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"The new iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max will use eSIM technology to allow users to use two phone lines on a single device."

Regarding multi-line, at least one carrier already provides a voice multi-line service on one device (BYOD) without requiring a special eSIM handset.

https://business.sprint.com/so...

Not sure how it would compare to eSIM.

Youd have the option to subscribe to cellular internet.

How much would "subscrib[ing] to cellular internet" cost over the course of this laptop's expected service life? Add it to the sticker price. Or would you instead recommend that people cancel home Internet to make room in the budget for cellular Internet?

Or you could opt to rely on using wifi

Provided Wi-Fi is available. When I'm riding the city bus between home and work, it isn't, as the bus passes by each individual hotspot too quickly for my device to associate. Thus I need a device whose applications support being offline for up to an hour at a time.

(which could even be by tethering ti an existing cell)

Which in turn becomes cost-prohibitive when your cell carrier charges $359.84 per year plus taxes and surcharges for the privilege of "tethering ti an existing cell". (Source)

Verizon, ATT, Sprint and T-Mobile still offer them. Typical cost is $0.99 per month for the service plus $1.99 per year for each ringback tone.

I'm guessing these sales are happening almost entirely in China? There's no Huawei phone even listed as an option on my carrier's website. As a consumer, sales maketshare really doesn't mean a whole lot to me until they are selling phones in my market.

I can kinda see why they wouldn't bother though. While I think its really important that Samsung has good viable competition in Android devices, I don't think I'd be entirely comfortable buying myself a consumer communications device from a company with deep ties to the Chinese Army.

I just told you they are NOT expensive on Sprint, since mid 2015 or so it is no additional charge. I've used it in four different countries in SE Asia and Oceania. Proof: Sprint Global Roaming. If you're going to "correct" me please do some research first.

Depends what they consider "VPN' usage, which is restricted to 5GB / month. I'm guessing anything encrypted? https://support.sprint.com/sup...

OpenVPN is allowed 5GB / month. https://support.sprint.com/sup...

https://www.att.com/maps/wirel...
https://www.t-mobile.com/cover...
https://vzwmap.verizonwireless...
https://coverage.sprint.com/IM...

What are you talking about? The only service with spotty coverage in PA is Sprint. Everyone else has coverage over most of the state, excepting the mountains in the north central portion of the state.

They do? I tried to buy one, but they didn't offer any of the Lumias at Sprint, so I ended up buying a Nexus from Google
Can't even find Windows phones on their online site https://www.sprint.com/shop/?I...

Under the Sprint iPhone Forever program, the monthly lease is $22 per month for the 16GB iPhone 6s. (The 128GB iPhone 6s+ probably has a higher lease payment.) Since I've been a Sprint customer for 20+ years, I get a loyalty credit that reduces my lease payment to $5 per month until I upgrade to the next iPhone. I also get a 10% discount on my monthly bill for being a AAA member, which cancels out the lease payment entirely. In short, I get the current iPhone for FREE!

http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-customers-can-upgrade-their-iphone-anytime-included-in-their-monthly-rate.htm

http://www.verizonwireless.com...

http://www.att.com/cellphones/...

http://shop.sprint.com/mysprin...

For those of you on Sprint, this will be their first LTE tri-band phone. The other carriers have one or two LTE frequency bands. Sprint, by virtue of buying Clearwire and shutting down Nextel, now has three LTE bands. So this phone on Sprint could potentially have the fastest LTE speeds in the country.

They haven't done a good job of informing their customers of the upgrades.

Are you looking for something like this? http://network.sprint.com/

I care because I travel and I like to use other sims when traveling. That's why it may in fact matter even to the average US consumer. Especially true as the population grows older, more people retire - and travel.

If you are traveling, call Sprint's International Department at 888-226-7212 and Sprint will unlock your phone in about 5 minutes.

Virgin Mobile: http://newsroom.virginmobileusa.com/networkvision

In a quick skim, I didn't see them say "LTE to almost every cell site" but only LTE nationwide. I hope someone can find a source for the former, because that would be good news indeed.

