gps mobile tracking

Todd Allcock wrote:
> At 18 Feb 2007 01:33:47 -0600 Dennis Ferguson wrote:
>
>> Note that these aren't quite the same thing. CDMA networks have been
>> able to do tower-triangulation for a long time, just about for free.
>> That is, all CDMA base stations have clocks that are time synchronized
>> with GPS, code acquisition gives you a precise measurement of signal
>> arrival times, and in CDMA networks multiple towers track any handsets
>> they hear anyway to implement soft handoff.
>
> Just curious- why don't you think Verizon or Sprint leveraged this to
> comply with the E911 deadline rather than commit to a GPS based solution?

I think that since the A-GPS technology was available from Qualcomm for
CDMA chipsets that the CDMA carriers were convinced that the higher
accuracy of A-GPS would enable them to win more customers, especially
high value customers. Disney Mobile, a Sprint MVNO, was marketing
location based services six months before they even launched their network.

For some corporate customers, accurate location based service is driving
their choice of carrier, and once they choose carriers, they aren't
going to easily change just because another carrier catches up. You see
that now with high speed data, Cingular is way behind Sprint and Verizon
in deployment, and has lost the early adopter market.

Whether the net return in A-GPS was worth the extra cost remains to be
seen. However it's often the case that you can market a product's
capability even to customers that initially aren't interested in using
that capability, but might possibly want to use it. I remember when I
worked in product marketing for a Taiwanese motherboard company. We
wasted so much money in adding future capability to boards, such as
Weitek math co-processor sockets, and even sockets so you could upgrade
from a 386 to a 486 processor. The number of customers that ever used
these sockets was close to zero, but it won us huge contracts for boards.

[Copied to alt.cellular.attws. Please post all alt.cellular.cingular
posts to alt.cellular.attws as well. The Cingular name is going away,
and alt.cellular.attws is the proper venue for posts regarding AT&T's
Wireless Service.]