, I would want the members of the police, fire departments, and public in general to have cell phones that work.
Companys that had the most problems would have to fix them.
This national security excuse of everything is growing old and the public is becoming numb to it. Anyone ever here of a story about a boy and a wolf?

Following this logic, the government needs to keep automobile crash test results secret - it would hurt coporate competition if consumers knew which cars to buy. Same goes for home construction - wouldn't want people deciding on which home builder to use based on the performance of the builder. And we wouldn't want terrorists to get hold of these reports; just think what would happen if they had all the car crash test information! Horror!!!

Note to Government: Release the data.

Anything that would benefit the consumers and not the
companies will be barred from the public. Nothing new here. And under the guise of "National Security."
Sounds like Hitler Time to me, been there, done that and now back to it here!

A bigger issue for me is the dramatic decrease in coverage in the last few years as companies focus on new and “better” technology, mergers and new bells and whistles such as high speed internet access, text messaging, smaller and smaller phones, etc. Especially in the rural areas, coverage for basic cell phone calls is in many cases worse than it was 10 years ago. This is not just my provider, but a common complaint I hear from customers of several providers. I wonder if this is a violation of their FCC licenses. My provider certainly does not seem to care about doing anything more than sound concerned about my problem.

The assertion that this information will "jeopardize our security" is complete garbage.
I feel quite qualified in making this comment since I have worked in the telecommunications industry, including common carrier (mobile phone/paging), public safety, and electric utility, for nearly 30 years. The truth of the matter is that releasing this info will allow consumers to make a more educated decision regarding their choice of cellular carrier. It's fairly common knowledge, these days, that the government doesn't want people to be educated or to think for themselves.

I have an idea, you don't like the coverage, you drop your carrier. You don't like the contract, you get a pay as you go phone. I know I know, it is a Constitutional right to have free phone service that works everywhere all the time.

Can someone point to an area where basic cell coverage is worse than it was 10 years ago, I challenge you.

Who really cares? The government can do whatever it wants and the sooner everyone realizes that, the better!

Maybe all of the cell phone providers have a conference in DC with the politicians and they deicde how to screw us with bad service, high pricing practices, and rotten tricks. They find it fun. The phone providers all seem to have phones and service that work. I think they get their jollies out of screwing us around with service and pricing.

Good to hear that the Republican 'free-markteteers' live up to their ideals of a free market where everybody can maken an informed decision about the product they buy. Also good to hear that the Republican 'free-marketeers' expended the government-controle of our lives by keeping just a bit more information to themselves.

As consumers and voters, we each need to write our Congressman and Senators to mandate that the FCC (the sole regulatory agency responsible for wireless carriers) prepare annual statistical wireless service quality reports at the MSA level (the local service area of wireless carriers). The data could be reported in such a way as to not reveal market share or network configuration specifics but to emphasize the every day problems consumers have with dropped calls and dead zones as an index of network availability. The ‘wireless’ portion of the network generally works pretty good (cell phone to tower), the ‘mobility’ technology of switching from tower to tower most likely contributes to the dropped call problems, and the tower to switch are the same old terrestrial network (wire line) facilities that have been around for decades and remain vulnerable to cable cuts and power outages. Reporting the data and making it available to the public is the only way that carriers will pay any attention to service quality and their consumer’s complaints.
Consumers need this data to aid in selection criteria and to void contracts without termination liability when a carrier’s service quality indexes fall below acceptable criteria.

Had the same problem with Cingular dropping calls and switching to other numbers. Got accused of cheating and couldn't get a call through for a few days. This happened to everyone at my job that had this service and none of us got a credit. Were just told they were working on the problem. Had to call them on my Vonage phone to report the problem. My friends that only have cingular couldn't even report the problem.

Sprint has one of the worst customer service (fancy word for that is customer care) run by bunch of unprofessionals( After talking to them I believe) in Florida. I am a sprint customer for seven and half years and they believe I have to be loyal to them not other way around. Lot of companies are in big hole like AOL and AT&T for bad customer service and screwy mentality and sprint is adapting that and hope if they don't change their business practice they will be out of business soon. Sprint put me a too year contract without my knowledge. That's the way they are trying to keep me as their customer. If you are a Sprint Customer be cautious, Please check periodically your contract.

Disgusting! Please continue to press for this information. One of your commenters did touch lightly on a subject near and dear to my heart-customer service reps. Every time that I buy something now I seem to hear some CEO chuckling in the background and yelling "Gotcha." And American business is wondering why they're losing ground to the foreign companies. What happened to the idea of "customers for life?"

If I'd have known that my service wasn't going to be as excellent at home as it is at work, I wouldn't have switched to my carrier. However, now I am stuck with them, sans the $200 early termination fee, which I am not going to pay. This is so irritating.

I'm a technician for a major cellular carrier and the problem I have with these FCC reports is that 9 out of 10 times service outages are not caused by the cell carrier. They are caused by the LEC (such as Verizon or Frontier), the company that all wireless carriers lease their circuits (T1's, T3's) from. These LEC's do service affecting work during the day causing outages and that send us technicians into a frenzy trying to work with the LEC to get these outages repaired. The problem most of the time is that the LEC's are protected by the union's and response times are usually horrible.

The bigger question is why is the govt. requiring a report on service quality that serves no purpose. If the only people (consumers) that would benefit from seeing the report cannot see it, then what good is it. It's just another example of regulatory requirements that serve no purpose, driving up business expenses, that in the end the consumer pays for anyway.

Ah yes, the good old FCC. We pay them to make certain there's no extra exposed flesh on the television, not to make sure our communications devices actually work. When I was a kid the FCC actually did was it was supposed to and wasn't a wing of the Minister of Propaganda and Censorship. These days...well, it may actually be even MORE disfunctional than the rest of the government. They just made a fortune selling off more public airspace to cell companies, the least they could do is kiss us before they....well, I'm sure you know the rest.

30 day trial period ? During that time perhaps you can tell something about your home area. But how can you judge the coverage you will get on long distance road trips ? The coverage on the maps/listings the companies give in no more accurate than the coverage than you get when trying it out in your own back yard. Being stranded without coverage is no fun.

Laura observed: "Curious why this would apply to the communications industry but not to others."

It's because the FCC is more "in bed" with the industry.

To Bob G. It actually makes a sort of perverted sense if you look at the population of the U.S. Many companies no longer look at long term customers as an important part of the bottom line as they have found out that there are so many potential customers who will respond to the constant bombardment of ads and 'bargains' that they no longer need to worry about the people they have already gotten money from.
A bit long winded, but you get the point? We now have 300 million people in this country, so the customer base is virtually unlimited. Who cares if people do not like your service, just run a few million dollars in ads and promotions and a whole slew of new lambs come running to the slaughter. We all do it. In this case, we have minimal choice as the government has decided to come down on the side of corporate America and not allow us to have the data we need to make an informed decision. Wow, what a stunning surprise.
Not.