I'm a VM customer for my phone & my teenager's. He's still grandfathered on the $25/mo plan - 300 minutes of talk (he averages 60), unlimited text & data.

Verizon has introduced Sim cards with their LTE devices/network.
http://support.verizonwireless.com/information/4gsim.html

I thought I read that Sprint is doing the same but they may be going with embedded SIMs from some devices. (embedded= not swappable, making it harder or impossible to use the device with another carriers)
I wasn't able to find a SIM specific support page like Verizon, only general results for devices with SIMs.
http://search.sprint.com/srchapp/ui.jsp?question_box=sim+card

If that fails, you could try one of the complaint departments AT&T actually listens to.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/index.html
http://www.t-mobile.com/
http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop/phone_wall.jsp?filterString=apple&isDeeplinked=true&INTNAV=ATG:HE:iPhones

More like $350....Do you really think that Sprint is going to offer you the best price on a non-contract phone?

I'd grant you that, were it the same phone. Hell, I'll grant it anyway, there's still a $50 subsidy. The Evo 3D has been out for a little over a year now, the Evo V has been out for a little over a month, it's not the $350 phone you linked to; neither is the Evo 4G, which came out in May. Looking at Sprint's phone lineup (sorry, I forgot to link it before) again, it's worth noting that the $549 phone I referenced is the Evo 4G LTE, not the Evo 4G that came out in June of 2010 and is not currently offered by Sprint. So, while the Evo 4G can be found for $220, and the Evo 3D can be found for $350, list price on the Evo 4G LTE is $729.99

, so it seems that Sprint is, in fact, subsidizing it somewhat, even off contract. Mind you, Virgin's Evo V is a little over a month newer than the Evo 4G LET, and is also a 4G capable phone, including a 3D camera, the price point of both phones will be similar.

Next time you're going to refute my facts, make sure you've got your facts straight. Apparently, I need to do the same, as the facts I found while researching the information you provided fly even more in the face if your theory about the iPhone being more expensive, and they destroy your theory that prepaid carriers don't subsidize. Of course, having worked in the industry, I could simply cite myself as a reference for that las bit, but hey, what do I know?

Verizon is probably the LTE leader at this point. I don't exactly live in a huge city (appx. 400k people) and Verizon turned up LTE here last October. Although I'm a Sprint user and while Sprint works fine here, the data speeds frequently leave much to be desired.

They (Sprint) did put together this interactive network upgrade map that's interesting.

https://nextelnetwork.sprint.com/?ECID=vanity:nextelnetwork

All of the major carriers have coverage maps that are more or less accurate.

Verizon: www.verizonwireless.com/wireless-coverage-area-map.shtml

AT&T: http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/#?type=data

Sprint: http://coverage.sprint.com/IMPACT.jsp?

T-Mobile: http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/pcc.aspx

Other Sites that may be useful:
http://www.cellreception.com/coverage/
http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phone-coverage-map/

Behold, the power of Google.

Perhaps GP was referring to this cap Sprint instituted around October or November of 2011 on tablets, hot spots, and tethered mobile phones. Still unlimited data for untethered phones (I think).

From the announcement on Sprint's website:

Data usage limits when using 3G/4G Mobile broadband devices

If you have a mobile broadband device such as a tablet, netbook, notebook, USB card, connection card or Mobile Hotspot device, effective beginning with your next bill following notification, your on-network monthly data allowance will no longer include unlimited 4G.

The Sprint and Verizon (and Au) networks are an evolutionary dead-end, so I wouldn't expect a lot of people to be working on inter-operability with them beyond the minimum necessary to make things work. Note that Au is rolling out LTE, which will put them on the GSM Alliance track. Their CDMA-2000 network will be left for voice only for some years, however. I expect a similar situation will follow in the US.

Verizon is rolling out LTE as well, and Sprint will be doing so as well, so, yes, it appears the US situation is similar to the Australian situation. Telus are "eventually" doing LTE, and Bell Canada are already doing HSPA+ and LTE, so it looks as if Canada are going the same way. I suspect any other markets that still use cdmaONE/CDMA2000 protocol stack are doing similar things, given that Qualcomm killed off UWB, making cdmaONE/CDMA2000 a dead end.

