So I read in the news recently that the mobile “spectrum” as it’s called is reaching its limits in the U.S. That is to say the system will start to slow down due to all the data running through and there might not be a way to fully improve the system and we’ll start seeing dropped call and slower connections/service. I’m going to link the news article to this article and I’d like to touch on a simple thing in this article that people might be able to do to reduce our overall spectrum usage.
First of all I’ll state that we do in fact live in an age of technology and interconnectivity. We’re always up to date on people and events through text messages, e-mails through our phones, social network surfing, ect. We tend to take things like this for granted and it would be frustrating to everyone to start having service issues come up with our phone services because there are is too much data trying to run through the system. This brings to mind an issue we had in my hometown of Sierra Vista where we had a major wildfire in 2011. About the worst of it was when we almost had to evacuate the entire town and everyone was on their cell phones and the system pretty much just froze up and wouldn’t work. We couldn’t even send text messages. The system couldn’t handle the overload of calls and texts and it could have made the situation worse by preventing people from calling 911 if necessary. I could see this happening with the nationwide system because we’ll just have too many people trying to do too many things at one time and not enough spectrum/computer power to handle it. However there is a simple solution to this problem that I can draw from the concepts I learned in my comparative economics class.
The simplest solution we could undertake in bringing down cellular overload is to simply not use them until necessary. We can reduce the load on the system and reduce dropped calls and slower service for everyone if we just learn to let go a little bit. Americans these days seem to have an insatiable thirst for e-mail, apps and particularly video on their mobile devices — anywhere, anytime. (David Goldman) We’re constantly talking to our friends, watching videos, and talking, sometimes for business or emergency purposes, but a lot of times just for nothing other than to say hi, which is nice but it will eventually eat up a lot of spectrum on a nationwide scale. If we lower cell phone use it has the potential to extend the lives of our cell phones and keep us from breaking them or wearing them down before their time, saving us the money it would cost to buy a new one and help keep us more financially sound, along with the minutes and data use money we would save by not using our phones. Also dropping the demand for new phones can help lower prices on them and make them more affordable for when we do actually need a new one. It should also be stated that in order for an economic recovery we have to be able to communicate freely over a stable system. It might mean that if the cellular system starts to crash we’ll have to invest in landlines to higher degree, which might not be a bad idea as it allows for more communication medium and frees up the cellular system. They have systems nowadays that will send the call to your cell phone if you don’t pick up at home.
In this age of technological interconnectedness I believe it necessary to find a balance in our lives. We don’t necessarily need to answer every e-mail right off the bat. It can wait until we get home and run it through the computer which won’t clog the cellular network. We don’t need to be social media surfing on our phones all the time. That can wait for a home computer as well. We can free up some cellular resources and keep the lines free for people with emergencies when the service starts to go downhill. Now it’s up for debate as to when the cellular service will really start going downhill but experts agree it’s coming soon. (Goldman) There are some things in the works that will help free up the cellular system, such as congress recently passed a deal allowing TV broadcasting companies to auction off their unused spectrum for cellular use, (Goldman) companies are starting to buy unused spectrum from other broadcasting companies, (Goldman) and the companies are constantly doing research and development for new and better technology to keep their cellular systems from going under. (Goldman) However we also have to our part by cutting back a little bit and helping the system (and the economy) by allowing for a stable communications network in the U.S. We’ve seen it before. We’re at the point where we have to start conserving gasoline because of high prices, and we have to conserve what money we have due to rising costs of living, and so forth. We just have to start conserving our cell phone resources as well.
Works Cited:
Goldman, David. “Spectrum Crunch: The Cell Phone Industry Hits Its Limits.” CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/21/technology/spectrum_crunch/index.htm?cnn=yes.