I work for a major Cellular carrier as an RF Engineer. What the uneducated public does not realize is this: Take for instance when the hurricane hit the Gulf. Guess what that carrier is NOW at the top of the list. Why. Because their network had a large outage affecting thousands. Is that the carriers fault that the system was destroyed by a natural disaster. The general pubic is just looking for something else to cry about. Outages happen for all reasons. Some are the carriers fault but many are not. So now you want to give cingular the marketing advantage because Verizon had their network off the air due to natural disaster. How bout instead of crying for reports that customers will never read and will just be used for a marketing advantage get off your butts and do some research. Use the phone for the trial period, talk to friends or talk to more than one carrier. Why do you need the goverment to fill you with misleading information. EDUCATE YOURSELVES.

I guess Cellphones need coverage everywhere in America and have zero dropped calls. Ok lets do this... who wants to pony up Billions of dollars and then some more?

Industry lobbyists=1, consumer=0, Feds charged with watching over the citizens and not buisnessess - crooked as ever.

I'm all for security and hiding some things but its obvious the cloak of 'National Security' has no oversight and has been greatly abused for hiding negative information. I really love the premise that it's done to keep terrorists (and everyone else) from actually buying a reliable cell phone. We have the best Government money can buy, you have to wonder who is really worse for this country...

I love how some of the responses start with "Who cares, the government can do what they want anyway?" If we're going to use that form of logic, then we should just stop everything. Why vote, with this logic, the government can do whatever they want. Let's stop with the "Let's just bury our heads in the sand and see what happens attitude". This is information that should be released to all of us. I thought the USA was a democratic, capitalistic society not a communist, socialistic society. As a previous post mentioned, they give us crash safety ratings for cars and ratings for other products but not the telcos. We know the reason, teclos provide BIG lobbying money and the politicians don't want to bit the hand(s) that feed them.

Bottom line to me, ALL these cell phone companies are greedy. They are only out for themselves and could care less about the consumer. The customer services are terrible and when you are not happy with the services, they could care less.
I'm probably better off without a cell phone.

Not sure if mentioned in a previous post, but the FCC is an independent agency, which Congress oversees, not the president. So I do not think President Bush has much to do about the national security issue.

The way to get good customer service from your wireless (or cable, phone, whatever..) provider is to call up and say simply "I'd like to disconnect service immediately".

You'll get transfered to the special "talk them out of it" department where folks that have actual training (and natively speak English -- a true rarity) will bend over backwards with credits, same-day appointments, etc. in order to keep you as a customer.

Can someone please explain how this information, which is based on history not future outages, is and can be a national security threat? It is okay for the phone companies to sell your data to possible terror organizations (how would one know?) and charge you fees that make sense only to their accountants. But it is not okay to disclose past outages so that the consumer can make a clear choice based on quality of service? I would agree with the before mentioned statement regarding other consumer driven data such as auto safety and the like. Either they are all national security issues and should all be suppressed or they are not. You can't have it both ways. I am all for national security, and would go as far as saying in some areas we need to be even tougher, such as the borders, however this is bordering the ridiculous.

Ridiculous to claim this is either a national security or competitive disadvantage issue.

Simply put, in any realm of business, a posting of one company's records versus those of another would put the company at a comptetitive disadvantage. My question is, in a government regulated arena such as cell phone service, why should the public not know which providers have the least downtime.

I guess the logical way to figure out which cell phone companies are reliable is to contact your local federal offices and determine the company they use.

Someone hit on the right question and that is why is this data being collected by the government? What do they use it for? Would people be clamoring about how much they 'need' this information if it didn't exist in the first place? The article stated how this information would be a 'tremendous consumer tool'. You know what? I think having statistics on the average amount of time you have to wait in a Wal-Mart or Target checkout line would be a 'tremendous consumer tool', but it doesn't exist so no one cares. How about keeping statistics on every doctors office showing the average wait time from walking in the door to seeing the doctor? Tremendous consumer tool!! I think the government should just stop collecting the outage information. Problem gone. All cell phone provides have outages, they all will say and do anything to make sure you can't cancel out once you sign up. Buyer beware. It all seems to be about the bells and whistles on the phones now. Gee, look my phone can take a picture? Yeah, but can you call someone? Um, not always.

If it is true, as Mr. Harlow claims, thank you for training a generation of young Americans to distrust the government, since federally controlled public schools never will.

so ya, i guess it was national security that prevented the twin towers and building 7 from being blown up, ooops, i mean, burning down....

There are a few comments posted which shows just how stupid we Americans are. One mentioned that there are more important things to talk about besides whether we can get cell phone service or not.
Do you see, the government keeps doing little things like this and we keep accepting it. The government is slowly taking away our rights and we are letting them do it, because we only read what the line says, not what is between the lines. Wake up America, this kind of thing is happening more and more and we are letting it.

What a pile of crap, even a narrow minded conservative can see through this crap. Terrorist will and can get cell phones from all providers and use however they want. This information has nothing to do with terrorist and we all know it. It's just another excuse to keep information from consumers. You would think since we are taxed to death on our phone bills, have those extra surcharges etc. (that nobody can explain) that we would have a right to see this information. Good luck on getting it. How about letting all of the public know who and where to contact requesting this information. Keep it up and get that info, we want to know. Good job, those of us that are sick of W and his puppets appreciate stories like this and are in hopes it will help protect us, the government certainly isn't doing it!

If you go to the FCC's website and follow the link to the Network Outage Reporting System, you can access the user's guide which talks about what kind of information goes into these kinds of reports. It's pretty technically detailed and involved and I can understand how releasing some of this information could be a threat, but this isn't the information that would be pertinent to a consumer making a wireless service provider choice. The FCC could easily release these records with the technical data censored and allow the consumer to see the information that would be relevant to them making a decision.

I think that if the American people can know what kind of an "on-time" record an airline has, we can know about cell-phone outages. (A matter of National Security my foot....)When I first signed with Verizon I had great coverage. In the past year I have had MORE problems & MORE rudeness and an I don't give a care from Verizon because THEY know I am bound by a contract. Who is getting paid to keep this information "Top Secret?"

i'd love to see a full list of the rights and freedoms the gov't has removed since 9/11. Why does the gov't want to remove the basic freedoms we have thrived on since the USA was founded? Aren't they aware that it will affect them and their families too?

The truth of the matter is these regulatory requirements and their agencies are what the Bible speaks of in the Bible. The book of Revelation talks the one world order that's coming to pass. We don't have to sit down and just take it. We can put up a good fight, so please continue on our behalf.

What a bunch of cry babies!! No one has to buy a plan. One can get prepaid plans. One can use the 30 day period. When you travel, rent a phone. There is not perfection and there is no free lunch.

Please keep fighting for this information. This info is needed by consumers. National security claim is crap along with the business claim. Does the FCC do anything except censorship any more? Which agency is the worst disaster FEMA or FCC?