Still, CDMA-2000 and W-CDMA are very different technologies in some ways (aside from both using CDMA), and thus you can't expect one phone to work on both, unless they built both systems into it, which would raise the cost.

Well, yes, one such phone costs USD 199 and above; dunno what other phones use chips capable of handling both CDMA2000's air interface and W-CDMA.

Check the status at http://www.sprint.com/bringyournumber/ - if it says your port status is complete, then either do an iTunes or iCloud backup of your new phone, then go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase all Content and Settings. That will put your phone back in factory setup mode, and your phone should then get your new number. Then you can restore your backup and happiness will resume :)

As soon as someone releases an LTE chipset that doesn't kill battery life, and LTE becomes widely available, it'll be in the next iPhone. Right now, LTE would raise the cost of the phone, shorten the battery life, and only benefit a small percentage of the buyers.

LTE Deployment map, most of the world doesn't even have any LTE deployment. North America, parts of Europe, southeast Asia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Uzebekistan are the only current deployments, and most of those offer only spotty coverage.
AT&T is claiming "LTE planned for up to 15 cities by the end of 2011"
Verizon has wider LTE coverage, but it's nowhere near nationwide and won't be for several more years.
Sprint's LTE coverage is in a similar situation.

By the time that LTE is actually available to a sizable percentage of buyers, it'll be time to upgrade the phone anyway. And HSDPA+ @ 14.4Mbps is fast enough for most users in the meantime.

One thing Apple understands that most competitors (and critics) don't is that most users care about usability, not about specifications. Battery life is more important to most users than somewhat faster downloads (that are only available to a small percentage of users anyway). Only the small percentage of technically savvy users care about specs (and those users and critics are the same ones who would complain about the lack of 4G coverage if it did include LTE).

Sprint's is supposedly replacing their tower side gear to run EVERYTHING ...

http://newsroom.sprint.com/press_kits.cfm?presskit_id=19

Really? Because Sprint's latest advertisements seem to indicate that they won't throttle you, limit you, or charge you extra no matter how much you use.

Get a network extender from sprint or verizon. connect it to the access point. connect everything via 3g to the extender. limit access to the phone numbers assigned to your devices. The extender ignores everyone else's device unless they're calling 911. Verizon - http://www.verizonwireless.com/verizon-network-extender.shtml Sprint - http://support.sprint.com/support/device/Sprint/AIRAVE_by_Sprint-dvc1230001prd

Sprint is NOT unlimited:

Voice/Data Usage Limitation: Sprint reserves the right, without notice, to limit throughput speeds, and to deny, terminate, modify, disconnect or suspend service if off-network usage in a month exceeds: (1) voice: 800 min. or a majority of minutes; or (2) data: 300 megabytes or a majority of kilobytes. Prohibited network use rules apply. See in-store materials or sprint.com/termsandconditions for specific prohibited uses.

http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop/plan_details.jsp?tabId=pt_individual_tab&planCatId=pln301001cat&planFamilyType=&flow=AAL&showDetailsTab=true

The website puts it as "Unlimited data (on our network)" not on the internet in general.

Yes, good point, but it's unlimited in practice. They haven't complained when I crack 20 GB in a month, so I think most people will be fine.

Sprint is NOT unlimited:

Voice/Data Usage Limitation: Sprint reserves the right, without notice, to limit throughput speeds, and to deny, terminate, modify, disconnect or suspend service if off-network usage in a month exceeds: (1) voice: 800 min. or a majority of minutes; or (2) data: 300 megabytes or a majority of kilobytes. Prohibited network use rules apply. See in-store materials or sprint.com/termsandconditions for specific prohibited uses.

http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop/plan_details.jsp?tabId=pt_individual_tab&planCatId=pln301001cat&planFamilyType=&flow=AAL&showDetailsTab=true

The website puts it as "Unlimited data (on our network)" not on the internet in general.