Exactly what about a cell phone network is an appealing target from a terrorist's point of view?

The worst scam, that nobody mention, is that you pay when you receive a call. In Europe, incoming calls are free. Why the rules of the landlines don't apply to wireless phones ?

I disagree with John from New York. His cell phone must work very well or he hasn't moved or changed jobs in awhile. The 30 day trial favors the provider not the customer. If you can't get service (what your paying for) then what good is a contract? It should protect the provider from the phone investment but the contract isn't prorated and lots of people spend big bucks on their phones now.

This is another example of the Bush administration's anti-consumerist. Our large corporations are sticking it to the public at a record rate. The Bush govt. doesn't care, their only concern is keeping the status quoe, and enriching their already wealth friends. The public be damned is what GWB is really saying.

It is the beginning of the end to find this information shaded into the box called "national security." Truth be told, the FCC sold our -- yes our -- bandwidth to these guys and it seems as if they agreed amongst themselves to protect them after the purchase. Why on earth would knowing what company drops calls where be a matter of national security, particularly when another carrier in the same area does not. It's well known that Verizon bullies antennae locations, keeping other carriers off through exclusive contracts. What's the most sad about this is that our cell carriers are busy with this crap when the rest of the world surpasses us in cell phone capability and coverage. Walk the streets of Europe with a European carrier. Try to find a dead spot, even in an underground pub. In the deserts of the Middle East, I still found I had perfect signal. Our carriers are screwing us with their behind-close-doors deals and their focus on the dollar over the customer. I agree with an earlier post, the information for filing an FOIA should be put out here so we can make our voices heard.

Another example of how "our" government is now focused on protecting corporations rather than protecting the people. Perhaps the government should be funded more by corporate taxes than by individual income taxes. Or, perhaps the government should return to its original purpose: protecting the people's interests.

People should realize that the contracts are not a requirement of cellular service, they are the carriers attempt to recoup the cost of the discount they provide for the phone. If someone doesnt want to sign a contract they simply need to pay full price for their phone, and not take advantage of any promotions offered by the carrier. I used to work as a Cingular customer service rep and this was news to everyone I told. Is it really worth the discount? That RAZR phone is $300 without a discount, $149-199 with a two year commitment. The giveaway phones are free with commitment, $119 without. Do the math, and stop expecting cell phones to be "free". There's always a price.

Has anyone considered the fact that this industry, now being protected by the government, has recently illegaly provided the Department of Homeland Security with millions of records of phone usage?

Why is everybody looking to the government to deal with this issue? Why not look to Consumer Reports, CNET or J.D. Power and Associates (or any other private sector entity) who study quality issues such as these? Heaven forbid someone would have to go online or to just about any newsstand to research their purchasing decisions. Why should the government be placed at risk for providing information that could cause potentially large corporate losses at cell carriers? Do your own homework!

The FCC has been horribly corrupt and ineffective since the beginning of the technology boom at the beginning of the 80's. Where are the standards for software data file types, or the regulations on what sort of email advertising is acceptable? Apparently, the FCC feels it is okay to distribute Spyware, blast gential enlargement emails across the internet, and bilk customers for shoddy cell phone service.

Woudln't ariline on-time, crash stats, and near-miss reports present a bigger threat. Yet all of those are public informaiton. what about automobile crash tests sicne they'd give clues what cars to use as car bombs? Haeack why not make all public transportation schedules secret to keep us safe? Better yet, jsut cancel public transportation since its such a blantant target and risk.

most companies will give you 15 days to try your pcs that's enough! and we are not raising a generation of goverment distrusting citizens is because when 1 president get oral sex in the oval office & the other takes young americans to war with no base, i think we should not trust anybody in washongton! hehe

"The stated reasons: Release of the information could help terrorists plan attacks against the United States, and it would harm the companies involved."

Thanks for the laugh....

Thank heavens the cell phone companies have National Security to thank for not having to be accountable or provide customers with the service we pay for. Keep up the good work! I have Cingular and most calls are dropped at least once and I cant use my cell phone in most parts of my home.

I have never known a company to be so rude and stay in business as cell phone providers. As soon as my contracts are up, I am DONE. You can call me on my good old Southwestern Bell land line and leave a message. I know I will get the call and the message as well. Dobson Cellular, or Cellular One which ever one you are this week, can go fly a kite. If more peoplefelt this way they would have to change their business practices

If the FCC in not the most dysfunctional and corrupt government agency I would be very surprised. Their actions seem to be influenced by the lobbyists to the detriment of the public. They have had weak leadership and should be totally revamped. There is no question that they are more responsive to the needs of the corporations than to the consumer. Surprising enough my experience with cell phone providers has been quite good. It helps that I understand their business. This charade about National Security is just that.

Eight years. Verizon. It works everywhere I go. Once in a great, a dropped call. Usually the other end, with someone who uses a different carrier. Customer service? Whenever I've needed it, it's been responsive and complete. Change from Verizon? Not a chance. And the home/business phone is Vonage. Happy there, too.

Well, I would never recommend Sprint to anyone due to poor service in our area and the fact that customer service is non-existent.

Cingular is just as bad, dropped calls are a huge, huge, problem for this company.

As far as helping the terrorists by releasing this information, yeah right and the cow flew over the moon!

Yeah! I bet that releasing the information would help Iraqi Terrorists build WMD’s!

It would be almost as bad as a Six-year old child hugging his teacher in Texas!

Well, I would never recommend Sprint to anyone due to poor service in our area and the fact that customer service is non-existent.

Cingular is just as bad, dropped calls are a huge, huge, problem for this company.

As far as helping the terrorists by releasing this information, yeah right and the cow flew over the moon!

Yeah! I bet that releasing the information would help Iraqi Terrorists build WMD’s!

It would be almost as bad as a Six-year old child hugging his teacher in Texas!

Customer "No Service" is strictly driven by the bottom line of how much it costs to service customers and what is an acceptable churn rate of subscribers. A minimum effort with cheap call centers is the pardigm, and the Marketing people blitz the Media with "Five Bars" imagery which makes less informed consumers believe in the Carrier's *dedication* to high Quality of Service metrics. Cingular has started a new practice of terminating customers who on a "No Roaming" plan costs the Carrier excessive roaming fees collected for a subscriber who happens to make a lot of calls "off network". Once the ARPU drops, the Carrier sends a termination letter to the subscriber that effectively says "We (Cingular) DO NOT want your business......please go away and quit costing negative ARPU because you don't talk enough "on network". "Hit the bricks! We don't want your money!"

All carriers should be required to provide QoS metrics for at least Reliability, Availability, Provisioning, and Billing Accuracy at the very minimum! Effective lobbying and the mantle of "Nation Insecurity" are enough to obfuscate the effective reporting of Q of S metrics.

Once the govt. starts using Homeland Security as a blanket to throw over every area that they want to keep quite, regardless of it's true relevance to homeland security it undermines both the legitimacy of the department and also it's ability to be truly effecitive doing a job I do believe that we need. However, I have a very difficult time seeing how releasing this information jeopordizes their ability to do their job..

You have not experienced Poor Cell service/quality until you have used Nextel's Cell phone network. I totally regret leaving Verizon. I've been w/ Nextel for 3 years, and they are by far the worst. Not a suprise that Nextel dragged down Sprints profits in the 40 percent range. Nextel should get out of the Cell phone business, and stick w/ the 2-way radios only. I need two phones now. A nextel and a 'Reliable' cell phone.

I have a great idea. We should all be able to use the "national security" excuse. Why didn't you complete your task at work? National Security. When the wife asks where you were so late last night... can't tell ya, National Security. Why didn't you pay your credit card bill? NS. It seems to work for the government, why not for everyone else? It is such a fantastic excuse because even if it seems like a total crock that the issue could possibly be related to National Security, all they have to do is say that they can't possibly explain why its a threat to National Security, because the explanation itself would of course be.... wait for it... wait for it.... you guessed it... National Security! What I really want to know is what ever happened to National Sanity. You know, where we don't let the government get away with using BS excuses to cover their tails. If the government wants to use National Security as an excuse, there must somehow be a burden of proof placed upon the government. In the meantime, while we're busy covering up for the shoddy cell phone companies, our borders remain wide open, ship cargo is largely unscanned, infrstructure security and redundancy is a joke, FEMA remains disfunctional and unprepared for the next major disaster... but somehow those things aren't National Security. During the American Revolution, there was a saying, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." I'm not advocating a revolution nor anything that extreme, but we must exercise our rights to speak out and we must do it together. National Sanity and National Unity are the best forms of National Security.

I can understand why the government would be reluctant for the data collected to be used for the benefit of one large business over another. There are some very serious issues connected to such revelation. There is always another "way to skin the cat" generally. I believe there must be another means of obtaining the analytical data you want. Once gotten it must then be appropriately interpreted before it becomes of true value to the consumer. One company out there is already claiming they have the fewest dropped calls. How were they able to ascertain that?

Tim in Buffalo is correct about the majority of the outages being caused by the LEC backhaul carrier. I also work in the wireless industry, and the wireless carrier's equipment is as reliable as your home PC, which is pretty much what the wireless equipment is. Outages caused by the LEC are a minimum 4 hours down-time. Towers are built to cover holes that develop as a result of outages, but only so much can be built due to local restrictions and rural needs.

If the cellphone companies refuse to divulge information about cell phone outages, maybe we, the consumers, should just set up a website, similar to "eopinions" where everyone can post comments about the realibility of their cell phones service carriers in the areas that they live. I know that this may not be the most accurate method of getting information, but at least there will be something that consumers can rely on to get a rough idea about which cell phone companies have the best services and where, before signing a contract that they cannot get out of for an x number of years.

I currently work in the cellular business, posses a TS clearance and have seen the information, when put together from a readily available source. I can bring down a cellsite or more very easily affect all who are currently using the sites(i.e. first responders). I should also mention I have more than twenty years of IT networking and communications jamming(Intelligent Electronics warfare) experience. Thank GOD you have a right to speak your minds and have a process that will allow your voice to be heard to correct the situation.

Tim in Buffalo is correct about the majority of the outages being caused by the LEC backhaul carrier. I also work in the wireless industry, and the wireless carrier's equipment is as reliable as your home PC, which is pretty much what the wireless equipment is. Outages caused by the LEC are a minimum 4 hours down-time. Towers are built to cover holes that develop as a result of outages, but only so much can be built due to local restrictions and rural needs.

I've had cellular service since 1992. I've never had service that isn't acceptable for what a cell phone is: wireless, remote communication. People have too high an expectation and critical consumers often simply expect more than a technology can provide.

Ask any IT professional-- like me.

A 30-day return policy is not the same as being able to make an educated purchase in the first place. My Cingular store is a good one -- and there is still a 2 hour wait to see a customer service person. Why should I wait 2 hours to return a phone when I SHOULD have been able to find out from the beginning whether it would work? Oh, I know! Not wanting to waste my time makes me a "liberal".

Why bash the government for not releasing the information? We should demand the information from the corporations (Cingular, Sprint, Verizon, Alltell, etc.). They provide it to the FCC, why can't they post it on their own websites? Did the journalist even attempt to contact the wireless carriers?
Theoretically, the most secure networks are closest to the most prized US assests which would likely include government installations (military as well as political) and economic centers. A terrorist could use the reliability maps to find the most "secure" areas and then target them for attacks.
Usually I enjoy this journalist, but this piece is a little far-fetched and a grab for attention rather than a serious attempt to provide information to the public.

Unbelievable the level of whining here. Remember the days when only the wealty had cell phones and 1000 minutes cost $200 or more? You could not read your e-mails, send text or IM mesages or watch TV/Videos
Now everyone, even most of the homeless have a cell phone and the cost has dropped 90% per minute. Name something else that has dropped in price like a minute of cell phone use in the last 10 years besides Enron stock.

Yes, the FCC and the rest of our Federal Government at totally full of it. Costly and useless reports not shared with anyone are required solely to keep bureauocrats in jobs.
30 days and a liberal still cant figure out of the phone works how typical.
The reason you sign a contract is that fancy phone you got for $1 cost $250 to make. if you buy a prepaid phone you pay more for less of a phone then more for the airtime to off set the cost of it even further.
Next time you get your bill calculate how much of it is tax and remember the cell company gets none of that just the hassel of collecting it, accounting for it and paying it to the Government.
The weak link in the cell phone system is the cellphone itsself. Remember how well 4 watt analog installed phones with outside antennas worked 10 years ago? Now compare that to your .2 watt hand held digital with no visible antenna at all. Despite handsets going from the several pound Motoralla brick to modern phone coverage is still better.

If you write here and not your Congressperson or Senator, you have wasted your time. Did MSNBC file a complaint with their congressional representatives? Liberal media? Dude turn off the radio and think your own thoughts!

Brook said: "Can someone point to an area where basic cell coverage is worse than it was 10 years ago, I challenge you."

Challenge Accepted: Southern California. Eastbound on the 101 freeway through the San Fernando Valley, approaching the Haskell offramp. 10 years ago, with Nationwide, I could easily maintain a conversation past this point. Nowadays, with a *multitude* of carriers, the Haskell Hole sucks every signal of mine into the void. I actually adjusted my drive and calling habits to avoid this hole.

If the reports were published, consumers could easily find a carrier that works well in their area. If there were holes, then the carriers could point out "Now we work in (blank)!" when they maintain better coverage.