Sprint doesn't have a data cap.

Which is why I said "virtually all".

However this new found religion at sprint is merely a marketing ploy and nothing to rely on. Remember they tried data caps in the past..

Also, roam outside their network, and things can get nasty very quickly:

Voice/Data Usage Limitation: Sprint reserves the right, without notice, to limit throughput speeds, and to deny, terminate, modify, disconnect or suspend service if off-network usage in a month exceeds: (1) voice: 800 min. or a majority of minutes; or (2) data: 300 megabytes or a majority of kilobytes. Prohibited network use rules apply. See in-store materials or sprint.com/termsandconditions for specific prohibited uses.

Also THIS Story seems to suggest that Sprint has made no long term commitment to having no data caps.

In the US, I find that Sprint is the exception. Try going to their webpage http://now.sprint.com/alltogethernow/index.php?pid=10&INTCID=AB:UEU:HERO:042011:ATNUnlimited:960x320 - they seem to be aware of the fact that they're the only US carrier with legitimate data plans, and they seem to like tooting their horn about it. Makes me wonder why they have a reputation for not doing so well... could be any number of things. Maybe their service isn't the most reliable? Maybe most Americans don't care about such things (wouldn't be surprised)?

Remember, you can add more APs for wifi, but not for phones.

Not true. Residential users can use broadband backhaul for relatively cheap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femtocell)

• Verizon
• AT&T
• Sprint

Bigger users can get bigger equipment. Last year, my office installed entire cell stations for major providers in our main equipment rooms and wired them with low-loss coax to little dome antennas scattered around the buildings. Helps coverage immensely :)

The Nexus phones are on T-Mobile USA, the most geek-friendly carrier at the moment. But notoriously geek-hostile carrier AT&T will soon gobble up T-Mobile USA. Then Nexus will move to Sprint, if the page you linked is any indication. But one might have to move to a different city or state in order to be in a "good" carrier's coverage zone. There are plenty of states with no coverage other than roaming, and plans aren't offered to people who live or work in a roaming area.

Where are they getting the prices for the smartphones in this table? For Sprint, I don't see anything resembling a $30 unlimited smartphone plan. The closest they have is a $70 plan with a 450 minute cap. Are they taking that plan and subtracting the 450 minute plan with no data for $40 to get the $30 for just the data? Something tells me you can't buy a plan like that. So while it's interesting for comparing data to data between carriers, it doesn't have a lot of practical use for anyone looking for the most affordable data plan.

Ref: http://shop.sprint.com/NASApp/onlinestore/en/Action/DisplayPlans?INTNAV=ATG:HE:Plans

I'll hope either you're making that up, or the person who told you was making it up.

As it is, 911 gets more calls than they can deal with in many areas, and a lot of clueless people, or people without phone books call in non-emergencies, and there are plenty of calls at any particular time where the person does make contact. They have to prioritize the calls, and they address calls where life is reported to be in immediate danger first. The girl down the street's broken nail can wait, so can the guy caught shoplifting, unless he's armed or posing an immediate threat. Your silent call to 911 might get answered hours later, if at all.

Check out this link in regards to 911 call screening

Some Sprint Nextel customers reported trouble reaching a live 911 operator in Clackamas, Washington and Multnomah counties in Oregon. When Sprint investigated the cause of these complaints, we learned that these counties had implemented an Interactive Voice Response System (IVR) to screen 911 calls. Sprint Nextel learned that IVRs also are used in Reno, Nevada, and by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to validate emergency situations. When dialing 911, callers in these areas must either press 1 or state "emergency" to be connected to a 911 operator. When the “1” is pressed, a special tone, referred to as dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF), typically transmits information over the voice circuit.

There are cell phones that cannot access, or have a limited ability to access, DTMF when a 911 call is made. Certain Motorola-manufactured iDEN handsets have had DTMF tones block to avoid over-dialing when placing a 911 call. This safety feature was incorporated by Motorola prior to learning that automated response systems were being used to respond to 911 calls.