By claiming 'national security' frivolously, the government does the real damage to national security. Its like the boy who cried “Wolf” – when the real wolf showed up, no one believed him.
Common sense shows that the only advantage terrorists would gain from knowing that cell phone service of company A was better than company B is “Don’t buy from company A”. Before using the claim national security to shield companies from market forces, this process was called the free market.
While its understandable that, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 over reaction was safer than failing to act, after 5 years, its time to focus on the real threats to national security and not cry Wolf at every shadow.

My first cell phone was a Motorolla Brick and did nothing but make phone calls, weighed several pounds, battery died in hours and cost $220 for 1000 minutes. Now 1000 minutes cost $30 the phone is tiny , sends text, e-mail, video and takes pictures.
the cost of a minute of airtime has dropped 90% in 10 years and the functionality of the phones increased 10 times. Nome something else that has decreased in price like that over the last 10 years.
At first only the rich had cell phone but now everyone does.
If cars had inmproved this fast we would all have that flying car that was predicted by now.
I travel all over the US and my coverage is better than ever before.

Ah Big Brother at it again? To tell or not to tell? Does the FCC (Govt) really think consumers are that naive? Do they really believe we, the consumers, are that retarded? Yes, some things are National Security related....disclosure on phone companies maintanence is not. Do I hear a Revolution or Uprising? Anyone?

Another part of the cell phone company scam is having lost my cell phone only to have a frined that works for Cingluar tell me that the cell phone was re-sold a week later when the person that found it came in to have it turned back on... claiming it was a gift.

What is secret is HOW the signal is routed. Forget billing purposes,forget coverage, forget carrier as they are honestly all the same. The heart of the how the telecomm industry has evolved and how amazing cell networks resemble the internet. What is being held secret are the areas of potential explotation to by used by those with harmful intentions. During the previous administration gsm, tdma, cdma, etc all were encrypted; however, the last 4 digits were to be left at 0000 as demanded by that administration. This feature with the last 4 digits being left as 0000 decreases ENCRYPTION efficiency by 10k; however, it leaves an OPEN door for snooping and simple observations of ph conversations without even using a bug...this is truly amazing...all in the name of fighting off pimps, hoes, drug dealers, smugglers, and terrorist...circa 1997. By making the weakenesses known, a method to bypass the instant monitoring of ALL mobile phones can be discovered. Once discovered, unscrupulous persons of interest can "ghost" the phone network and operate without being noticed; HENCE, it is of great national security interest to NOT publish these findings. Do note that the previous administrations limitations of technology used by the common person has resulted in a cell network that would be considered high tech in the 90's. Look at Europe and Japan...They have 4G WiMax, we are at the 2G level barely entering 3G technology and its here to stay for another 20 years.

As for the whiners, quit your b@!@#ng, the alternative is a throw back to using a CB or walkie talkie. If your cell service is weak, just cough up the $$$ to buy a signal booster as these REALLY do work. It is a mini station and antennae based inside your house or work place: if you have 1 bar of signal, this will accept that 1 bar and amplify this signal to 100% for an area the size of a soccer field....results can vary depending on structure like concrete and steel. COST is $300 at Fry's Electronics.
If you continue to have bad reception in your neighborhood, actually make a call to customer service and simply ask that your subdivision NEEDS a new antenae and state a valid reason as to why. If you must, dial 611 and make this request often.
Stations/antennae can only have so many active handsets before dropped calls result so ASK for additional capacity. Do note this applies to all carriers large and small.

Have a nice day and quit your b!@@##ng

Is it just possible that the 'national security' issue really has more to do with 'planned outages?' The government has the ability to pull the plug when necessary to cease all cell traffic. Letting everyone know that would be an obvious sign of big brother. Why would the government want to implicate itself in obvious attacks against the freedom of its' citizens?

Two years ago I had Sprint PCS which stood for "Pretty Crappy Signal" For my two yrs. contract I experienced many dropped calls even with signal showing, then would redial to continue conversation (with bar signal showing I had signal) only to be dropped again in mid sentence. While going to work one day I tried to make numerious calls which all said I was unathorized. Went to Sprint store on my lunch hour to find out what was going on. They told me I was not alone as 10,000 plus customers were all dropped when new area code was implemented 1 week eariler than announced. With time of contract expired that was my last straw. I went to Verizon across street and purchased new phones for my wife and I and we have never had a dropped call since. Would have been nice to know ahead of time, they need to free the information for all.

Before commenting on such an important topic, but the author of this article and some of the people who responded should really (at least) do some research and use some gray matter:

Terrorists tend to like to use several bombs, triggered at the same instant, for maximum shock effect. Also, a favorite bomb type is cell phones connected to detonators that set off the bombs. Getting the picture yet?

If they knew the track record of local cell providers, they would choose the ones that had the highest available coverage for the specific locations where they intended to plant their bombs. Thus, by releasing this data, the government would almost certainly be taking part in making a potential bombing (should it occur) much more deadly than it otherwise might be. They would also make it more difficult to find evidence in the form of unexploded ordinance.

This exact scenario has played itself out on many occasions around the world: One or more of the cell phone-rigged bombs fails to detonate, because the local provider's coverage was experiencing an outage at the time. From the now unexploded bomb, the phone can be traced back to the bomb-makers, and the terrorists can be apprehended.

John Harlow wrote "all you're doing is training a generation of young Americans to distrust the government."

Let's hope so! The U.S. government is based on a mistrust of government powers! The Bill of Rights is a restriction on federal powers! Too many Americans have become too comfortable letting the government dictate their wants and desires.

Just another example of government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations. If the cell phone companies don't want this information released, the politicians in thier pocket will bend over backwards to oblige. Now if ordinary people need help from the government, that's a completely different story.

It literally makes me sick seeing how much proof there is staring so many of us squarely in the face that corporate giants rule Gov agencies.

The FCC at this point is genuinely nothing but a farce!

Aren't cell phones an option as opposed to a necessity?
Maybe if we text messaged less, sent less pic messages and spent less time with idle BS'ing to your girlfriend then maybe the cell networks would be less clogged.
As a motorcyclist, you imbeciles yakking on phones whilst you should be paying attention to the road get my ire. I got hit last year by a soccer mom in mini van who paid more attention to her razr phone than to the lane she was in. I suffered a broken left arm and over 2 grand damage on my bike. She suffered nothing other than a smashed phone (I stompped on the SOB) of which the cop at the scene said nothing. So pay a little more attention to driving and less time shooting the bull.

Brook --> Most phone companies require a _Two Year_ contract. If you want out before then you have to pay $175 - $200 to break the contract. Not many people realize when they upgrade their phone or change their plan they are signing a new 2 year contract. In a perfect world yes, you would go to the company that serves you best. But how can you tell who that is if you have to wait 2 years? That's not a free market.

What I wonder is why the FCC has an obligation to protect the companies. I thought the government was supposed to protect the citizens!

Perhaps the DHS is attempting to cover up the weak providers in an effort to allow them time to correct the coverage problems. Having multiple vendors overlap and cover the same territory would essentially make it more difficult to knock out communication in a given region of the country. Those companies that would otherwise be pushed out of areas that they could not cover, can still sign up large amounts of customers and keep the profit margins high enough to secure money for expansion. Companies can promise something they can't quite deliver yet, and then fix the problems before too many customers leave them. Most of the contracts give you phones at a discount if you sign a multi year contract.

Although I'm happy with the wireless service(s) I've used to date, I have to say this catch-all national security bucket is making Americans look like a bunch of cowering wimps.

"Can you hear me now?....wait....what if I stand over here? Can you hear me now?..Wait...hello? Are you still there? Wait..I had 4 bars standing on one foot while breathing through my left nostril..let me try that again...wait...hello? Oh dang, dropped the call". Dont'cha love it? The terrorists might use this information for....what?

Terrorist #1: My friend, the time for attacks is near!

Terrorist #2: Well, I just tried calling terrorist #3, and was pushed right to voice mail.

Terrorist #1: Ah, he must be outside of his calling area..

C'mon now. Just plain insanity.

It's easy to see what's driving this outrageous behavior by the FCC. The records they are collecting from the cellular carriers are not intended to provide any protection for the public. They are a hammer the FCC can use to extract compensation from the carriers. This compensation goes to senior officials in the FCC. It is an old game. Senior bureaucrats put pressure on the corporations, who respond by providing perks and privileges to keep the truth from the public. Politicians can rant, and the media can whine but it's the bureaucrats who laugh all the way to the bank.

It makes me so happy and content to know that there are such intelligent people doing all the thinking for us on such important issues like - Cell Network Outages...

I'm glad that they keep this information to themselves and shield us from the burden of thinking for ourselves! Just the thought of thinking is AWFUL!

Just another reason to throw the bumbs out and vote in a new party who hopefully will be a little more responsive to thier constituency and little less to the big corporations.

Wow...once again corporations benefit from this 'war on terror'. We give up our rights in the name of the never-ending 'war on terror'.

Sorry, I'm not buying it.

George W. Bush and his freedom-stealin' Crew are the ones producing a generation of people who don't trust their government.

Finally, I can say that The Shrub has done something GOOD for this country!

The only reason that auto safety reports are created is because it is of a public safety nature due to Ralph Nader. Cellular service is not of a public safety nature despite what people think. As far as the trial period, how long are you given a trial period for an automobile? C'mon people think common sense you aren't going to have as long as you want as a test period.

Just another reason to impeach this crooked and slimy President.

Here's an idea. Let's all start a CriagsList like record keeping site of our own and start to record cell coverage outtages by state, county or even street location by interestions.

NO Ads or affiliations.

We don't need government intervention just good-ole American ingenuity and creative ways of fixing things.

John Harlow .....

People with attitudes like yours breed ignorance and that is the bane of our country. Get a life and think. Thinking is not treason. Questioning the choices our government makes, is Patriotism. Not blindly following their bullshit.

It's obvious that if carriers risk losing business due to publicly available quality statistics, they will keep their equipment fixed better. Without a need to keep their equipment in top shape, a lot of people may lose their lives if there is a service failure DURING A NATIONAL EMERGENCY. :o

To beat the system and pick a carrier which is more reliable, just do a little research on which carrier has the most federal government service contracts. ;)

Here is my theory of why outage statistics are classified: to conceal a pattern of outages which happens to every cell site at least once, last about the same length, occurr in clusters of around the same number each day and generally move across the country in a chartable wave. :\

HEY BROOK... WE'RE TALKING ABOUT CONSUMERS WHO PAY FOR A SERVICE BEING INFORMED SO THEY CAN MAKE THE BEST CHOICE OF WHO TO DO BUSINESS WITH! IT IS NOT OK FOR AN ENTIRE GROUP OF PUBLIC COMPANIES TO BE ABLE TO CONTROL WHETHER THEIR RELIABILITY AND SERVICE IS SATISFACTORY OR NOT!

Here's a nifty site:
http://www.cellreception.com/towers/

I have a cell phone that has terrible reception where I live, however I have a line-of-site view of a tower to the east of my house. I've often thought 'wouldn't it be nice to know whose tower that is?' Your article prompted me to look.

Found the tower, which listed the company name associated with the tower. Although it didn't name the telco using it, I Googled the name and found a PDF out there stating they are doing business as Cingular. Eureka!

If I was young, I would be outraged. As it is, I am getting old and don't care, I won't be around to see the highjacking of the Republic by a bunch of paranoid freaks where everything is national security. Reminds me of the paranoid 50's.

John Harlow, Chappaqua, New York said something typical of right wingers, that the "market driven economy" did this.

The only reason there is even a 30 day policy is because of laws passed which require it. Remember? So thank the liberals, as usual.

Tim... I think you're onto something. It all goes back to the stinking unions! Unions are worthless in todays workplace.

Tim... I think you're onto something. It all goes back to the stinking unions. Unions are worthless in todays workplace.

Is funny that are police department and FD and EMS use some type of cell service to answer emergency call.Some may use Voice over IP by same network cell that having problem with don't you think they need to know.The real problem is greed from this large phone companies, executives they need to visit a emergency call center and help answer broken up phone call or just noise Verizon Cingular Alltel are all a fault.

The FCC is generally managened by big business/political appointees for the benefit of business/political interests. The working people in the FCC play the game, leave, or lose interest. Management seems very interested in protecting us from 4 letter words and rubber stamping big media mergers along with the FTC. The FCC used to actually do something in managing the airwaves and assuring some competetion and market service.

By the way, the security danger with liquids is real
Think of explosives or more likley gases from liquid components. Two or more people with relatively small amounts (pts,qts) of these liquids could combine these in flight for significant problems.

"I have an idea, you don't like the coverage, you drop your carrier. You don't like the contract, you get a pay as you go phone. I know I know, it is a Constitutional right to have free phone service that works everywhere all the time.

Can someone point to an area where basic cell coverage is worse than it was 10 years ago, I challenge you."

Brook, that is a typical "Woman's answer" But, in the real world, where everyone but you lives, it's not that easy, you see, prepaid phones are bad for business, because If I am filming, I don;t have time to go buy another card if I run out of minutes, of if there is an Emergency, I can't afford to be out of service, so I have have billing arrangements. Grow a brain, your getting screwed, just because Daddy pays YOUR phone bill ( And by daddy, I mean husband, government, etc. )Doesn't mean we all get those options.

There is a thing such as to much information. The more the terrorists know, the more damage they can do. If they can read the reports and determine some how where the weak links are, they can exploit those weak points. I hate to say this but there is a big picture to look at and Homeland Security is charged with the over sight of our safety. I do have an inside look at things and do know. As far as service goes, you can't please all the people all the time. Dead zones are just that, dead zones. Signal frequency and propagation is fixed and not all areas can be covered. To do that would not be financially feasible.

Wake up America! Your president and his minions are stripping Americans of the very Constitutional Rights upon which we base our democracy, oops, representative republic that is.