It would be interesting if the cell phone manufacturers offered a swappable, standardized radio module that would pop in and out like the battery.

It would be much more interesting, and much less expensive, pose no unresolved technical challenges, if the shared-majority wireless operators in the US (Sprint, Verizon), would just use an existing swappable, standardised user identity module, like R-UIM cards. However, they are too concerned with fighting each other to realise that their technology has already lost, due to not being viable in other countries (where R-UIM is a requirement, but all decent phones are made for Sprint and Verizon, almost exclusively without R-UIM support). Not separating the number from the phone makes it too much of a hassle for users to switch phones, sell used phones, travel without roaming etc. (and of course, switching networks, which is what they are actually after, but damaging the whole CDMA market in the process), which are all trivially possible with GSM.

Maybe they could allow roaming to more than just a handful of international CDMA operators. For example, there are multiple CDMA operators in many African countries, (including some that have tens of thousands of US citizens working in them), but not one is supported for roaming by Verizon or Sprint. Verizon seems to have more limited roaming than the cheapest crappiest GSM operators, and Sprint mostly provides roaming via GSM operators (so, if you travel, you already need a dual-tech phone, or two phones, why not just use GSM all the time?).

Huawei (who makes a lot of CDMA-based gear, both telco-side and handsets, mostly for China Telecom I guess) has a nice article covering the issues with CDMA roaming. Most of them are due to "American mindset" that is inherent in CDMA and CDMA deployments. Of course, Huawei is punting their solutions to these problems, but waiting for all CDMA operators to refresh their kit will make you old.

Also, maybe if CDMA operators had consistent international dialing/number representation formats (like the +XX convention used by all GSM operators), users would figure out how to actually make international calls via CDMA. But, who needs numbers that don't start with a "1" anyway ...

That way you could buy an expensive smartphone, and leverage that investment by just picking up a new radio module to move to a new network.

At the moment, 52% of US subscribers can't even move between operators that use the *same* baseband modules (vs less than 15% worldwide). Maybe you should try and solve that problem first.

This one?:
http://now.sprint.com/nownetwork/

I've owned the Epic 4G for a few days and posted an extensive bug list on the Sprint Community Forums. I haven't heard a peep from Sprint on the issue. Calling Sprint is an exercise in futility. They expect their users to do a hard reset of the phone which wipes all the data, applications, and contacts off the phone. After that, they don't have much more to offer. The slow upload speeds and non-working GPS amongst other bugs means that no one should buy this phone as far as I'm concerned.

Bug list:

1. GPS lock

How to recreate: Turn off phone. Turn back on. Use Google Maps and GPS lock will be acquired fairly quickly. Close Google Maps. Try running Google Maps some time later (1-3 hours later). The phone will not be able to get a GPS lock.

Sprint Support: They have you reset your phone which temporarily fixes the issue. If you retry Google Maps a few hours later the GPS lock will fail!

2. GPS Accuracy

How to recreate: Using the phone's built in GPSSetup or use an app like GPS Status. No matter what happens the accuracy is always reported to be 30 meters. The Anandtech review also noted this behavior. Looking at the source code for other Samsung phones this is something that can be fixed because it is an issue where the actual accuracy isn't reported.

3. No 4G when Wifi is running

How to recreate: Turn on WiFi, turn on 4G. The Epic 4G won't allow you to run both. The Evo 4G allows this behavior. The unfortunate problem is that the phone will not automatically switch from Sprint's data connection to WiFi without user intervention.

4. Audio routing issues in Fring, Nimbuzz, Sipdroid due to a Samsung API issue in the Kernel.

How to recreate: Install SIPdroid, Fring, CSIPSimple, Nimbuzz, or any other program from the Market that uses all the audio features on the phone (microphone, speaker phone, ear piece). Try making a Voice-over-IP call. All sound will the routed through the speaker phone but not the ear piece. Trying to switch in software between the speaker phone and ear piece only causes a change in volume but doesn't actually stop the audio from coming out of the speaker phone.