Lets consider some history. Post WWII returning veterans used the GI Bill to pay for college, education for the masses, so the playing field was leveled. Armed with education and knowledge of its benefits, veterans sent their children off to college. Those children arrived at college in the mid to late ‘60’s.

Problem is, education nurtures intellectual curiosity, a propensity to question, the ability to sort fact from fiction, a willingness to challenge authority, and the spirit to fully exercise their rights guaranteed by he Constitution and Bill of Rights.

If you have ever asked why the general population isn’t up in arms about the governments pervasive intrusion into their lives, its classification of so much for SECURITY reasons, refusal by the Executive Branch to provide answers and documents to Congressional committees with oversight obligations, and refusal for requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act… well’ just ask a few high school kids to explain the Constitution, Bill of Rights, or to list the three branches of government and you’ll have the answer.. they haven’t a clue.

Today, the news media are probably the last chance we have to get facts about our government’s nefarious and clandestine activities uncorrupted, whitewashed, spun, or simply denied, against. This article is a prime example of how the government no longer governs but dictates.

I THINK WE SHOULD NUKE ALL OF ARE ENEMYS' COUNTRYS', DEMOLISH ALL THOSE WHO WONT CONFORM TO THE LAWS OF AMERICA EXECUTE ALL THOSE WHO WAIT FOR THERE RELEASE IN PRISONS AN JAILS AN THOSE SERVING MORE THEN LIFE SENTENCES, EXCUTE ALL OF OUR TERORRIST HERE IN AMERICA, WHO MAKE IT UNSAFE TO LEAVE YOUR DOORS UNLOCKED AT NIGHT WHILE YOU SLEEP OR MAKE YOU SCARED OF WALKING DOWN THE WRONG NEIGHBORHOOD AN BASICALLY CLEAN HOUSE, RE-ELECT ALL NEW MEMBERS OF GOV. STAFF AN RID THIS COUNTY OF IGNORANCE AN PUT GOD BACK IN OUR LIVES AN OUR DIALY PLEADGES, OUR REASONS FOR NATIONAL SECURITIES IS TO MAKE A FEW POCKETS DEEPER AN TO MONITOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF HOME LAND TERRORIST WHICH ARE [A.K.A] YOU KIDS AN THEIR FREINDS. AN THIS WHOLE BORDER ISSUE, WOULDNT BE AS BIG AS IT IS IF THESE IMMAGRANTS WOULD COME HERE TO WORK AN PAY AN CONTRIBUTE TO OUR TAXES WE PAY TO PROVIDE FOR OUR COUNTRY AS APPOSE TO THE IMMAGRANTS WHO COME HERE TO SPIT ON OUR LAND TAKE THEIR PAY AN REFUSE TO PAY TAXES BUT QUALIFY FOR WELFARE SERVICES. AN THESE CELL PHONE COMPANIES WOULD BE ALOT MORE WEALTHIER IF THEY ALL CAME TOGETHER AN FIXED THE PROBLEM, CUZ EVENTUALLY THEY'RE ALL GONNA BUY EACH OTHER OUT AN CONSOLIDATE DOWN TO ONE COMPANY THERES MUCH MORE TO BE SAID BUT I WILL LEAVE IT AT THAT FOR NOW

One responder suggested that this closely mirrors the crash safety ratings for cars. I find that to be a very compelling analogy. After all, couldn't the government make the case that terrorists can use crash safety data to target Americans driving cars known to be less safe?

Why can't they just give us a national, or statewide, uptime percentage? Or some other number for reliability that does not help the terrorists in any real way, but still informs consumers? It's not like the average consumer needs the raw data anyway!

This is a real issue, something politicians on both parties need to address. I'm willing to ditch my own wireless plan for a pay-as-you go plan. And I'm sure that if enough people jump on board, then the folks at Verizon, Cingular and others might adjust their gameplan.

But wouldn't it be easier to just compel production of the service outage information in the first place? Consumers need to make informed decisions, that's how a functional market economy works.

There would be a better chance of the wireless companies up grading the system. No penelty for dropping your service. Anywhere else if you want to end your account, you end it. Refuse the contract. Make it like your old home phone pay your bill monthly or find another source. If your old home phone provider were working on the same level no one would have a home phone. Ma Bell seemed to figure good service equals a good buisness, not a tough luck story.
Several months ago I went into a Verizon store for service on my phone. As I entered the store the greeter asked " What do you want? " Well IM NOT with Verizon any more. Service they do not offer.

What a bunch of crap. When will this country make the cellphone companies stand up and be accountable for their service. I support any means necessary to make them turn over the information.

I can think of a situation where terrorists could benefit from this information. It could be that there are patterns to cell phone outages. If a terrorist could plan an attack at a time and place he knew to have no cell phone service, he would be much more likely to be successful, since the victims couldn't call for help nearly as easily.

This is not to say that this is a likely scenario, and the government explicitly listed 'competitive harm' as a reason for not releasing the information. It should never be the government's role to prevent competition; that always hurts the public. Let's make the economy more efficient and publish this useful information.

John Harlow, Chappaqua, New York (Sent Dec 15, 2006 7:10:57 AM)

What a bunch of crap! The government is more worried about financial harm to the phone companies than tipping their hand to terrorists.

So what are they afraid of regarding terrorists? They'll go to a different service provider if they find out who has the most egregious service outages?

Lies and corruption are what is teaching all of us to mistrust the government regardless of age.

I am so glad that American's who voted for this Bush administration and his rich boy network is starting to be inconvenienced and aggravated. Each and every one of you who voted Republican since 1994 is starting to see how their greed is affecting you and I hope it hits you in your pocket the way it has hit mine. The secrecy and hidden agendas of this government are just now starting to become evident. But don't whine and complain. The crooks you have been voting into office for the last 12 years are now asking you to reap what you have sown. The secrecy and hidden agendas of this administration are just now starting to become evident. It is going to costly. Some of you will be broke trying to afford to live here because the Lays and the Koslowskis and Skillings are going to get paid at your expense. So be happy with your big business cell providers and their secret practices. What has been good for the poor and downtrodden is going to be good for the rich, spoiled me-my-I s that thought everthing else about the Republican machine was wonderful. You voted them in. You be happy with ALL of their subversive practices.

I agree with a previous comment. MSNBC how about a link to the FOIA site. Actually I just signed a 2yr service agreement... so on second thought. Take your time.

Its high time 'regulatory' agencies returned to regulation and stopped being promoters of their specialty industries.

With brain surgeons responding such as Mr. Harlow it is no wonder that our sainted government feels that they can do whatever they please to the American people. What a mess.

I'm not so sure that knowing which company is best for reliability in a particular city is going to help consumers that much, since where a phone is used is so specific to a particular person's work, home and travel locations. You could actually easily go with the #1 carrier in reliability and then end up having the phone not work at your home, office or where you travel the most.

You want aggregravation? Try using NEXTEL in Boston. To be exact the highly populated BLACK areas (Mattapan, Roxbury, Dorchester). The company does not care about the complaints. Always the same crappy excuse.....it's the vegetation. Yeah Right!

Bravo to Sprint for at least wanting to have this information shared, though I don't see it playing a strong role in the decision-making criteria. Talking to others who live nearby, use the same features as you want and maybe often travel where you do, and using the 30-day trial period are still the best ways to approach the buying decision.

Hey John Of Course I mistrust the government. Everything they've told me in the pass 6 years has been lies. Need i mention the missing WMD or Iraq's non ties to terrorists, how we are winning in Iraq. Why would i trust the government? I always thought the US of A was the home of the free.... unless of course that freedom is to ask questions of your government

The cell phone industry is making too much money for too little service. It is hard to rationalize paying between $60 to $100 per month for just cell phone (we also have home phone, long distance, and most people are also paying for internet), a service most of us didn't have before 1999. The combined personal communication expense is staggering. I remember a few years ago some folks were trying to make high speed internet available at very low price via pulic libraries networking to homes. By the way big business pays very little (comparatively) for communication. *As infromed consumers we need to get together and create some kind of consumer protection group against all this nonsense. The power of consumers hugely increases when they share their resources for a common purpose. We can boycott the bad companies, and sue them in numbers with less legal fees if we share resources. Does any one know of such a consumer group? If we don't care about our interets, no one will. I really appreciate that Red Tape is openning this important discussion.

I am an RF Engineer for a major cell company in PA. Tim in Buffalo is 100% correct. We do our level best to keep the system at 100% but outages caused by the LEC (Local Exchange Carrier) are an absolute nightmare that we have no control over.

We're talking about the FCC here. The wardrobe-malfunction police. The people who decided it's okay for two companies to own ALL the radio stations in a given market, then to feed us syndicated mush and fire all the local voices. National security? You betchya. Sleep tight, America

This is yet another example of this administration using terrorism as an excuse in a relentless special-interests-driven crack-down on the media. I am all for requiring the media to exercise caution in publishing information that clearly can be used to benefit terrorists, such as publishing the locations of nuclear waste sites (which often already is). However, it is not even remotely obvious to anyone as to how this information could be misused. The method in which this administration deems information harmful is both unscientific and biased. There is absolutely no way terrorism can be used to justify withholding this information when information that is far more dangerous gets published every day. Instead, it is another obvious effort of this regime to scare and manipulate the public into believing that any opposition to its methods is a threat to national security.

boy am i glad i read this. i am in the market for a cell phone since i moved to maine a few months ago. now i am going to be very careful which provider i choose.

go to a 3rd world country - ie philippines. go to the store and buy a cell phone. by a sim card for the carrier you choose, you can have several if you choose. buy a load card and call to have it downloaded into your phone. now you can text away at a cost of 2 cents per text. talk away on the phone at 16 cents per minute. after several trips there when i returned home 2 years ago i canceled my account with cingular. i will not buy a new phone contract with any carrier that requires a period [1 or 2 years] of participation. nor will i by a go phone type phone unless the costs are on par with that in the philippines. i am disgusted with the cell phone industry in the states. after 2 years the only aspect of having a cell phone that concerns me is in my travels that my car breaks down and i need assistance. but for the last 2 years i have saved 39.99 every month as well as all those fees/taxes totalling about 5.00 more. gee i have saved well over 1,000$ and haven't had a car problem yet. the land line at home works fine and when out and about a pay phone is good enough for me when the necessity arises. why can cell phone carriers put up their infrastructure in a 3rd world country and operate very profitably while charging so little compared to here in the usa. oh and i will not buy the argument of wages cause it still won't add up.

In 2001 I lost my IT job despite being in this country for 10 years as a legal alien while an H1 visa immigrant was driving around in a BMW and all members of the interview board gave this fraud an A+ during his interview as he was able to sweet talk us all into thinking he would be an excellent addition to our IT team.

You would have thought if security was of prime concern to our leaders we would not allow our banking secrets (our account info) to be processed in India, our clothing and household goods (read Walmart) to be made in China, and the economy to be held hostage to a very powerful economic giant CHINA.

And BTW most if not all the phone giants are multi-nationals who don't depend on America alone for their earnings. And it would take a very massive downturn in the economic well being of the entire world to make these phone companies suffer!

Quo Vadis?

go to a 3rd world country - ie philippines. go to the store and buy a cell phone. by a sim card for the carrier you choose, you can have several if you choose. buy a load card and call to have it downloaded into your phone. now you can text away at a cost of 2 cents per text. talk away on the phone at 16 cents per minute. after several trips there when i returned home 2 years ago i canceled my account with cingular. i will not buy a new phone contract with any carrier that requires a period [1 or 2 years] of participation. nor will i by a go phone type phone unless the costs are on par with that in the philippines. i am disgusted with the cell phone industry in the states. after 2 years the only aspect of having a cell phone that concerns me is in my travels that my car breaks down and i need assistance. but for the last 2 years i have saved 39.99 every month as well as all those fees/taxes totalling about 5.00 more. gee i have saved well over 1,000$ and haven't had a car problem yet. the land line at home works fine and when out and about a pay phone is good enough for me when the necessity arises. why can cell phone carriers put up their infrastructure in a 3rd world country and operate very profitably while charging so little compared to here in the usa. oh and i will not buy the argument of wages cause it still won't add up.

I particularly like the post above concerning "the liberal media" and how they're constantly undermining our security...
The people that immediately start spouting "aiding the terrorists" whenever a citizen questions our government under our constitutional right and responsibility to do so never really offer any REASONS about how we might be "aiding terrorism"...It's enough for them that we dare ask questions and not blindly be led...

"The government is "of the people, by the people, and FOR the people", and declining to exercise our rights under our laws and constitution is not an option, regardless of whether neo-fascists like it or not...

I'm really, really tired of hearing how anyone that DARES to question anything our governement does is unpatriotic...The simple fact is, those concerned enough with what we view as threats to our way of life and rights that DO question and even stridently oppose such infringments are the patriots...The ones that insist anyone that disagrees with them in any way are out of line or even actively seeking to harm the country are the the true threat.

I think knowing that company X has a 5% outage rate in an area will company Y has a 15% outage rate in the same area is really useful information in making a purchasing decision. I guess some think it's better to wait in line, pay first, spend precious time customizing a cell phone with address books etc, suffer several weeks of frustration with service, return the phone (after repeated explanations), wait in line again, deprogram SIM cards and then jump through endless hoops to get your money back. Only to hope you don't have to go through this again with the next carrier.
No, we don't expect carriers to provide 100% perfect service, but those same carriers sure make it sound as though that is the case. I thought 'free market' meant making sound purchase decisions on objective data. Right!? What a lie. 21st century carpetbaggers. That's all.