This is has been noted by many other people: http://code.google.com/p/sipdroid/issues/detail?id=366

The Android community has identified this as an issue with the Audio driver in Samsung Android phones and has fixed it in some models:

http://forum.samdroid.net/f9/sipdroid-voip-i5700-problems-983/
http://forum.sdx-developers.com/android-2-1-development/fixing-the-moment's-audio-routing-(so-we-can-use-sipetc!)

We need this fixed on the Epic 4G.

5. 3G upload speed is capped at 150kbps.

How to recreate: Use any speed testing application or upload a file with a stopwatch. On 3G, the Epic 4G cannot upload faster than 150kpbs. Switching to Wifi or 4G allows normal speeds.

6. Twitter has trouble syncing and throws "Session Has Expired" messages every few hours.

How to recreate: Use the built-in Twitter Account function in the Epic 4G. Let it run for a few hours. A notification will pop up saying the Twitter session has expired. Tapping the message takes you to a login screen where you're required to re-enter your password. Also, on the syncing status page Twitter constantly shows a "sync is temporarily unavailable" message.

7. Business Cards with an extensive notes field or a semi-colon cannot be added into the contact list.

How to recreate: Create a business card with an extensive notes field and add special characters like a semi-colon to it. Try pushing it via bluetooth to the Epic 4G. The contact won't show up. Instead it'll be dumped into /sdcard/bluetooth/ as a

Yes, because Microsoft is the only company in the history of the world to craft a product after someone else created the market for it.

The official android market is dependent on a sim card. Even a phone wont work unless it has a sim card in it.

Tell that to my EVO 4G, on Sprint.

RIM's JavaME implementation is hackish, at best, and even then, you're best off writing "native" BlackBerry code... which is STILL Java. J2ME support only exists in BlackBerry so that they can get away with doing essentially what Google is doing, except the core differences are that:

1. BlackBerry's OS's, at least on ARM-based handsets, the entire native code portion consists solely of the JVM and hardware drivers - all other code and APIs in the OS is Java bytecode and
2. BlackBerry uses Sun's JVM and Java bytecode.
3. Java ME-specific APIs (those not shared with Java SE), IIRC, are all I/O (user (javax.microedition.lcdui), file, network, etc.), are probably just implemented as wrappers to RIM's own Java APIs (net.rim.*)
4. There's more native code in a $5 featurephone or an Android device than in a BlackBerry.

P.S. Yes, RIM's earlier x86 BlackBerry handsets ran native code and had native code interfaces for third party apps, arguably a whole different OS, but those handsets are so old that their relevance is nil.

Yes... no other cell phone but iPhone 4 has that extra problem... oh, except for this one...
Look at page 169

oh... and this one too.... Look at page 6

Do we REALLY have to relive this? IT's MAKE BELIEVE, you gullible clown.You've been hypnotized by Gizmodo, LMAO.

ALL CELL PHONES, ALWAYS will have their antenna detuned by a human's touch, and THEY ALL have a death spot.Sure do. Show me any cell phone, I'll show you how to detune the antenna, and I'll find it's death spot.

But... you go ahead... keep evangelizing against Apple and iPhone 4. Whatever floats your boat, mate.

If the survey does not publish who paid for it then the results can not be trusted.

Why don't we try to compare user satisfaction ourselves. Lets go to the carrier's web sites and see how people actually using the products are rating them.

AT&T: We can view and rate all phones except the iphone. You will see the Captivate has a almost perfect score. phones

Sprint: The Evo has 4.7 out of 5 starts. phones

Verizon: Verison lets you sort by rating! You can see the blackberry is first with all Droid phones above 4.5. phones

Why can the iPhone not be rated by the actual users of AT&T? Is Apple and AT&T trying to hide somethings?

Note: No money was involved in this study :-) and it also makes the Yankee Group study look very cooked!

Mod parent post up. Most people don't realize AT&T carries Android phones that don't compete with the iPhone. The 20% speaks to those phones, not phones like the HTC EVO, which is so popular it's sold out.

Fine print: I work for Google and these opinions are my own, not theres.

The iPhone4 was accused of having a flaw where touching a single spot on the phone can significantly degrade its signal and Steve Jobs successfully managed to change the discussion to two-handed death grips of other company's phones. Unbelievable.

Again, all cell phones have a death spot. They all have a spot you can touch, more thqn any other spot on the phone, that will cause the most signal loss. Many smart phone manuals point this out to the user.

HTC EVO
Look at page 169

Antennagate is bogus. It tracks directly back to Gizmodo lashing out because they humiliated themselves buying stolen property.

HTC Incredible
Look at page 6

I found it for you:

http://support.sprint.com/global/pdf/user_guides/htc/evo/htc_evo_ug.pdf

Page 169. No sticker, but in the manual.

From my personal anecdotal experience with my i4 all the websites claiming doom and gloom were the ones spinning to me. Ars did a pretty good test showing that the new phone can lose ~20db of signal when held a certain way. That's enough to lose 1-2 bars and if that's all you have then it's definitely a problem. The most I can get to happen is 1 bar and it generally then bounces back up.

Apple brought the issue to light that has been a problem since phones started moving their antennas internal to the phone. A friend with a BB just IMed me laughing that he can do the same thing on his phone because of the weak signal he has in his office building.

I think Apple did all they could here. There is no way they have time to engineer, test, and possibly get FCC approval for some new phone in such a short amount of time. If the bumper isn't enough for people then return it. My i4 works fine with my usage and is much better reception wise than my 3GS was. Not that the 3GS was a stellar performer, but in places where I would drop calls on the 3GS (I live near the mountains) the i4 hasn't dropped yet.

It's a frequent enough problem that in the US, many 911 systems are answered by an IVR and you have to press 1 or say "EMERGENCY" before you are connected with an operator. Some cell phone manufacturers did something very stupid. They decided to block all DTMF tones after 911 was dialed, which makes it impossible to answer the IVR prompt.

If you can't hear the IVR when calling in, you won't know what to say.

They might respond if they think it's not an emergency, for the purpose of apprehending the person who maliciously prank called an emergency number.

In the US, the police are not obligated to respond to a 911 call at all, even if they think it is a real emergency. That would be up to the policy of the individual police department, their leadership, their schedule, availability, etc

Maybe they think there's a bigger emergency, too hungry and on lunch break, etc.

Police can say 'we knew it was an emergency and this individual was being assaulted by someone who broke into their home, but we were too busy catching people speeding and giving out traffic tickets'

At the end of the day it is up to the individual to protect themselves, and ensure they have a backup plan to find what assistance they can when authorities don't respond, if there is an emergency.

In short: get a fucking gun, or other protections in place, and get properly trained on how to use it effectively and safely, and how to properly secure it and ensure it cannot be stolen.

There is also no right to even police protection. Warren v. District of Columbia. "a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any particular individual citizen."

Not to say calling 911 in an emergency isn't a thing to do very quickly. But shall we say... don't just dial 911 and bank 100% on authorities coming promptly, or coming in time, use all reasonably safe means available that would be effective at mitigating a serious emergency, without creating a bigger one.

Oh yeah... and don't expect anyone to come if you give them dead air, without at least some sort of signal besides dialing in

I hate to be defending US carriers. But keep in mind that a wireless plan from a major US carrier buys you access to way way way way more wireless towers than your Hong Kong plan.

Also, sometime you should take a look at the Sprint 69.99 plan.

1. Unlimited SMS/MMS
2. 5GB data.
3. Unlimited mobile to mobile. Even to other wireless carriers.
4. 450 minutes of regular calls to landlines and roaming.

http://now.sprint.com/planpromise/?pid=3

This has got to be quite competitive with your Hong Kong plan. Given the amount of geographical area of wireless coverage.

Introducing America's first 4G phone.

A wireless phone that's as fast and powerful as most people's basic DSL and cable wired connections. Filled with so many features we don't know where to begin. Like the fact that it works in 3G and 4G markets or the over 30,000 apps you've come to expect from an Android-powered phone. And it's only available on the first wireless 4G network from a national carrier.

Coming summer 2010.